The Church History ABC’s (Review)

“A is for apricot, apple, and Augustine—Africa’s ancient bishop.”

“B is for boat, berries, and Anne Bradstreet, America’s first bard.”

The Church History ABC’s, by Stephen J. Nichols and Ned Bustard,  is a picture book for elementary aged children that profiles 26 heroes of the Faith. This is a fun way to introduce young children to names and people that are an important part of their Christian heritage.  I have to admit—when we first received the book, I wondered, “Is there really a famous Christian hero for every letter of the alphabet?” I turned to the back of the book to look at some of the less commonly used letters…sure enough—Z is for Ulrich Zwingli (Swiss reformer), X is for Francis Xavier (missionary to Asia),  Q is for Queen Jeanne of Navarre, who provided sanctuary for Huguenots. Fun!

The book provides learning on a variety of levels. Young children can be read just the opening A is for…. ditty on each page. Older children will enjoy the longer paragraph that gives more information on each church hero. And the back of the book includes more facts on each hero that will be of interest to even older children and adults.

The Church History ABC’s website features handwriting pages, coloring pages and other activities that coordinate with the book. Even more fun! This book will be a well used part of our library.

My only caution—if you are not Protestant, this might not appeal to you, since many of the featured heroes are the Protestant reformers—Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, Knox…. Of course, more ancient heroes of the faith are represented as well, such as Augustine, Hippolytus, Ignatius, and St. Patrick.

I received a free review copy of this book from Crossway as part of their Book Review Program.