We'd worked our way up to reading things that are a little longer, like R.C. Sproul's books The Prince's Poison Cup and The Priest with Dirty Clothes, both great stories. Then a couple of months ago friends encouraged us that they might be ready for The Pilgrim's Progress. They recommended starting out by showing them an animated version of Pilgrims Progress that's free on youtube. It's split up into 7 parts, and the whole thing together is something like an hour long. I skipped the part with Apollyon, at our friends' suggestion, because it seemed too scary. But the rest was good and it definitely kept their attention. They had lots of great questions, and it was such a joy to talk through it with them. Then since they were familiar with it and had a visual in their minds, I read them a modern translation of Pilgrim's Progress afterward (not a children's version), skipping some parts that describe landscape etc. so they'd stick with me. They loved it! It was an introduction for them to the idea that Christianity is a narrow road that's often difficult, but it is the only road that leads to life.
After that, I read the Narnia series to them, which they also LOVED. They talked about it all day long, and still like to pretend to be some of the main characters from it. Since then we've gone through some stories from The Children's Treasury of Virtues by William Bennett, like Martin Luther King Jr., Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, Neil Armstrong, The Knights of the Silver Shield, The Minotaur, and St. George and the Dragon. We've also sometimes made up stories together (sometimes under a blanket tent with flashlights) and it's so fun to hear their imaginations at work!
My parents got them each a Torchlighters Heroes of the Faith DVD for Christmas this year. They're 30 minutes each and really excellent. Most are about martyrs of the faith, but they're not overly scary even at the death scene. They've been great for conversation with our kids! We have Perpetua and William Tyndale. There are 12 altogether, lots to choose from, and they're each about $10 on amazon.
Aside from books and videos that help shape their worldview and understanding of the Lord, we've also been reading more library books that go along with their preschool curriculum. This past week I've read them some of the Cat in the Hat Learning Library books like Is a Camel a Mammal and Miles and Miles of Reptiles.
I'm so glad the kids love reading as much as I do, and hope some of the things that have come recommended to us will be a blessing to your families too!
