Review of Grace and Truth and Books' Seven Favorite 19th Century Children's Stories

Grace and Truth Books is a Christian bookstore, but it's not just any Christian bookstore.  According to its website, "Grace and Truth Books isn’t a Christian bookstore that follows the latest trends. We know that the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ has nothing to do with fancy packaging or attempting to resemble secular literature or media." Instead, Grace and Truth Books focuses on glorifying the Lord and on providing its customers with the best selection of Christian literature, both old and new.  Their prices are very competitive, and if you live in the U.S., shipping is free with a $49 purchase!

Through the Review Crew, I received for review 7 Favorite 19th-Century Children's Stories.  Part of the Children's Heritage Instructional Series, these stories were originally published in the 1800s by the American Tract Society.  The ATS was founded in 1825 for the purpose of disseminating Christian literature, which I knew, but what I didn't know was that some of their literature was in the form of these precious stories!

Each of the stories is told in slightly different formats.  Farmer Goodwin's Rule is told all in one chapter in about 18 pages.  The next story, though, Ruth's Reward, is almost twice as long and is told in 3 or so page chapters.  The variety in the length and type of stories makes this book great for families in which some children are more advanced readers than others.  Of course, all books like this were just made for read alouds!

I read this book to all of my children (11, 9, 7, 7), not as part of school, just as pleasure reading.  Because my children, like many homeschooled children, are familiar with and love the classics, the old-fashioned tone of these stories resonated with them.  The formal language, the emphasis on virtue, and the tone of Godliness ever-present make these stories feel like the perfect combination of a bedtime story your great-grandmother (my grandmother) might tell you in Sunday school -- if that makes sense!  These truly are stories.  They are not lessons.  They are not sermons.  They are stories.  If you've ever read Stories from Grandma's Attic, these stories remind me of those.

All of my kids loved all of the stories.  There were no favorites.  There were no "that's for girls," or "that's for boys." Each of the kids took something a little different away from them.  My oldest really enjoyed the more sophisticated vocabulary.  A couple of years ago, in conjunction with her Latin root studies, she did a study on the 100 most used words in classical literature (countenance is number one!).  She was really excited to see so many of those words in these stories.  My twins just love anything that seems old-fashioned.  The Little House books are their favorites of all time.  My youngest son with his special love of Bible stories was very drawn to the wonderful descriptions opening the story of The Lost Lamb.  Truthfully, there is nothing not to recommend these charming stories!

Of course, there's always the price...which in this case is wonderful! This 167 page book is only $6.95! Remember, though, that you get free shipping with a $49 purchase.  Trust me when I say that you won't have any trouble finding other great books on the Grace and Truth Books site.  Christmas anyone!?

Crew members got to review a bunch of different great books from this wonderful publisher, so make sure to read the Crew blog to find some other new favorites.

Disclaimer: I received this book free in exchange for my honest review. I received no other compensation.