"It's harder to get the theology right when you have fewer words," says the Rev. Anne Kitch, author of the board book One Little Church Mouse, the children's book of prayer poems Bless This Way and other religious texts for children and families. Even finding a good book can be tricky.

"The vast majority of stuff that's out there is crap," says Gretchen Wolff Pritchard, a Christian educator who draws the Sunday Papers and has written several related books for children. Many books published by religious publishers are "terrible, plodding and didactic" or "repulsively cute."

"It's relatively rare," she says, "to find good children's books that really accurately reflect either religious concerns or, even less, religious community of faith that also have literary and artistic quality."

A well-told tale

For Kitch, the key to a good religious children's book is the tale. "It has to be a great story, and there's a lot of religious children's books out there that are more concerned about getting a message across than they are about telling a wonderful story."

Within a great story, it's important to convey an appropriate message. In writing for very young children, Kitch says, "I sweated over every piece of theology implicated. I wanted to make sure that the theology was sound."

"I have a couple examples of books that I think miss the mark," she says. One conveyed that "Jesus will be your friend, too, if you do what he asks you to." In choosing a quality religious children's book, Pritchard says, "my favorite word is `open-ended.'

"It should help you identify and name your feelings and your questions, but only suggest the answers to try to send you back to the story. It should never tell you what to feel." "Try to put yourself in the place of a child having this read to them," she suggests, "and try to imagine: Would they feel like it was reaching into their own secret place? Or would they feel like, `I don't know what this author is trying to get me to think.'

"Some books that are trying to open spirituality for children are really for adults," she adds. "They ask a lot of pseudo-profound questions. Or they reassure adults who are worried about adult things."

Images of God

"From our vantage point," says publisher Stuart Matlins, "the trend is toward ecumenical and very much God-centered children's books. We would not publish things that were otherwise."
Matlins is publisher of Vermont-based SkyLight Paths Publishing, an offshoot of Jewish Lights Publishing developed and led until recently by Episcopalian Jon Sweeney.

"We look for books that focus on the commonalities of all the world's great faith traditions," Matlins says. "We don't publish things that are triumphalist." SkyLight Paths books are "respectful of the intelligence of children and try to provide them with ideas and information that will affect their faith development," he says. "Research shows that children develop their attitudes and ideas about God ... at a very early age, and it is our goal not to tell them lies that they have to be untold when they get older."

As an example, he points to Where Does God Live? "`God lives in us all,' said her mom and her dad. ... `Look into your heart, and you'll see God inside. ... You'll find God is everywhere, the all and all.'" The book is illustrated with photographs of nature and of children of different races.

Picture perfect

Such multiethnic depictions and an emphasis on quality illustrations, whether drawings or photographs, are increasingly common in today's religious children's books, say those in the business.

"Children respond well to a number of kinds of images. Photography is certainly among them," says Frank Tedeschi, vice president and executive editor of Church Publishing in New York.
Church Publishing is exploring the possible development of an enlarged line of children's books. One book already on the market, A World of Wonder, provides color photographs and prayers by Robert Cooper.

These days, Matlins says, "I would agree that illustrations are bigger and bolder and take up more of the page. The color reproduction is also better." "The cliches have changed," Pritchard says. Instead of "cherubic blond children," today's illustrations portray children representing various physical types and ethnic backgrounds. "There isn't this sense that in order to portray God, you have to portray a world that is all kind of pink and perfect and ... sunshine and flowers."

Observes illustrator Preston McDaniels of Aurora, Neb., "I don't think we view childhood the way we did 70, 80 years ago. Different cultures have kind of redefined what childhood should be. I think a lot of our modern attitude we owe to Maurice Sendak in that he kind of said, `Now, come on, let's kind of be a little bit more realistic. There are dark corners in childhood.'"

But realism in portraying childhood isn't the same as producing photo-like drawings. McDaniels' illustrations in books such as Praise the Lord, My Soul portray children of various races, but they don't look "real." In his work, he says, "everything is just kind of from a fantasy world. ... I'm just not a very realistic person."

In the end, of course, choosing a good book for a child depends partly on that child's tastes. And no one trend rules children's books. "At least from my perspective," McDaniels says, "if there is a trend, there is most certainly a countertrend anymore."

For more information on books and publishers mentioned here, visit:
http://www.beulahenterprises.org/ (This website sells books to support the Children's Mission of St. Paul and St. James, New Haven, Conn., which Pritchard runs.)
http://www.churchpublishing.org/
http://www.morehousepublishing.com/
http://www.skylightpaths.com/