Summer Books and Bible Plan

Summer is fast approaching. Are you starting to make plans? Do you have a reading goal for your children? Every summer I have the “So many books, so little time” attitude. As a mom and teacher, I want the children in my life to read books that are meaningful, consistent with our worldview, and fun to read. I’ve compiled a list of suggestions for each age group. I hope this helps and simplifies your plans for the summer.

In addition, I’m so excited to share the plans for Bible memory over the summer. During the school year, we’ve been memorizing two verses each week, but during the summer, we pump it up a bit to three verses a week and offer a super challenge for the Bible Memory Warriors among us who want to memorize a whole book of the Bible by memorizing a verse or two each day during the summer. So, let’s jump in!

Be sure to scroll to the end to see the May Giveaway! You still have time to enter!

Birth to 4 years:

Baby Believer Series by Daniel Hitchens

Ten Little Fireflies by Deb Gruelle

Who Sang the First Song? by Ellie Holcomb

My Arms Will Hold You Tight by Crytal Bowman and Teri McKinley, Illustrated by Anna Kubaszewska

This I Know by Clay Anderson, illustrated by Natalie Merheb

Flashlight Night by Elisabeth Hasselbeck, illustrated by Julia Seal

The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s First Summer by Eric Carle

Summer Days and Nights by Wong Herbert Yee

I See Summer by Charles Ghigna, illustrated by Ag Jatkowska

Lola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn, illustrated by Roslind Beardshaw

Diva Delores ad the Opera House Mouse by Laura Sassi

Little Ewe: The Story of One Lost Sheep by Laura Sassi

5-7 years:

The Creator in You by Jordan Raynor

What Do You Do with An Idea? by Kobi Yamada

Outside Inside by Deborah Underwood

The Wonder of Creation: 100 More Devotions about God and Science by Louie Giglio, illustrated by Nicola Anderson

Daisy’s Perfect Word by Sandra V. Feder, illustrated by Susan Mitchell

Wherever You Go, I Want You to Know by Melissa B. Kruger, illustrated by Isobel Lundie

The One O’Clock Miracle: A True Story about Trusting the Words of Jesus by Alison Mitchell, illustrated by Catalina Echeverri

Corrie ten Boom: The Courageous Woman and the Secret Room (Do Great Things for God series) by Laura Caputo-Wickham, illustrated by Isabel Munoz

This Is the Church by Sarah Raymond Cunningham, illustrated by Ariel Landy

My Busy Green Garden by Terry Pierce, illustrated by Carol Schwartz

Oh, the Seeds You Can Sow by Jessica Lisk

Outside Inside by LeUyen Pham

Ages 8-11 years:

The Promise by Jason Helopoulos, illustrated by Rommel Ruiz

The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado, Illustrated by George Angelini

 The Magic Treehouse series by Mary Pop Osborne

The Cottonmouth series by C. S. Fritz

The One-Year Choose Your Own Ending Devotions by Pioneer Clubs

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

Becoming Beatrix: The Life of Beatrix Potter and the World of Peter Rabbit by Amy M. O’Quinn

The Awesome Book of Bible Answers for Kids by Josh McDowell and Kevin Johnson

Before They Were Authors: Famous Writers as Kids by Elizabeth Haidle

A Summer of Sundays by Lindsay Eland

The Dead Sea Squirrels: Squirreled Away by Mike Nawrocki, illustrated by Luke Sequin-Magee

Sonrise Stable series by Vicki Watson, illustrated by Becky Raber

12-16 years

Big Red by Jim Kjelgaard and Bob Kuhn

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

It’s a Jungle Out There by Ron Snell

Life Is a Jungle! by Ron Snell

Think on These Things: Wisdom for Life from Proverbs by Ray Comfort

Seekers: An Interactive Family Adventure in Following Jesus by C.S. Fritz

The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis

The Summer of June by Jamie Sumner

The Girl Who Looked Beyond the Stars by L. B. Anne

Dust by Kara Swanson

Stand Up, Stand Strong by Sara Barratt

17 years and beyond:

Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis

Manga Metamorphosis: Is This the End of Your world or the Beginning? (Mange Book #2 – Acts and Epistles) by

You’re Not Enough (And That’s Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love by Allie Beth Stuckey

Another Gospel? by Alisa Childers

If You Only Knew by Jamie Ivey

The Women of the Bible Speak: The Wisdom of 16Women and Their Lessons for Today by Shannon Bream

Faithfully Different: Regaining Biblical Clarity in a Secular Culture by Natasha Crain

Othello by William Shakespeare

Where Are the Children? by Mary Higgins Clark

Don’t Check Your Brain at the Door by Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler

Laws of Leadership Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask (with answers) by Mark Mittelberg

For more ideas, check out my website podcast transcripts/show notes. Or, better yet, join my mailing list and gain access to a free list of over 100 books for your child’s library.

Bible Memory Plans for the Summer

In addition, remember that we will be memorizing a section of scripture this summer (1 John 1-2). This contains 39 verses, so we will memorize three verses a week, and they will all be consecutive verses. (If you want to challenge yourself and memorize the entire book of 1 John, just FYI, that will mean memorizing 1-2 verses per day. We have 105 verses in 1 John, and 91 days from June 5-September 3). Below is the schedule for the basic memory plan (1 John 1-2) and the super challenge plan (all of 1 John).

Each week, I will post ideas and puzzles to help with memorization. You can find those in the Facebook Group, my Facebook Writer page, or on Instagram.

Steps to Help with Memorization:

  1. Write each verse out by hand
  2. Repeat the verse and previous verses each day – read them out loud until you start having them memorized. Then, repeat them from memory.
  3. Say them using a disappearing word game on a white board or chalk board. Start with the verse written out; say it aloud. Erase a word or two and say it aloud again. Then keep erasing a word or two each time until you have blank white board/chalk board and can say it from memory.
  4. Talk about what the verse means.
  5. Repeat it again right before going to bed each night. If you quote the verse(s) right before bedtime and as soon as you awaken each morning, seven days a week, you will have them memorized quickly.
  6. Respond to the verses. If God is telling us to do something, do it. If He is giving us a promise or something to think about, pray it.
  7. For fun, memorize it in another language. It may seem silly, but it actually can help.

Basic Memory Verse Plan:

June 5                  1 John 1:1-3

June 12                1 John 1:4-6

June 19                1 John 1:7-9

June 26                1 John 1:10-2:2

July 3                    1 John 2:3-5

July 10                  1 John 2:6-8

July 17                  1 John 2:9-11

July 24                  1 John 2:12-14

July 31                  1 John 2:15-17

August 7              1 John 2:18-20

August 14            1 John 2:21-23

August 21            1 John 2:24-26

August 28            1 John 2:27-29

Super Challenge Bible Memory Plan:

June

5 – 1 John 1:1    

6 – 1 John 1:2    

7 – 1 John 1:3    

8 – 1 John 1:4    

9 – 1 John 1:5    

10 – 1 John 1:6

11 – 1 John 1:7 

12 – 1 John 1:8 

13 – 1 John 1:9-10

14 – 1 John 2:1

15 – 1 John 2:2

16 – 1 John 2:3-4

17 – 1 John 2:5

18 – 1 John 2:6

19 – 1 John 2:7

20 – 1 John 2:8

21 – 1 John 2:9

22 – 1 John 2:10

23 – 1 John 2:11

24 – 1 John 2:12

25 – 1 John 2:13              

26 – 1 John 2:14

27 – 1 John 2:15

28 – 1 John 2:16

29 – 1 John 2:17

30 – 1 John 2:18

July

1 – 1 John 2:19

2 – 1 John 2:20

3 – 1 John 2:21

4 – 1 John 2:22

5 – 1 John 2:23

6 – 1 John 2:24-25

7 – 1 John 2:26

8 – 1 John 2:27

9 – 1 John 2:28-29

10 – 1 John 3:1

11 – 1 John 3:2

12 – 1 John 3:3

13 – 1 John 3:4-5

14 – 1 John 3:6

15 – 1 John 3:7

16 – 1 John 3:8

17 – 1 John 3:9

18 – 1 John 3:10

19 – 1 John 3:11

20 – 1 John 3:12

21 – 1 John 3:13

22 – 1 John 3:14-15

23 – 1 John 3:16

24 – 1 John 3:17

25 – 1 John 3:18-19

26 – 1 John 3:20

27 – 1 John 3:21-22

28 – 1 John 3:23

29 – 1 John 3:24

30 – 1 John 4:1

31 – 1 John 4:2

August

1 – 1 John 4:3

2 – 1 John 4:4

3 – 1 John 4:5

4 – 1 John 4:6

5 – 1 John 4:7-8

6 – 1 John 4:9

7 – 1 John 4:10

8 – 1 John 4:11-12

9 – 1 John 4:13

10 – 1 John 4:14

11 – 1 John 4:15

12 – 1 John 4:16

13 – 1 John 4:17

14 – 1 John 4:18-19

15 – 1 John 4:20

16 – 1 John 4:21

17 – 1 John 5:1-2

18 – 1 John 5:3-4

19 – 1 John 5:5

20 – 1 John 5:6

21 – 1 John 5:7-8

22 – 1 John 5:9

23 – 1 John 5:10

24 – 1 John 5:11-12

25 – 1 John 5:13

26 – 1 John 5:14

27 – 1 John 5:15

28 – 1 John 5:16

29 – 1 John 5:17

30 – 1 John 5:18

31 – 1 John 5:19

September

1 – 1 John 5:20

2 – 1 John 5:21

3 – review entire book, practice the weak spots

You can still join Small Kids, Small Talks

https://link.terriehellardbrown.com/text

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