Teach Courage and Other Virtues with Children’s Books

As a parent all we can hope is to raise our children to be good, virtues humans, full of courage and kindness, and all the other good things in life and an excellent way to do that is with good books. But sometimes looking for books about courage for kids, books that teach friendship, love and self-sacrifice can feel like looking for a needle in a haystack.

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The Beauty of Storytelling in Children’s Books

I love reading. 

What an immeasurable joy, to be able to pick up something that appears to be paper and binding and yet within moments, transports you worlds and lifetimes away.

At a young age I remember reading the book Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes for school. A book about a boy set in colonial times.

I remember vividly not wanting to read it. How my mother had to remind me over and over, “Did you do your reading”

And one day I was reading about how Johnny Tremain he had gone to the store, I don’t remember all the details surrounding it. But he bought coffee and chocolate.

He had never had either before but had heard of them both.

 The coffee was bitter, and he was disappointed.

The chocolate was neither bitter nor disappointing. 

Vividly I remember reading that and being instantly transported there. 

Coffee and chocolate were things I had had before, I knew what both those tasted like. They probably didn’t taste the same as they did hundreds of years ago, but I had the general idea.

I was hooked, I had never had a book draw me in like that before. 

I remember reading the last sentence of the last page of that book. 

Looking up from the last page, I remember felling surprised that I was sitting in our living room. 

Suddenly filled with disappointment that life was ordinary, I wanted to go back to Johnny Tremain’s world. I wanted to story to go on and on.

But I couldn’t just pick it back up and start it over, I wanted to read it all again for the first time. 

I still think of that book, years and years later, almost every time I taste coffee or chocolate.

Take a look at the book Johnny Tremain here.

Reading to Your Children and Teaching Them to Read is a Bonding Adventure.

A few years ago, I had the inexplicable privilege of getting to teach my first born how to read.

All children lean differently, some learn earlier, others later. It’s not a race and there is no measuring stick. 

If they don’t know how to read, read to them.

And when they do know how to read… keep reading to them.

I’ve never once regretted snuggling on the couch with my children and a good book. 

I don’t think you will either.  

Reading to young children is such a bonding experience. It’s a way to go on adventures and experience new things together without even leaving the living room. Beautiful books, the truly great books, the ones with wonderful stories and noble characters that withstand the tests of time, they sometimes feel few and far between. They need to be hunted down, and you can’t always go off of a list of books put together by someone else, because the characters that may speak to someone else, may not speak to you and the young boy or girl that are listening from your lap. 

Choosing the Right Books and Passing Down Memories

I was so incredibly excited when my girls reached the age (I mean attention span) for longer chapter books. The very first one I choose was Andries, by Hilda van Stockum. A lesser-known story that was one of my favorite books from my own childhood, and to this day remains on my all-time favorite book list.

It is the story of a ten-year-old boy who was recently orphaned who has to go live with his uncle.  His uncle is a mean man who doesn’t like children and lives in a big old house. The neighboring family lives in a tiny house full of children and laughter. The story is told in the most romantic way with the two houses, the big house and the little house, narrating the story. 

My daughter’s and I laughed together reading it. We laughed together at the things the little neighbor boy said throughout the story and bonded over fictional characters, their joy, their heartbreak, the joy of new friends and personal growth. Their fear was our fear. Their triumphs were all of our triumphs. Andris is a truly great book that belongs in your family’s collection, along with all of Hilda van Stockum. 

You get take a look at Andrie by Hilda van Stockum here

Learning About Love and Loss in the Safest Place; Literature

The next time we were out and about in a grocery store, I was in the office and school supply section and spotted the small selection of literature.

I grabbed Charolette’s Web by E. B. White. As I walked by thinking, “This is a classic, a perfect next book for us to read during a cozy before bed story time!”

Charolett’s Web does appear delightful with its whimsical illustrations done by Garth Williams, but that was the extent of my thinking, I never had the thought of “Today’s the day! Today’s the day me and my children are all going to have our hearts broken!” 

Let me preface this by saying that I had never read Charolette’s Web before. Shameful, I know. My siblings and I had watched the 1973 cartoon many times as a child, so I knew the premise of the story and figured I was prepared for what would follow.

I was not prepared. 

Never before had I wept while holding all my children together. 

It broke be apart completely, and it remains to this day, one of the most beautiful and life changing things I have ever read. 

This is not just a kids’ book; this is a book for everyone. 

If you’ve never read it, do so immediately.

If you have read it, go do so again immediately.  

The story covers big topics, and inner strength. It is the story of fear, and courage and self-sacrificing love. 

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down His life for His friends.” John 15:13

If you don’t already have a copy, consider adding it to your family’s collection and get one here.

Courage, Friendship, and All the Good Things in Life.

The next big book that we read together was The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame. 

I picked up a copy at a local bookstore, the first couple of nights reading proved to be less than captivating for my then 5-year-old and her 2-year-old little sister (my 6-year-old was enjoying it though) it did not seem well suited for the younger children. But I decided we would put it aside for the time being. 

After a conversation with a dear friend about your love and wonderful childhood memories of the edition of the beautiful book filled with romantic and beautiful illustrations that we both grew up with.

She gifted it to me for my birthday shortly later. 

We tried again with the illustrated version, and it was an instant succuss. They ate it up, hung on every word. 

This book, as wonderful as it is, was made to be a classic picture book.  

The Wind in the Willows is a brilliant epic. Hilarious, heartwarming and adventurous, the story is truly the tale of friendship and courage. The character of Mole who overcomes his many fears, may seem simple at first glance, but overcoming his fear and timidness speaks volumes to children at a young age, as well as older kids and even adults, present company included. 

You can see the beautiful, illustrated version by Inga Moore here

Seeing Ourselves in the Characters

When I first began reading the story to my girls, I (as I often do while reading a book or watching a movie) will begin to identify with a certain character. I immediately decided I was Ratty, he was brave and confident and exciting and fun.

Mole was awful, fearful, timid and whiney. No one wanted to be Mole, not even Mole. But as I read, there was real character development. Which is so rare to see in children’s books, especially if you’re reading the “fast fashion” of children’s literature that comes out these days. Often times I found in my own childhood reading that there would be a bully or adversary character in a story that would make a quick almost unexplained conversion of character on the last page. Often if the book was part of a collection, the character would lose all advances in character development by the next book. Storytelling is such a great way to teach children at a young age right from wrong and the qualities of the true good and beautiful at a level that they can understand. 

Good Children’s Literature: A Needle in a Haystack

It often feels like the children’s books that are being fed to the masses these days are nothing but sugar water, and leave our young readers and listeners starved for great things, wonderful books filled with virtue and truth, the meat and potatoes of literature that leave our young children satisfied. 

Our young readers deserve the best children’s stories on the market. Whether they are facing a big challenge in life, hard times or a difficult situation and need practical guidance or they just need a great example of character to follow in their everyday life. There are so many wonderful examples to follow in stories about the lives of the saints, but sometimes, often times, a true story isn’t what they are craving, they need good literature to. And if you feel frustrated or discouraged because good books seem few and far between and hard to track down, just know that I’m on the hunt too. Don’t worry, we’ll find them together.

Find more about homeschooling and raising our little ones in Paraclete Pedagogy

AMDG

Emma Williams

Wife, mother, artist and storyteller. Living life biblically and liturgically, adventurously and intentionally.