Back-To-School Books for Spiritual Growth

If you've shopped at a retail store lately, you probably spotted a sure sign that summer break is drawing to a close: disheveled back-to-school supply shelves. You might even have been the parent rummaging through deals, filling up your cart with glue sticks, composition notebooks, and Ticonderoga pencils (preferably pre-sharpened!). School's starting and many of us are transitioning to new family rhythms.

In the midst of this back-to-school rush, we have a special opportunity as parents and caregivers to help orient students spiritually. As we prepare them for a year of learning ahead, we've been called not only to pack their bags but shepherd their hearts.

To that end, we've put together a "supply list" of sorts filled with staff recommendations. Whether your child is excited about school or nervous (or both!), beginning Pre-K or college, there's a book on this back-to-school list for you to read and discuss together.

For the Youngest Learners 

Did God Learn His ABCs?: A Book about God's Knowledge (Tiny Theologian)

Did God ever go to school? Does God need someone to teach him? Is there anything God doesn't know? Children ask all kinds of questions like this, and Amy Gannett, founder and creator of the popular Tiny Theologians brand, aims to answer them in Did God Learn His ABCs? The engaging, rhyming text and bold, delightful illustrations make God's omniscience (His all-knowing nature) understandable, relatable, and applicable for kids 0-4.

Wherever You Go, I Want You to Know

As children embark on life's journey with all their potential and aspirations, express to them your biggest dream with this beautiful illustrated rhyming children's book. As well as teaching children about the only thing that really matters in life, this book also reminds parents that telling their kids about Jesus is more important than anything else.

For the Elementary-Aged Student Making New Friends

Tori Comes Out of Her Shell: When You Are Lonely 

Tori the turtle feels all alone. She has just moved to a new pond and a new school with her family and it seems like everyone has a friend except her. Her teacher notices she feels alone and helps her remember Jesus is always her friend and then along the way she makes some new friends.

Abigail and the Big Start Over: Switch Schools. Make Friends. Fix All the Mess! (Abigail)

New house. New school. New problems! Like many kids, adventurous and creative 9-year-old Abigail experiences lots of ups and downs when it comes to school life, making friends and getting on with parents and siblings. Through both the humorous and serious challenges that arise, Abigail finds herself in one new mess after another. But as she learns all about how Jesus forgave Peter when he messed up again and again, she sees how Jesus can forgive her too.

For the Middle Schooler Navigating School and Faith

This Seat's Saved

Class schedules, locker combinations, and the play for popularity -- middle school is a new world with new rules. At the start of 7th grade, Elita Brown's friends enjoy their seats at the popular lunchroom table. Meanwhile, Elita hides in the bathroom. This is not how she envisioned middle school. With great discussion questions and a main character who learns to read her Bible, trust God for the first time, and understand what it means to be seated with Christ from Ephesians 2:6, This Seat's Saved will help young readers on their journey with Jesus.

How Can I Feel Closer to God? (Big Questions)

If God is real, why doesn't he feel real? How can I make him seem less far away? What does a relationship with Jesus actually look like? What about when going to church or reading the Bible just feels boring and pointless? In this fun and fast-paced book, Chris Morphew shows children how to grow in their relationship with God through the ordinary yet powerful habits of everyday discipleship: prayer, Bible reading, church community, rest and simplicity.

For the High Schooler Facing Teen Pressures

Anxiety: A Student's Guide to Anxiety

We all know the feeling. When you're approaching something that fills you with dread. When your lunch constantly feels like it's about to reappear. Our circumstances crowd in on us until we can't see beyond them. This book will help us to take our eyes off our circumstances and fix them on God.

The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School

The pressure of being a teenager can be overwhelming. School, sports, jobs, and relationships all press in at the same time. But the hardest thing can be feeling alone, that you have no one to share your most difficult problems with. In The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School, thirty authors from many different backgrounds come together to say, “We get it—and Jesus gets it too. Here’s who Jesus is and how he wants to meet you in this intense time.”

The Jesus I Wish I Knew in High School Asian American Edition

These testimonies of growing up Asian American include struggles with belonging, performance issues, fear of failure, living in an honor/shame culture, immigrant parents, eating disorders, sexual assault, and adoption. Each now walks faithfully with Jesus in all of their ethnic and cultural distinctions. 

For the College Student Wanting to Stay Christian

Do Not Be True to Yourself: Countercultural Advice for the Rest of Your Life

Most speeches addressed to high school and college students follow a similar theme: march to the beat of your own drum. This may sound encouraging on the surface, but Scripture exhorts believers to submit their lives to the will of God, not their own desires. In this collection of inspiring sermons and graduation speeches, Kevin DeYoung delivers a motivational, biblical call to young people: serve God faithfully—and if necessary, counter-culturally—in the next season of your life. 

Pressure Points: A Guide to Navigating Student Stress

This humorous, poignant, and conversational guide invites young men and women to practically apply gospel solutions to all of life’s pressures, big or small. From navigating failure, roadblocks, and spiritual warfare to tackling relevant, hard-hitting topics such as drinking, sex, dating, pornography, and the fear of missing out, Pressure Points by Shelby Abbott encourages college students to consider Jesus in the midst of everyday struggles.

Surviving Religion 101: Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College

Drawing on years of experience as a biblical scholar, Michael Kruger addresses common objections to the Christian faith—the exclusivity of Christianity, Christian intolerance, homosexuality, hell, the problem of evil, science, miracles, and the reliability of the Bible. If you're a student dealing with doubt or wrestling with objections to Christianity from fellow students and professors alike, this book will equip you to engage secular challenges with intellectual honesty, compassion, and confidence—and ultimately graduate college with your faith intact.