There is something magnetic about boys and adventure. They simply go together. At the whisper of adventure I find my boys stand more erect, alert. It’s almost as if the adrenaline has started to pump before anything has actually started and they are hooked. Well, when it comes to talking to my boys about walking in relationship with God I always emphasize the adventure. Because walking a life of faith, completely surrendered to God IS an adventure. There is kingdom work to be done and radical living for those that heed God’s call…
My goal as a parent is to cultivate this desire placed in each of them for adventure and help them recognize the grand adventure found in Jesus! As a book lover, I thought I’d compile 10 books that help facilitate this and ignite a boys sense of wonder and desire to pursue this adventure of serving the KING of kings! I’m reminded of our KING-focus and our journey to become modern-day knights!
Here are several picture books and a few chapter books that have inspired (or I hope will inspire) my three boys (8.5, 6.5 and 5 years old) to embrace the wonderful adventure God has for us!
1. Good Morning, God
This book embraces the idea of everyday faith and how boy energy can be funneled into living whole-heartedly for God. {Yes, I’m writing about this book, AGAIN!} It is perfect for the 7 and under crowd!
2. The Squire and the Scroll
Oh the boys love this book. They are inspired to keep the Word of God close as they read this captivating allegory!
3. The Evergreen Wood
I love Pilgrims Progress and this Beatrix Potter-esque book is a family favorite of ours. We picked it up at a used book fair several years ago and read it every year during our summer cabin getaway.
4. Dangerous Journey: The Story of Pilgrims Progress
Living the Christian life certainly isn’t easy or always ‘safe’. This is another favorite take on Pilgrims Progress which is an allegory of walking the Christian life.
5. His Mighty Warrior: A Treasure Map for Your King
OK, I haven’t read this one, YET. But it just vaulted to the top of my Amazon wishlist and we will be getting it soon. With our King-focus and my boys fascination with everything medieval, I know this will be a winner. {ETA: Bought this and ADORE it!!! Oh it is so winsome and definitely inspires the pursuit of the faith adventure!} Speaking of new books I want to check out, I’m intrigued by this one too: A Warrior Prince for God.
6. Voyage with the Vikings
We discovered this one last year in Xander’s book club. It is the first in an Adventures in Odyssey Imagination Station series. This book takes two kids back to the days of Leif Eriksson and showcases his faith and the challenge of being a Christian in a pagan culture. Xander couldn’t put it down and he’s already read it a second time!
7. Stories of the Pilgrims
We discovered this a few years ago. It is an engaging read-aloud that follows the pilgrims from their days in England under persecution, to their journey over to the New World in search of freedom to worship God as they wished. As we read this, it opened up dialogue about how deep their faith was and what they were willing to sacrifice in order to worship God.
8. Nathan Hale: Patriot Spy
Want to give your boys a real-life hero who loved God with all his heart? We loved this beginner chapter book about Nathan Hale. We discovered how he wrestled with God in prayer before becoming a spy and his faith during his final days. Inspiring!
9. Brutchko
My boys haven’t actually read this yet, but it was a childhood favorite of mine about a 19 year old boy who goes down to reach a remote unreached tribe in South America. It is a riveting story and one I can’t wait to introduce to my boys. Adventure in hyper-drive!
10. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
…and the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia. I had to mention this beloved series. I was blown away when the boys recognized the parallels between Aslan and Jesus without me even telling them {and even before Aslan went to the stone table}. The boys are mesmerized with this series and it currently monopolizes much of their pretend play right now.
{Case-in-Point: These are no ordinary knights. It is Reepicheep and the High King Peter from Narnia!} 
Related Posts:
Raising Daniels
King-Focus
Knights-in-Training {including a free printable}
10 Toys to Ignite A Boy’s Imagination
10 Books to Build a Girl’s Faith
5 Great “Faith-Building” Chapter Books
My 9 year old and I recently read The Spirit Flyer series by John Bibee. Highly recommend. It caught his attention and really impacted how he thought of himself. Very clear message of faith in Jesus! 🙂
I’m going to have to check this out. Thanks for the recommendation!
Do you have any recommendations for 15 year old boy who claims he hates reading and is really struggling? Thanks.
I would try to find books that would pique his curiosity. Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings are two series that are typically intriguing to boys. Sometimes I’ll google “interesting books about ___” and try to find something that is on-topic to one of his interests.
Dangerous Journey is more of a picture book format, but there is nothing childish about it. And Brutchko is high on adventure. Sometimes with a reluctant reader it helps to start the first couple of chapters reading-aloud before you encourage them to read the rest on their own.
Thanks for sharing a great list. When your boys are older, have them read “Wild at Heart” by John Elderedge. It isn’t a novel, but a great book my husband actually had me read when we were dating. From the book jacket: ” ….John Eldredge invites men to recover their masculine heart, defined in the image of God.” It is also a great book for women to read to understand why God made men to desire adventure! Who says adventure should stop as you grow up!
Thanks for reminding me about this book. My husband owns it!
This is an excellent book. My teen devoured it and is reading for a second time.
I’m so bummed that I am finding this list only AFTER Christmas!! Bummer!! But I’ve added your list to my “to buy” list, and now I have some great ideas!! Ditto with your “toys to inspire” list! When you posted your “posts from 2013,” evidently I had missed some posts – glad to catch up now, even if it’s too late for Christmas shopping!!
Diana J. 🙂
Might I also suggest the Kingdom series by Chuck Black. A very close second in our home to the Chronicles of Narnia. At just a little older my boys (and later my daughter) enjoyed Ted Dekker’s Lost Books of History series for preteens/teens.
Thank you so much for the recommendations. I’ve loved the Ted Dekker Circle series. I’ll have to check out his series for teens. I’ve never heard of the Kingdom series. I’m putting that on my ‘to-read’ list! I love hearing about tried and true favorites!
I love this list! Can’t wait to read them to my son when he gets older!
Love the list… Thank you so much! We just got The Adventures of Wilder Good, it is an awesome book for boys and faith!!
THANKS!!! I love book recommendations. I’ll definitely be looking into this one!
Love your list topic! What a great collection of books.
Thanks for this post. (Found it on Pinterest) Your criteria for “good” books for your boys seem to line up quite well with ours. 🙂 I look forward to check out a few of these new to me–I’ve had my eye on the Imagination Stations books lately but haven’t tried any. Have you guys read any of the Viking Quest series? Both our boys and our daughter have loved them! {http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SF9R7O/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000SF9R7O&linkCode=as2&tag=walinhigcot07-20}
Love, love this list!! thank you!!!
Thank you for the list. I have a seven year old son. We just finished reading, “Hinds’ Feet on High Places” and he loved it.
Wonderful list! We highly recommend Andrew Peterson ‘s Wingfeather Saga. They are in the same vein as the Chronicles of Narnia. Thank you again for the new ones to try.
Love this list!!
Any chance you’ll make a girl version list?? Pretty please 🙂
Or ask another mom if you’re not as familiar with girl books!
ohhh, I love a good challenge and I’ll definitely be needing some as my girl gets older. I’m going to research this and buy a few to preview. I’m very picky with children’s books… lol. I’ll let you know what I find.
I don’t see why these can’t be girl books, too. Books are books and kids are kids. My daughter loves adventures just as much as any other boy her age.
Absolutely! I’m was and am an adventure loving girl too and LOVE all of these books. Even as an adult, I find that they inspire and spur on my own faith. In putting this list together, I picked books with boy protagonists and one’s that reveal the adventure we have in walking out what God’s called us to do.
I’m putting together a “girl” list and my boys actually like most of the books on this list – even though the main characters in each are girls. 🙂
Suzanne, after researching and reading lots of books, I’ve finally put together my list of books to build a girl’s faith. You can find it here: https://www.heatherhaupt.com/2013/10/29/books-to-build-a-girls-faith/
Wonderful list!! I added several of them to my wish list!
One book series we loved – and where my eldest first saw a “Christ figure” in a book was the Tripod Series by John Christorpher. Sci Fi adventure for older elementary -up. Yep, even mom liked the books. Series include: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, The Pool of Fire, and the prequel, When the Tripods Came.
thank you for this! i have four-year-old twin boys. i’ve put most of these on my amazon wish list!
Four year old twins!!! How much fun. It is such a treat to direct our boys towards the adventure of walking with God!
I’m so excited to find your blog! I’ve found that read alouds are wonderful for eliciting honest discussions with my kids. There’s something about snuggling up together with a good book that seems to open their hearts and make them receptive. I recently posted a list of my favorite Christian picture books here: http://turning-our-hearts.blogspot.com/2011/10/favorite-picture-books-for-children.html, and I see some overlap with your favorites. Your list includes books for boys who are a little older, which is perfect since my oldest is ready for the next level. I am looking forward to reading some of these with him! Thank you!
Loved looking over your books!
Just found your blog through Pinterest, and I can’t wait to dig deeper here, and on your Pinterest pages as well. I’m a Christian homeschooling mom of 3 (ages 5 – boy, 6 – girl and 9 – girl), Charlotte Mason-esque, and I’m always on the lookout for resources to help me mold and shape my kids’ hearts and minds. I have a feeling you’ll be a great source of help for me! 🙂 Blessings to you!
Hi Keri, We sound pretty similar – except my older two are boys. There are definite Charlotte Mason-esque influences in my life! It is always neat to ‘meet’ another like-minded mama!
Thank you for this wonderful list. I can’t wait to check it out!
Thanks for this list, Heather!!! My Ethan is turning 8 in a few weeks and I love to buy him books. Sadly, the only one(s) that we have read are the Chronicles of Narnia. Happily, this gives us lots of ideas! 🙂