There are a trillion books out there, and that means, even while most of them are bad, there are piles and tonnes and mountains of super fun, important, cute, beautiful, hilarious, educational, gripping, and otherwise great books out there somewhere, just waiting to be discovered.
So here at Reformed Perspective is where we’re talking about all those great ones.
Now, even among Christians, ideas will differ as to what makes a book great. It’s not all relative, so we’re looking at these through a Christian lens to evaluate what is praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8) with a particular emphasis on steering clear (with only the rarest of exceptions) of anything that takes God’s Name in vain. But there certainly is going to be a degree of taste involved. No one will like every book recommended here, but we do believe that every one of them will be loved by someone.
A good 3/4 of the books here are for kids, and because there are so many great kids’ books out there, our standards are high. If your standard is even higher, we hope we can still serve you, because, regardless, our goal is to never leave a parent surprised. So where there might be concerns – potty humor, other language, bad behavior, and worldview concerns (evolution, libertarianism, individualism, godlessness, etc) – we’ll note it, so you can judge for yourself whether it’s a book you’ll want to share with your kids.
While we’re looking for what’s excellent, we can’t escape the reality that we live in a fallen world, so even the best book may have bits that we wish it didn’t. That’s where judgment comes in. We’re not going to pitch Captain Underpants, no matter how hard it might make little boys laugh, because of its juvenile humor. But we have recommended Sir Ladybug and the Bookworms, even though it has a dung beetle as a character and consequently has a touch of potty humor. Why? Because we found the sweet story reason enough to overlook a pinch of the juvenile. So, how much potty humor is too much? It’s a judgment call.
With teen and adult books, we tolerate more objectionable content (though still note it) so long as the book gives us a reason to – ie, there has to be something especially educational, insightful, important, or simply awesome. For example, we’ve done a brief review of Brave New World and 1984 even though both include sexual content, because both remain especially impactful books in our culture, so Christians should be reading and understanding them.
It’s also worth a mention that among the books we’re recommending here, not all are equally… substantive. There are some titles that could be best categorized as candy – fun, lightweight, and great as a treat, but not good for you if that’s all you’re eating. Others are meatier, giving a reader something they can grow on, but perhaps taking some effort to chew through. And then there are all sorts of books that fall somewhere in between.
The world often talks of reading as if it should be done for its own sake. But our goal in all our recommendations is to point God’s people to books that they can enjoy and appreciate while honoring Him. It’s reading, to the glory of God!
Have any book suggestions? We’d love to hear them – contact the editor here. Interested in writing up the review yourself? Feel free to pitch your idea to the editor, and read our book review tips and guidelines here.
