by Phoebe Farag Mikhail

Parents, Sunday school teachers, and anyone with children in their lives, rejoice! Today I present my new Picture Book Guide to Advent, a resource providing opportunities for meaningful connections with children through books during this important liturgical season.

Much like my Picture Book Guide to Great Lent, this FREE ebook offers suggestions for children’s picture books for every week of Advent as well as the Feast of the Nativity, based on the Coptic Orthodox Church’s lectionary for the season (which draws from Luke 1-2, John 1, and Matthew 1). Subscribers to my email newsletter now have access to 29 page guide, containing 22 picture book suggestions, with book summaries and links. Click here to subscribe, receive the password in your welcome email, and download your copy here.

The Advent Fast, much like Great Lent, can represent a bit of a challenge for families, especially those with young children. The world around us seems to celebrate the season with us, but it narrowly focuses on its external, consumerist aspects: lights, Christmas trees, decorations, gift giving, and gift buying. Our job as families is to use these external aspects to refocus ourselves and our children on the true purpose of the season: awaiting the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Going through each week of Advent (known as the month of Kiahk in the Coptic Orthodox Tradition), each section focuses on some of the spiritual lessons of the week’s Gospel reading, and then suggests several children’s picture books to connect us to those lessons and spark conversation. Almost all the books are easily found at the public library or purchased online and from major booksellers. Discussion questions after each book list help connect the stories to the Gospel reading as well.

If you are already a Being in Community email subscriber, the link and password to download your ebook is already in your subscriber welcome email. If you can’t find it, check your spam folder, and if you still can’t find it, please email me at phoebe at beingincommunity dot com. If you are not yet a subscriber, click here to subscribe, and when you confirm your subscription, you will receive a confirmation email with the link and password to all the free resources available to my subscribers.

For those interested in adult books suitable for Advent spiritual reading, check out my Orthodox Christian Advent Reading List here.