Summer is finally here and if you’re heading out on a long road trip for vacation, you’re going to need some great books to get you through the drive. We’ve got some suggestions for the whole family!

Reading a new story…

ColorFull: Celebrating the Colors God Gave Us by Dorena Williamson and illustrated by Ying-Hwa Hu and Cornelius Van Wright

Why be colorblind when we can be colorFULL instead? Imani and Kayla are the best of friends who are learning to celebrate their different skin colors. As they look around them at the amazing colors in nature, they can see that their skin is another example of God’s creativity! This joyful story takes a new approach to discussing race: instead of being colorblind, we can choose to celebrate each color God gave us and be colorFULL instead.

Asking questions to learn truth…

Cornerstones: 200 Questions & Answers to Learn Truth by Brian Dembowczyk

How can parents teach kids to know God’s truth? By asking and answering the right questions. For centuries, parents have used the ancient method of learning and reciting questions and answers to teach the core doctrines of the faith. This beautifully designed book uses this regular rhythm of asking and answering to introduce children to spiritual truths and spark a hunger within them to know God even more. Through 200 questions and answers, Cornerstones covers such principles as God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, sin, redemption, the church, restoration, and more. The whole family can use the book together, or children can use it on their own since each question and answer is written to make these foundational doctrines accessible. Ask these right questions, and give your children the right answers on how to truly live their lives for God. A companion parent guide (Cornerstones: 200 Questions and Answers to Teach Truth) is also available.

Having fun while learning about the Bible…

Big and Little Coloring Devotional by Jacy Corral and illustrated by Rachel Swanson

Kids crave constant activities and attention. Adults crave quiet moments of refreshment. How can we achieve both? Big and Little Coloring Devotional engages adults’ minds with appealing biblical devotionals while providing a creative outlet through coloring to diffuse stress.Let’s have fun with our children through coloring and facilitate their spiritual growth with Scripture. Big and Little Coloring Devotional will incorporate physical, spiritual, and emotional refreshment by providing authentic faith-filled devotionals combined with therapeutic doodling for both the adult and child.

The Big Picture Interactive Bible Story Coloring & Activity Book

Filled with more than 200 coloring pages and more than 150 activity pages for young children, this Bible Story Coloring and Activity Book from The Big Picture Interactive provides hours of fun. Here are some of the great activities your kids will love: word searches, mazes, connect the dots, hidden messages, fill in the blank, secret code, matching, find it, unscramble, and more!

Look & Find Bible Storybook

Look, Find, and Learn!In Look and Find Bible Storybook, you’ll read eight adventure-filled stories from the Bible and explore each extra-busy scene. Learn about Creation, Noah’s Ark, the exodus, David & Goliath, Jonah, Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ miracle of feeding the 5,000, Easter and the ascension and more! Then open the large flaps to explore each story’s scene and reveal a look-and-find checklist. You can search for dozens of people, animals, and objects. Use a write-on wipe-off marker to search over and over again and enjoy hours of look-and-find fun!

Learning to share our stories…

If You Only Knew: My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story of Becoming Free by Jamie Ivey

What if you knew all the moments of my past that I am not proud of? What if you really knew me, the messy parts that I’ve hoped to forget and worked hard to conceal? For so long, my greatest fear was what you might think of me if you only knew the whole story. It’s exhausting, this guarding of our stories and struggles. Fear of being found out had caused me to hide—but I wasn’t just covering my flaws, I was unintentionally blocking the beauty of God’s grace. My journey to real freedom began when I quit running from my mess and started trusting Jesus to make something beautiful of it. This book is that story. It’s stepping out of shame and insecurity into gospel freedom. It’s  letting God turn our failures and frailties into testimonies of His faithfulness. I’ve discovered that when we quit hiding, God gets the glory and we are able to fully embrace not only our relationship with Him, but also with one another. Transparency brings freedom, and in every moment, we’ll find that God can absolutely be trusted.

Exploring curiosity…

The Curious Christian: How Discovering Wonder Enriches Every Part of Life by Barnabas Piper

Curiosity is such a childish word, right? Not so fast. Just because we grow up doesn’t mean we should lose our wonder at the world, or the people around us. When we do, we lose so much because curious is how God made us to be. Without curiosity a Christian’s life is incomplete. His relationship with God is incomplete. His connections to others are incomplete. He doesn’t know how to interact with the world around him—politics, media, art, entertainment, science, and so much more simply fly past or overwhelm him. Without curiosity he can never discover deep things, deep connections God tucked below the banal surface of life. Author Barnabas Piper explores what curiosity is, and how it affects relationships. What if people so sought to learn about each other that the most unlikely people became advocates and friends? It would be transformative, and it would stem from curiosity.