
If you are wanting to preserve great children’s books by the best of authors for your family, now is the time to collect and keep some safe for your children and maybe theirs one day!
Is AI destroying the art and magic of children’s books?
I fear that AI is destroying the future of literature.
With the new Alexandrian book burning as AI labs are shredding the human record, it makes me want to continue collecting great children’s books and expand the small library we already have. The price of quality books will only go up and availability will likely go down with time. The systematic pulping of physical books to train artificial intelligence has become an industrial-scale assault on humanity’s cultural inheritance, sanctioned by courts and executed without public outcry. (source)
Now there’s been an explosion of poor-quality AI-generated children’s books, and parents and creators are getting increasingly worried.

Knowing the great children’s authors makes it easier to select what to add to your child’s bookshelf.
A child’s taste in reading is formed in the right or wrong direction while he is under the influence of his parents. Hopefully, parents will invest the time and energy of those formative years and keep their children home to teach them themselves. Sadly, many children lose their way with indoctrination even in the youngest grades in school, and developing a taste for the sexualized trash presented to them.
Without forethought, many parents of young children default to the cheap, trashy, and unwholesome books that have become so common today because often that is all they are aware of.
The bookshelf at the library is full of them and public schools are pushing them on even the youngest of school children.
One of the top desires I had in teaching our children at home was to create a spiritually and emotionally nourishing environment of learning and discovery. We desired to see:
- development of noble character
- spiritual discernment
- a deep sense of family
- self-control
- a sense of beauty
And certain books and authors were one vehicle to take us there. A love of reading the best literature doesn’t come without planning.
The family couch is the very ‘seat’ of learning and family affection! Read-alouds and Bible-reading happens there.
I can’t begin to count the hours of devouring books with titles like Wisdom and the Millers, Richard Scarry’s Best Children’s Books Ever!, Pilgrim’s Progress, Brighty Of the Grand Canyon, and The Bears Of Blue River.

The wonderful book series’ which enriched not only our minds but our hearts include books by such authors as A.M. Anderson and Edith McCall (true stories of mapping the West, forts, rivers, and expeditions through the mountains), James Herriot, Douglas Bond, Marguerite D’Angeli, Beatrix Potter, Thornton Burgess, and Arthur S. Maxwell (Uncle Arthur’s Bedtime Stories).
More authors (from youngest audience to older) that are really loved include (see more titles by clicking the link):
- Jan Brett (includes board books)
- Robert McCloskey (creates wonder in a younger child and develops logic in the Homer Price books)
- Virginia Lee Burton
- Patricia St. John
- Alice Dalgleish
- Elizabeth Yates
- Rosemary Sutcliff (older children’s historical adventure novels)
From the youngest years to the high school years, they were grounded by the Amish Pathway readers series (they are simply excellent for young readers) and captivated by the Lamplighter books (such as Teddy’s Button, Titus Comrade Of the Cross, Jessica’s Mother, etc.). Later, we loved to read aloud the YWAM missionary stories
(Lords Of the Earth, Peace Child)…always full of adventure and the power of God working around the world.
Other Fantastic, Fabulous Books by Authors with Multiple Titles To Explore
- The Green Ember – S.D. Smith
- Greek Slave Boy – Lillian Carroll
- The Bronze Bow – Elizabeth George Speare
- I Saw Three Ships – Elizabeth Goudge
- A Tree for Peter – Kate Seredy
- A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
- The Emperor’s New Clothes – Hans Christian Anderson
- The Children’s Book of Virtues – William J. Bennett
- By Right of Conquest – G.A. Henty
- The Christmas Stove – Alta Halverson Seymour
- On the Far Side of the Mountain – Jean Craighead George
- Wizard of Oz – Frank Baum
- Vinegar Boy – Alberta Hawse
- Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
Since our children were little ones, we’ve curled up with these (and more) adventure books and thoroughly enjoyed entering the world of the colorful characters in our stories. While there are many benefits to reading aloud, to me the most wonderful benefit would have to be the discussions around the dinner table. Rarely do we just read a book without talking about the moral insights and worldview that the book discusses.
Are there other noteworthy books for children that you can recommend to us?
“A love of reading is an acquired taste, not an instinctive preference. The habit of reading is formed in childhood; and a child’s taste in reading is formed in the right direction or in the wrong one while he is under the influence of his parents; and they are directly responsible for the shaping and cultivating of that taste.” – H. Clay Trumbull, Hints on Child Training (1890)
“The mere presence of books in the home builds a child’s belief that they were capable of learning.”
“The most important work you and I will ever do, will be within the walls of our own homes.” ~Harold B. Lee
***For the Full Spike Protein Protocol to protect from transmission from the “V” and to help those who took the “V”, go here.
***If you found value in this writing, please share it, discuss it, and subscribe to my FREE newsletter. Independent, ad-free work like this spreads because of readers like you.
Also, please consider supporting my work by using my Amazon affiliate link when purchasing from there.
Censorship is real, so my Pinterest account was suspended; thankfully, a big part of my main board is still alive through this link!
You can also find me on Facebook, Gab, MeWe, X (Twitter), and Instagram.
©2026 Deep Roots at Home • All Rights Reserved





amanda
Many of my favorite memories are of sitting on the couch reading to my children! One of our favorites that we haven’t read in years was “Amos Fortune.” I remember reading “Understood Betsy” with Hannah. My personal favorite that I haven’t done as a read aloud is “Stepping Heavenward”. We have also enjoyed reading the Catherine Vos Bible story. Joyce Herzog said in one of her talks, “Read to your children from the womb to the tomb.” I couldn’t agree more!
I have not heard of “The Bears of Blue River.” I am checking the library for that one!
Blessings,
Amanda
Jacqueline
Amanda,
You all will LOVE ‘Bears Of Blue River’! I do hope you find it…by Charles Major.
Also for your older ones is ‘The Chosen’ by Chaim Potok. I hope to do a post on it one day 🙂
Denise
We have 4 children ages 13 to 6 and they all enjoy being read to. I’m excited to run across this blog and read all these great titles. I will look them up for sure, thank you!