Books like The Grandparenting Effect: 100 fan favorites

By Trevecca Okholm,

Here are 100 books that The Grandparenting Effect fans have personally recommended if you like The Grandparenting Effect. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Bridging Theory and Practice in Children's Spirituality: New Directions for Education, Ministry, and Discipleship

Robbie Castleman Author Of Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children Into the Joy of Worship

From my list on building faith through intergenerational experiences.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve had the joy of ā€œmaking disciplesā€ for a long time. From the time I became a Christian while in college, to raising my own sons as disciples, to 15 years of work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on secular campuses, to the last third of my life as a Professor of Bible and Theology at a Christian University, I have responded to Jesusā€™ Great Commission to ā€œmake disciplesā€ with both the joys and sorrows that calling includes. I have experienced the richness of intergenerational congregations that my pastor-husband has led, and seen our sons grow and mature as Christians through ā€œparenting in the pewā€ before it was a book!

Robbie's book list on building faith through intergenerational experiences

Robbie Castleman Why did Robbie love this book?

This book builds a well-constructed bridge from biblical foundations and educational theories to a multitude of practices in which every person in a congregation is involved in the Christian discipleship of children. The team of diverse writers are bridge builders who have crossed this bridge many times as insightful teachers and well-tested practitioners. From engaging children with age-sensitive and creative ideas for dealing with the ABC's of the gospel to often-neglected areas of children's ministry like grief, disappointment, and racial prejudice, this book will help educators, teachers, leaders, and volunteers in children's ministry give children a head start at lifelong discipleship.

By Mimi L. Larson (editor), Robert J. Keeley (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bridging Theory and Practice in Children's Spirituality as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Bridging Theory and Practice in Children's Spirituality explores the different contexts, methods, and situations that influence and foster a child's spirituality and faith development. Through a blend of theoretical understanding held in tension with practical application, it equips those who are in, or being prepared for, the varied contexts where children are spiritually formed.

It represents a broad range of Christian expression writing from a Christ-centered perspective that furthers the conversation about the next steps in children's spirituality and faith development. Moving beyond the basics of faith nurture and what makes for effective ministry, this resource deepens our understanding ofā€¦


Book cover of Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community and Worship

Robbie Castleman Author Of Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children Into the Joy of Worship

From my list on building faith through intergenerational experiences.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve had the joy of ā€œmaking disciplesā€ for a long time. From the time I became a Christian while in college, to raising my own sons as disciples, to 15 years of work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on secular campuses, to the last third of my life as a Professor of Bible and Theology at a Christian University, I have responded to Jesusā€™ Great Commission to ā€œmake disciplesā€ with both the joys and sorrows that calling includes. I have experienced the richness of intergenerational congregations that my pastor-husband has led, and seen our sons grow and mature as Christians through ā€œparenting in the pewā€ before it was a book!

Robbie's book list on building faith through intergenerational experiences

Robbie Castleman Why did Robbie love this book?

This book is for pastors, lay leaders and professional church educators, and students who want to model congregational life on the kingdom of God instead of marketing strategies designed to appeal to generational narcissism based on individual preference. This is one book that will both encourage and equip congregations to be less 'conformed to the world,' less prone to say, 'I have no need for you.' This is a book that argues persuasively from solid research, as well as the biblical mandate, for congregations to really 'love one another.' This book is honest about the costly demands of intentional intergenerational development as well as its rich rewards.

By Holly Catterton Allen, Christine Lawton Ross,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Intergenerational Christian Formation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts." -Psalm 145:4
Most churches and faith communities segment their ministries by age and generation. The kids go to children's church, the teens go to youth group. Worship services are geared toward different generational preferences, and small groups gather people at the same life stage, whether singles, young marrieds, parents, or empty nesters. In some congregations, people may never interact with those of other ages.
But it was not always so. Throughout biblical tradition and the majority of history, communities of faith included people of all ages togetherā€¦


Book cover of Faith on the Edge: Daring to Follow Jesus

Robbie Castleman Author Of Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children Into the Joy of Worship

From my list on building faith through intergenerational experiences.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve had the joy of ā€œmaking disciplesā€ for a long time. From the time I became a Christian while in college, to raising my own sons as disciples, to 15 years of work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on secular campuses, to the last third of my life as a Professor of Bible and Theology at a Christian University, I have responded to Jesusā€™ Great Commission to ā€œmake disciplesā€ with both the joys and sorrows that calling includes. I have experienced the richness of intergenerational congregations that my pastor-husband has led, and seen our sons grow and mature as Christians through ā€œparenting in the pewā€ before it was a book!

Robbie's book list on building faith through intergenerational experiences

Robbie Castleman Why did Robbie love this book?

This multi-author book is a terrific resource for older teens and college students to navigate ā€œgrowing upā€ well and maturing in their own faith commitment and practices. Chapters offer good advice and the reasons behind the advice for faith challenges, dealing with failure, forgiving parents as a part of loving them, finding a new congregation for worship, work, and witness, as well as dealing with sexuality, morals, justice issues, vision for missions, and creation care and much more! This book is a practical as well as a biblically faithful guide for the transformation of a lifetime as children empty the nest into adulthood. I give this book as a graduation gift to every high-schooler I know!

By Paul Tokunaga (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Faith on the Edge as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Do you want to live for Jesus but struggle with what that means day by day? The deep desire of our hearts to be close to God is so easily sidetracked by daily realities. This book is designed to cover the areas of faith and life that you most want to bring together under God's leadership: decision-making dating and relationships racial reconciliation suffering experiencing God loving your parents emotional healing time management everyday evangelism hope for times of failure Following Jesus is a wild and wonderful journey. It is perhaps the riskiest choice you will ever make. And the mostā€¦


If you love The Grandparenting Effect...

Ad

Book cover of This Animal Body

This Animal Body by Meredith Walters,

Neuroscience PhD student Frankie Conner has finally gotten her life togetherā€”sheā€™s determined to discover the cause of her depression and find a cure for herself and everyone like her. But the first day of her program, she meets a group of talking animals who have an urgent message they refuseā€¦

Book cover of A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

Robbie Castleman Author Of Parenting in the Pew: Guiding Your Children Into the Joy of Worship

From my list on building faith through intergenerational experiences.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve had the joy of ā€œmaking disciplesā€ for a long time. From the time I became a Christian while in college, to raising my own sons as disciples, to 15 years of work with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship on secular campuses, to the last third of my life as a Professor of Bible and Theology at a Christian University, I have responded to Jesusā€™ Great Commission to ā€œmake disciplesā€ with both the joys and sorrows that calling includes. I have experienced the richness of intergenerational congregations that my pastor-husband has led, and seen our sons grow and mature as Christians through ā€œparenting in the pewā€ before it was a book!

Robbie's book list on building faith through intergenerational experiences

Robbie Castleman Why did Robbie love this book?

This is simply the best book on biblical discipleship I have ever read, and I have read it multiple times in disciplining my own children, grandchildren as well as the college students I have taught for many years. The book is a devotional commentary based on the ā€œPsalms of Ascentā€, Psalm 120ā€”134. These psalms are pilgrim songs to sing throughout a lifetime, as we journey from where we are and who we are, to being ā€œbrought to completionā€ as mature disciples of the Lord Jesus. This book is as honest as the psalms themselves dealing with both the hazards of the journey in times and places with people who are hostile to faith as well as the discouragements and confusion all Godā€™s people experience when disappointed by God, emptied of hope and asking, ā€œis this journey worth it?ā€ Petersonā€™s pastoral heart and poignant wisdom in this book is a pricelessā€¦

By Eugene H. Peterson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Long Obedience in the Same Direction as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Since Eugene Peterson first wrote this spiritual formation classic nearly forty years ago, hundreds of thousands of Christians have been inspired by its call to deeper discipleship. As a society, we are still obsessed with the immediate; new technologies have only intensified our quest for the quick fix. But Peterson's time-tested prescription for discipleship remains the same-a long obedience in the same direction. Following Jesus in this way requires a deepening life of prayer, and throughout history Christians have learned to pray from the Psalms. Peterson finds encouragement for today's pilgrims in the Songs of Ascents (Psalms 120-134), sung byā€¦


Book cover of The Greatest

IsmƩe Williams Author Of Abuelo, the Sea, and Me

From my list on picture books for grandparents to read to grandkids.

Why am I passionate about this?

My grandparents played a pivotal role in my childhood, living with us and raising my brother and me while my parents worked long hours. Some of my favorite memories of those years are lying in bed as Abuelo told me stories that made me laugh instead of making me sleepy, cooking picadillo with my abuela in the kitchen, and going on long walks along the beach with my abuelo. Though they didnā€™t speak to me in Spanish, they taught me to sing nursery rhymes and enticed me with sticks of Big Red gum to get me to learn how to roll my rā€™s. 

IsmƩe's book list on picture books for grandparents to read to grandkids

IsmƩe Williams Why did IsmƩe love this book?

This is a love story to grandparents everywhere but what I find interesting is that this story features the grandfather as the main character, and not the child. I love this story because it shows the grandfather being humble and feeling blessed as he does not quite understand why his grandchildren believe him to be the greatest at everything - for surely he is no Mozart when it comes to music, or Picasso when it comes to drawing. Even when his grandchildren exclaim he is the greatest storyteller, the grandfather looks back at those who came before him and taught him to tell stories, and lead a seder, and gives his ancestors the credit.

I absolutely love how the grandfather grapples with whether to tell the grandkids all of this - that he is really not that special at all - but then realizes that it is the LOVE thatā€¦

By Vesper Stamper, Veera Hiranandani,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Greatest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.


Book cover of Great Granny Webster

Nancy Schoenberger Author Of Blanche: The Life and Times of Tennessee Williams's Greatest Creation

From my list on gothic tales of houses.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always loved novels and stories in which houses have a strong presence, beginning with Nathanial Hawthorneā€™s House of the Seven Gables, Edgar Allan Poeā€™s The Fall of the Houses of Usher, and Charlotte Bronteā€™s Jane Eyre. In tales like these, the family home ā€” whether a birthright or an accidental place of abode ā€” not only provides a shivery, Gothic atmosphere but also stands as a metaphor for the sicknesses that can sometimes fester in families -- paranoia, isolation, emotional incest. Belle Reve, Blanche, and Stella's decaying and sold-off ancestral home, hovers over ā€œA Streetcar Named Desire.ā€ My favorite house-themed books begin with two works by the incomparable Shirley Jackson.

Nancy's book list on gothic tales of houses

Nancy Schoenberger Why did Nancy love this book?

I read all of Blackwoodā€™s novels and stories when researching my first biography, on the life of Caroline Blackwood. This is the one that stayed with me, Blackwoodā€™s semi-autobiographical novella of Dunmartin Manor, housing three generations of Websters and Dunmartins. From the cold cruelty of the narratorā€™s great grandmother, to the fairy-like madness of her grandmother, and the tragedy of her fun-loving but suicidal Aunt Lavinia, all seem like extensions of the mansionā€”a decaying, grand old house, freezing in the winter, sweltering in the summer, and given to flooding. Like the house itself, the characters are trapped by the weight of their own Anglo-Irish, aristocratic history. No conflagration here, except for the cremation of Great Granny Webster.

By Caroline Blackwood,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Great Granny Webster as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A ā€œshocking, brilliant, and wickedly funnyā€ novel that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the lives of eccentric aristocrats (Jonathan Raban, author of Bad Land)

Great Granny Webster is Caroline Blackwoodā€™s masterpiece. Heiress to the Guinness fortune, Blackwood was celebrated as a great beauty and dazzling raconteur long before she made her name as a strikingly original writer. This macabre, mordantly funny, partly auto-biographical novel reveals the gothic craziness behind the scenes in the great houses of the aristocracy, as witnessed through the unsparing eyes of an orphaned teenage girl. Great Granny Webster herself is a fabulous monster, the chilliest ofā€¦


If you love Trevecca Okholm...

Ad

Book cover of The Curiosity Cycle: Preparing Your Child for the Ongoing Technological Explosion

The Curiosity Cycle by Jonathan Mugan,

The Curiosity Cycle is a book for parents and educators who want to teach their children to be active explorers of the world. Learning through curiosity leads to adaptive thinking because your child is continually trying to improve his or her understanding of the world, and new facts and ideasā€¦

Book cover of Brand-New Bubbe

Varsha Bajaj Author Of A Garland of Henna

From my list on inter-generational themes.

Why am I passionate about this?

Itā€™s often said that it takes a village to raise a child. I grew up in an intergenerational family in India. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles provided that extended community. Grandparents can pass down traditions, ensuring the preservation of culture. Stories that speak to the reality of multi-generational households can normalize and celebrate the presence of elders. The number of Americans living in multigenerational households is about four times larger than it was in the 1970s, yet the educational potential and the joy of these relationships are often ignored in literature.

Varsha's book list on inter-generational themes

Varsha Bajaj Why did Varsha love this book?

This book reminded me that families change and evolve. Jillian is getting a third grandmother, and sheā€™s not sure she needs one more till they embark on making some matzo ball soup. The illustrations in this book are delightful and make the characters come alive.

By Sarah Aronson, Ariel Landy (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Brand-New Bubbe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

Jillian isn't so sure she needs a third grandma now that her stepdad is joining the family, but can her brand-new Bubbe win her over?

When Jillian joins Bubbe for some mom-mandated matzo ball soup making, she realizes she has room in her heart (and stomach!) for one more grandmother. But how can she convince Noni and Gram she still loves them just as much? A super soup celebration, of course! Chaos in the kitchen leads to matzo ball soup, spicy gazpacho, meatball soup, and a trio of grandmas united in their love for their family.

Complete with all threeā€¦


Book cover of The Celestial Realm

Niamh Campbell Author Of We Were Young

From my list on capturing the haunted geography of Dublin.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m an Irish writer drawn to the ways in which the biggest questions ā€“ of human nature, existence, late capitalist realism, politics, ethics, and consciousness ā€“ play out via the minutiae of specific locations; in this case, the city of Dublin, where Iā€™ve spent most of my adult life. I donā€™t think of cities as monuments but living and complex microcosms of concerns and urgencies the whole world shares.

Niamh's book list on capturing the haunted geography of Dublin

Niamh Campbell Why did Niamh love this book?

A non-fiction recommendation this time, and a recent release.

Henniganā€™s essay collection is a beautifully written account of the final years, and opaque recollections, of her grandmother Phil, who spent much of her life in various psychiatric institutions.

I have been interested in this theme for years ā€“ Ireland, in the first decades after independence from Britain, has some of the highest rates of citizen incarceration in the world: prisons, borstals, orphanages, magdalen laundries, and psychiatric hospitals both provided employment and regulation and also kept a whole population of ā€˜problemā€™ people out of sight).

This fact, and its repercussions in culture today, fascinate me, and Henniganā€™s gentle and loving consideration of Philā€™s trauma, loneliness, mania, and the maternal lineage it involves (her own mother was institutionalized) is also an angry illustration of just how badly women and the working class have been treated here.

By Molly Hennigan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Celestial Realm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Phil doesn't like physical affection. She doesn't love you because you don't exist. She doesn't care if you have something important coming up. A busy week, a daunting appointment, a divorce, because she believes the world is going to end in the morning. Every morning."

Having grown up visiting her grandmother in various psychiatric hospitals, Molly Hennigan began writing about the gaps in and intimacies of her relationship with this matriarch. Tracing the organic path of her grandmother's experience to her great-grandmother's time in Irish mental hospitals, she explores her own family trauma and what it means to be anā€¦


Book cover of And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer

Louis V. Clark III Author Of How to Be an Indian in the 21st Century

From my list on understanding each other in a troubled world.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was born on the Oneida reservation in Wisconsin. Raised during the often troubled, often wonderful decade of the 1960s, I learned to stand up for what I thought was right. I joined forces with my beautiful wife during our high school years, and together, we ran away to build our own life aided by the Oneida principle of ā€œlooking ahead seven generations.ā€ Encountering many obstacles along the way, including a poetry professor who said that what I wrote wasnā€™t poetry and a theater professor who said that if what I wrote was any good it was already being done. Still, I continue to write.

Louis' book list on understanding each other in a troubled world

Louis V. Clark III Why did Louis love this book?

This was just a wonderful, very well-written story that moved my emotions. It is a love story between an old man and his grandson. It is a story we all may live someday as the old man disappears day by day. So much so that we all slowly face our inevitable sundowns and leave the world, giving only love and memories to those we leave behind.

By Fredrik Backman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The tender and moving novella from the author of A Man Called Ove and Anxious People

'I read this beautifully imagined and moving novella in one sitting, utterly wowed, wanting to share it with everyone I know' Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice
_________

Grandpa and Noah are sitting on a bench in a square that keeps getting smaller every day.

As they wait together on the bench, they tell jokes and discuss their shared love of mathematics. Grandpa recalls what it was like to fall in love with his wife, what it was like toā€¦


If you love The Grandparenting Effect...

Ad

Book cover of At What Cost, Silence?

At What Cost, Silence? by Karen Lynne Klink,

Secrets, misunderstandings, and a plethora of family conflicts abound in this historical novel set along the Brazos River in antebellum Washington County, East Texas.

It is a compelling story of two neighboring plantation families and a few of the enslaved people who serve them. These two plantations are a microcosmā€¦

Book cover of Never Forget Eleanor

Anne O'Brien Carelli Author Of I'll Remember, Poppy

From my list on dementia and Alzheimerā€™s disease for children.

Why am I passionate about this?

As an educator, author of childrenā€™s books, and caregiver of a loved one with dementia, I felt that I had to write a story about the disease from a childā€™s point of view. When I became a caregiver, I was struck by the lack of information for children and the misconceptions of the public about the disease. I wanted to create a story that reassures children and gives them guidance on how they can help be a caregiver. I added the Authorā€™s Note to provide accurate information to adults so that more people are aware of the signs of dementia and to build understanding and compassion. 


Anne's book list on dementia and Alzheimerā€™s disease for children

Anne O'Brien Carelli Why did Anne love this book?

This story shows how an individual who loves crossword puzzles and storytelling can be affected by the disease of dementia.

Elijah notices that his grandmother Eleanor is struggling with language and figures out a way to carry on her legacy. Itā€™s so nice to see this aspect of the disease (memory and language) addressed in a positive, helpful way.

By Jason June, Loren Long (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Never Forget Eleanor as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 4, 5, 6, and 7.

What is this book about?

This poignant story from New York Times bestselling author Jason June and #1 New York Times bestselling illustrator Loren Long reminds us of the life-changing power of words and the ways we remember the ones we love who've been affected by Alzheimer's or dementia. Perfect for fans of Drawn Together and The Rough Patch.

Elijah loves spending time with his grandma Eleanor. She knows all the best words to answer tricky crossword puzzles and to tell the most beautiful stories to her family and friends.

Everyone calls her "Never Forget Eleanor" because she remembers every word she reads and personā€¦


Book cover of Bridging Theory and Practice in Children's Spirituality: New Directions for Education, Ministry, and Discipleship
Book cover of Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community and Worship
Book cover of Faith on the Edge: Daring to Follow Jesus

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,847

readers submitted
so far, will you?