How to Get Children Interested in Good and Beautiful Books

Written By: Jenny Phillips Published On: October 7, 2019

Learn what makes a good and beautiful book and how you can get your kids interested in reading books with character-building content. In this blog post and video, Jenny Phillips answers these questions and encourages families to make their own book standards with a free printable.

Hi. I'm Jenny Phillips with The Good and the Beautiful. You may have watched our video, It's Time to Be Brave About Books, and decided that it's important to you to immerse your children in good and beautiful books. But how?

This blog post and video will help you in that journey. In a world of instant gratification and fast-paced, thrilling entertainment, it can be hard to get your children interested in truly good books. I am here to tell you that it is possible, and it is unbelievably worth it.

First, I want to explain that The Good and the Beautiful puts books into three categories:
1. good and beautiful books,
2. roller-coaster books, and
3. unworthy books.
What defines a good and beautiful book?
This Bible verse is the underlying standard that we use: Philippians 4:8: "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things."

Good and beautiful books are true and honest, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy. This means that good and beautiful books have high moral and literary value, and they also need to be entertaining.

Good and beautiful books do not . . .

Contain graphic violence
Use inappropriate, crude, or profane content
Portray inappropriate behavior as funny, acceptable, or entertaining

Book List FAQs Page | The Good and the Beautiful Book List

Visit the Book List FAQs page to learn more about how books on the list are reviewed.

Good and beautiful books portray family, adults, and learning as things that should be positive and helpful.

What are the benefits of good and beautiful books?

A varied, rich vocabulary; increased focus, concentration, and memory; longer attention span; stronger analytical thinking skills; greater empathy for others; improved writing skills; reduced stress; increased knowledge of history, people, places, cultures; more depth of character. Who doesn't want those things?

Good and Beautiful Book Checklist:

Did the book foster . . .

✅ Expanded vocabulary?
✅ Longer attention span?
✅ Stronger analytical thinking skills?
✅ Greater empathy for others?
✅ Stronger memory?
✅ Improved writing skills?
✅ Reduced stress?
✅ Increased knowledge of history, people, places, and cultures?

Access the Free Book List | The Good and the Beautiful Book List

What are the benefits of good and beautiful books?

In roller-coaster books, there's nothing inappropriate, however, the focus is on high entertainment value, and they have low literary and/or educational value. So, what are the benefits of roller-coaster books? They lack all of these things that I talked about—a varied and rich vocabulary, increased focus, and concentration—those you do not get from roller-coaster books.

Do roller-coaster books do harm?

Well, let's think about character. If all they’re reading about is thrill, instant gratification, and self-centered fun, their character is going to become more like that. Every roller-coaster book that they read diminishes the desire to read good and beautiful books.

Roller-Coaster Book Checklist:

Did the book foster . . .

❌ Expanded vocabulary?
❌ Longer attention span?
❌ Stronger analytical thinking skills?
❌ Greater empathy for others?
❌ Stronger memory?
❌ Improved writing skills?
❌ Reduced stress?
❌ Increased knowledge of history, people, places, and cultures?

Roller-Coaster | The Good and the Beautiful Book List

What are unworthy books?

Unworthy books may or may not have high literary value and educational value and good messages, but they do contain inappropriate content or language, or they make fun of family, learning, or high moral character. I looked this morning on the top 10 best-selling books for middle grades on Amazon.com. Every single one of the top 10 books can't be on our Good and Beautiful Book List.

Why are unworthy books so popular?

I think one reason is that parents don't know what is in them, and parents want their children to love reading. As I explained in my video, “It's Time to Be Brave About Books,” unworthy books can really impact children negatively. So how do we get our children to love good and beautiful books? Let me give you some ideas, but remember that every child is different, and parents should use their own judgment and guidance from God.

Good and beautiful books may be a little more challenging. That challenge exercises the mind, strengthens the heart, and leaves the reader with powerful and meaningful views of history and of people. To see real growth and the depth of character that we desire for our children, we have to get away from the party with unlimited cakes and sweets and constant entertainment, and into the pure, fresh air of the mountains.

How to get children interested in good and beautiful books

1. Get rid of unworthy books.

Parents and children shouldn't feel bad for having read unworthy books in the past. This is a great opportunity to teach your children about improving, moving forward, and growing. Teach our children to judge books righteously. We need to judge books, but not to judge people for reading certain books. Include your children in this journey.

Have a family discussion with your child. Share with them some of the things you learned from this video and blog post. Have them watch some of our other videos about books with you. Get them involved in the journey to fill your home with good books by creating a list of book standards your family agrees upon.
Download Free Printable

What if your children do not agree with getting rid of unworthy books and still want to read them? Should they be allowed to still read unworthy books? Well, parents will know best, but consider the fact that children need to learn how to discern between worthy and unworthy literature, and they cannot do that if they're desensitized. They need to be away from unworthy literature long enough that they'll be able to feel the difference for themselves. Children become desensitized to violence, disrespect, negativity, and other poor behavior.

A long time, maybe 1–3 years, is needed without any unworthy books. It's like detoxing, so that the children can then discern and feel for themselves when something is wrong.

Let me tell you about the experience that I had with my own daughter. It took her a couple of years to really start enjoying good and beautiful books. When I could tell that she truly could appreciate them and had been away from those other books long enough, I let her read a book that she wanted from this series that she used to read before this whole journey. She got about a chapter into it, and then she brought it to me and said, "Yeah, I don't want to read this."

Choose good books!

It takes time, but your children can come to know for themselves. Do whatever you have to do to get your children immersed in good and beautiful books. Really good and beautiful books are so fulfilling and make you feel so good that once children learn to discern and get used to the slower pace at times, they will choose those books for themselves.

2. Supply children with as much good literature as you can.

The Good and the Beautiful Book List is a great place to start and offers hundreds and hundreds of books that are completely clean and wholesome. You can find good and beautiful books on our website with our Good and Beautiful Bookshop. You can find used books that are from our list on abebooks.com, and you can even find some of our books on our list on librivox.org, to listen to for free. You can request that your local library purchase books from The Good and the Beautiful Book List. Create a book exchange with other families. The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts curriculum helps teach children to discern and to appreciate good literature. Levels K–8 of our Language Arts courses are totally free. Download the PDFs and print off pages about good literature.

Where to find good books:

The Good and the Beautiful Book List (a searchable database of recommendations for children and parents)
Good and Beautiful Bookshop (purchase original titles)
abebooks.com (used books retailer)
librivox.org (free audio books)
Your local library
Create a book exchange with other families

Sign up or sign in to access the complete book list of more than 1,100 recommended books for children and parents.

3. Make good literature fun and appealing.

Family read alouds, do reward charts, earn a family vacation through reading, find books about your children's wholesome interests, do book displays in your home, read in nature, read books from different cultures and then have a food night. Start a Good and Beautiful book club. One of the other things that I do to get my kids reading a lot of good and beautiful books is I secretly, sneakily make their bedtime earlier, a half an hour, 45 minutes earlier, and then I tell them that they can just go to sleep or they can read good and beautiful books. And what do you think they choose? They read books and get a lot of the reading in.

Ways to help children find joy in reading:

Family read alouds
Reward charts
Earn a family field trip or vacation
Find books that spark your child’s interest
Read in nature
Read about other cultures and have a cultural meal
Start a Good and Beautiful book club
Offer extra reading time at bedtime
Sign up for our Raise Joyful Readers newsletter for more ideas to help you foster a love for reading in your child

4. Set an example.

Read good and beautiful books yourself. We all know that example is one of the most powerful teachers. Read the same books your children are reading at the same times, and discuss what you are reading. Set an example for choosing only wholesome books. Change yourself, and it will deeply affect your children. What if your spouse is not on board? Use gentle persuasion and be a humble example, not an angry, self-righteous example. Sometimes it takes time. Give them that space.

5. Persist.

Expect that adjusting to loving good and beautiful style books may take some children 1–3 years.

Remember that the more roller-coaster books or unworthy books that the child reads, the slower the progress will be. For reluctant readers, don't start with books that are too challenging, and choose the right books for transitioning. Here’s two blog posts with some of the best books for reading aloud to children.