By MICHELLE JOHNSON
If you’re searching for a Christmas present for young children, you can’t go wrong with “My First Book of Mormon Stories,” retold by Deanna Draper Buck.
This book is designed for younger kids than the traditional Book of Mormon readers. And I mean young. Toddlers and preschoolers alike will love to thumb through the pages.
And the pages are likewise ready for them. Made of sturdy board construction, this book is ready for all that the kids can dish out.
The stories themselves are complete, yet simple enough to keep the kids’ attention and not confuse them. None of the stories are longer than two pages, and they are always on facing pages so there are no page-turning distractions.
Some of the stories included are “Nephi Had Faith,” “The Army of Helaman,” “Jesus Visits the Promised Land,” and “Joseph Smith,” which tells the story of how the book was found and translated. There are 21 stories in all.
Finding books for toddlers is often a difficult task, especially if related to the scriptures. This one, however, is simlple enough for toddlers to understand and preschoolers to memorize. It may even pique their interest enough to make them want to check out Mom and Dad’s “big” scriptures.
The only “con” to the volume that I see is its size. Because it is made in a board-book style, it is large, heavy and cumbersome to lug around. But it is wonderful in enough other ways that lugging it around is something you’ll adjust to, as you won’t want to head to sacrament meeting without it.
“My First Book of Mormon Stories” provides an excellent opportunity to introduce very young children to the scriptures. This one will definitely be under our tree Christmas morning.
This book is published by Deseret Book with a list price of $10.95
