Missionary Books for Children

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When I was making a list of Christian missionary biographies that I have read and benefited from and could readily recommend, it occurred to me that I ought to make a similar list of missionary books written for children. It has been a long time since I read missionary books for children, but I read several both for my own and for gifts for nieces and nephews. But though many of these are still in print, they are not recent, so if you have any to recommend, please feel free to list them in the comments. Some of these are true stories, some are fiction based on true stories, some are biographies, a few may be totally fiction.

These I haven’t read personally but I know enough about the publisher and/or author to believe they would be good:

In addition, though these aren’t written specifically for children, I think they’d be easily understood by children. An older child could probably read them alone, but these books might be especially fun to read together as a family:

  • Cowboy Boots in Darkest Africa by Bill Rice (I read this to my boys during the brief time we home schooled and they enjoyed it quite a bit.)
  • Mimosa by Amy Carmichael

In fact, probably a great many on my original list could be read as a family, but I would definitely hold off on Peace Child and Spirit of the Rainforest as they are quite graphic, though not gratuitous.

There are probably some I have forgotten, and there may be some newer ones that are good as well. Most of these are as adventuresome as any fictional story your children might read with the added benefit of examples of Christian faith and action that glorifies God and draws people to Himself.

(This will also be linked to Semicolon‘s Saturday Review of Books.)

11 thoughts on “Missionary Books for Children”

  1. Thanks for sharing these Barb! A children’s series that I recommend is the Jungle Doctor series by missionary doctor Paul White.

    Originally published in the 1940s, this series of books is based on White’s brief missionary work in Tanganyika.

    Originally presented in radio broadcasts, the 20 book series vividly describes the spiritual darkness of various tribal groups, the light of the gospel presented first through missionary hospitals and later through converted Africans, and grand adventures as various characters worked to help souls and bodies of the people of Tanganyika.

    Our kids were kept on the edge of their seats as my husband halted our daily reading with, “And then something very scary (exciting, mysterious, surprising) happened……but we’ll read about that tomorrow!”

    You can learn more about Paul White and all things Jungle Doctor through the Jungle Doctor website http://www.jungledoctorcomics.com.

  2. I’ll add this to your list, Barbara…
    When my girls were still at home I had them read through the four volumes of “Hero Tales” by Dave and Neta Jackson. Each volume contained 15 or so short biographies of Christian heroes (not all technically missionaries in the specific sense of the word), followed with three short stories about each with a Bible verse to read and some questions to talk about.

    They are great books to introduce kids to people they might know a little about or might not have heard about at all, but who are influential Christians.

  3. Barbara, I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed your series of posts about missionaries. I have read quite a few of these but now have some new ones to find and read thanks to you! You did a wonderful job of condensing their stories and enticing us to read more. These posts were a great blessing.

  4. Thank you, Deb and Lisa! It helps to have first-hand recommendations. I had seen some of the Jungle Doctor series and Hero Tales and wondered about them.

    Thanks, Becka! I am so glad they were a blessing.

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  10. Hi Barbara, and thank you for mentioning four of the books I wrote. I’ve read several in your list, and would also highly recommend Mildred A. Martin’s Missionary Stories with the Millers. Our family loved that one.

    Since three of the books you mentioned are in the Hidden Heroes series (With Two Hands, The Good News Must Go Out, and Witness Men), you and others might be interested to know that books 4 and 5 of that series are coming out this year (2014). I’m working on book 6, about the great work God is doing among the Muslim people in the Middle East. You can read sample chapters of each of my books (and find other material about them) at my website, http://www.heresthejoy.com.

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