by Phoebe Farag Mikhail

Animals play a huge part in the Christmas holiday season. Christ was born in a stable, surrounded by animals, and all of creation rejoiced at His coming. So this year’s holiday book list is all about the animals and the people who love them. One of the children’s books even taught me a few things about Biblical animals I didn’t know. Enjoy the selection below and tell me what you think if you decide to gift these books (to yourself or to others). To enter the giveaways, be sure to subscribe to my email newsletter first, then comment below about which book(s) you would like to be entered for, and why. The giveaway ends on Wednesday, December 12^th, at 11:59 pm EST, US and Canada addresses only please.

For Older Children (Elementary Grades): The Sam and Saucer Series

I could not wait to get my hands on this series when I learned Melinda Johnson had come out with the second book, The Barn and the Book. This two book set is a great gift for children. The books can be read independently by children ages 8 and up, and are appropriate to read aloud for children as young as three. I read the two books aloud to my children ages 3, 6, and 9, and each of them enjoyed them.

Shepherding Sam introduces us to all the characters in the series, most importantly Saucer, the corgi who is trying to find his place on monastery grounds where there are no sheep to herd. When a car full of children visiting the monastery arrives, he finds that sheep are not the only things that could use a shepherd. He befriends a boy named Sam, who is not exactly thrilled to be visiting the monastery, but whose relationship with the little dog changes his relationship to it all. I won’t reveal the ending, but my boys especially loved this part of the story and wanted even more details.

“Keep on reading!” My nine-year old exclaimed when I was interrupted reading The Barn and the Book. That alone is a great indicator of how good this sequel is. A bit longer than Shepherding Sam, The Barn and the Book is a great read for Advent. I wish Ancient Faith Press had slightly changed the cover of this one to include two important female characters in this book – Grace and Sister Anne (my favorite). These characters make this book enjoyable for children and adults, boys and girls. The characters each face their own struggles, ones that we all face, like what God’s will for us is, whether miracles can happen, and whether our talents are still valued when we feel inferior to others. I must admit to choking up as I read the end of the story.

My children have visited monasteries in the past, and although the ones we’ve visited have been in the Egyptian desert or the middle of Cairo, the Sam and Saucer series setting was familiar to them. I’m thrilled to be able to share a book that they can connect with, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series!

Ancient Faith Publishing provided me with a review copy of this book, and I am providing a giveaway of both books to one of my readers! To enter, subscribe to my email newsletter and comment below.

Ancient Faith Publishing is offering 20% off the price of each book if you buy both books together, bringing the price of the set to $20. To purchase the set, click here.

For Younger Children: Paul and His Friends

For younger readers, Paul and His Friends by Rebekah McLeod Hutto (who also wrote The Day God Made Church) is a colorful and engaging book about Paul and all the people he interacted with in the New Testament. As soon as Paraclete Press announced Paul and His Friends, I could not wait till its release so I could read it to my kids. As usual with Paraclete’s children’s books, it is engaging and colorful, but in addition, this one is creative and innovative. What Hutto has done is assign an animal to St. Paul and each of his friends, but not just any animal – animals that have significance in the Bible. So of course, Jesus Christ is depicted as a lion because the Scriptures talk about Him as the “Lion of Judah.” St. Paul is depicted as a honey badger, because they are common in the Holy Land, they look cuddly, and they are also “known for their toughness, just like Paul,” according to Hutto. At the end of the book, Hutto provides explanations and references for each of the animals, to explain why she depicted each character in this way.

My animal-loving three year old was enraptured by the illustrations, and my older children by the stories, especially the way that Hutto talks about each of the friends and how they demonstrate important aspects of friendship. The book can be a great source of discussion at home or in Sunday School not only of the book of Acts and early church history, but also about the meaning of Christian friendship and how to identify and be good friends. For example, Ananius prayed for him, Silas stayed by him when they were imprisoned, and Lydia showed hospitality. I can see an entire summer camp/vacation Bible school curriculum built on Paul and his Friends.

Paraclete Press has provided me with a giveaway copy of Paul and His Friends! To enter, subscribe to my email newsletter and comment below about why you’re interested in this book. Purchase the book through my affiliate link here.

For Young Adults and Adults: Lights on the Mountain

Lights on the Mountain is a new novel by Cheryl Ann Tuggle that I cannot stop raving about. This is the perfect wintertime novel, quiet yet suspenseful, something to curl up with in a blanket with a hot cup of coffee (or cocoa, or tea) and be transported to another realm. This book has animals too: horses, milk cows, and other barn animals, and the main character, Jesse, inherits responsibility for them and the rest of his family farm too early.

But before the story takes us to this loss, we experience with Jesse a transcendent moment that never leaves him – an experience that he knows, deep down, was with God. As more struggles come his way and secrets revealed, we also get to see the work of love and grace. Tuggle writes so beautifully and descriptively that even when I wanted to rush ahead to find out what was going to happen next, I went back to re-read those paragraphs and sentences I skipped over. I didn’t want to miss a single word.

Like The Barn and the Book, a women’s monastery plays a central role in Lights on the Mountain, although we don’t encounter it till much later in the story. In both books we find examples of something I might call “active prayer.” Through their primary responsibility of prayer, these monastics somehow, by their presence, become magnets to the community around them and centers of spiritual life. Far from being useless and solitary, prayer is an attractive, and active force.  In my socially conscious holiday gift guide on my last blog post, my guest blogger highlighted one of those monasteries.

Do yourself a favor and buy two copies of Lights on the Mountain – one for yourself, and one to gift your reading friend. To enter for a SIGNED giveaway copy of this book from Paraclete Press, subscribe to my email newsletter and comment below!

For Older Children, Young Adults and Adults: All Creation Waits

I profiled All Creation Waits by Gayle Boss on a previous blog post when it was first released in 2016, but it is worth sharing again this year with this Advent animal theme. The title comes from Romans 8:19: “All of creation waits with eager longing for God to reveal his children.”  All Creation Waits includes 25 days of meditations and artwork on how animals in nature survive winter. Rather than a typical Advent calendar about the Nativity, Gayle Boss created an advent calendar with her children that addresses the need for Christmas: a world stricken by death and corruption, longing for its Savior and King.

These meditations in All Creation Waits reflect what Boss shared with her children every Advent. They are well-researched, making it a treat for animal lovers, life scientists, and otherwise ignorant urbanites like me. Rather than interpreting everything for us, she leaves the reader to consider how each of these animals points us to the new beginning of the birth of Christ. Consider this line, about the bees surviving winter: “The whole hive knows they will only survive if they shiver together.”  I’ve decided to re-read this book with my nine year old this Advent (I celebrate on January 7^th, so I still have time!), and I am looking forward to this daily treat. Because of the vocabulary and the reference to various animals’ mating habits, I would recommend this particular book for older children and adults, though the book can serve as inspiration for the animal/advent idea for younger ones. This is a book I will return to again and again during the Advent season. Paraclete Press will provide a copy of All Creation Waits to give away to one of my readers, so please subscribe to my email newsletter and then comment below! Purchase the book here, or subscribe to a daily advent email from the book here.

Why subscribe? Email newsletter subscribers don’t just get access to my book giveaways, but also get access to FREE resources, including my Annual Reflection and Planning journal printable, my guide to helping children love reading, my children’s Valentine’s Day craft, and my portable parenting quotes. Plus, joining my email list cuts the social media middleman, sending links to my latest posts straight to your inbox.

Email subscribers will also be the FIRST to hear about the exciting pre-order bonuses I have in store for those who pre-order my forthcoming book, Putting Joy into Practice. To pre-order the book, click here. To learn more about the book, click here.

Some of the links above are affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase via those links, I will receive a small commission for referring you at no extra cost to you. You are under no obligation to purchase the items through my links, but if you do, you will be helping support the cost of running this blog and providing you with the writing and reviews you enjoy. Your support is much appreciated!