Blog Tour/Review: A is for Abinadi, by Heidi Poelman, Illustrated by Jason Pruett

A is for Abinadi, by Heidi Poelman, Illustrated by Jason Pruett
2014, 36p, LDS, Picture Book
My Rating=5 Stars
Source: Provided a copy for an honest review

A is for apple but also for Abinadi! Teach your children about some of the greatest heroes in the scriptures with this beautifully illustrated alphabet book. They will love searching for items that represent each letter while they get to know heroes like Captain Moroni and Esther. Along with learning their ABCs, your children will learn to recognize and love these great Book of Mormon and Bible examples.

My children seemed a little old for the target audience for this book (12 and 9), but I thought I'd try it out on them, anyway. Each page has a different letter of the alphabet and I thought it was fun to see who would pop up on the next page! There are men and women and they come from the Bible and the Book of Mormon.

I actually thought it was a fun way to see how many of the stories my children were familiar with and which ones we need to review. They did pretty well but there were a few they weren't sure about, like O is for Omner, T is for Teancum and U is for Uriah the Hittite.

I enjoyed reading it, too. I like the short paragraph about each person or group of people and like that she uses simple language yet it's not babyish at all. There's enough story given to peak a child's interest in learning more detail about any given person (or all of them).

I also loved the illustrations! They're fun and some of them made me laugh. Like Gideon creating a plan to help the Nephites escape. He's drawn a diagram on a chalkboard and is explaining it to the people gathered around. There are also other "g" pictures to find, like a gorilla, giraffe, grapes, guitar, etc., which is lots of fun for younger children.

As I'm reflecting on this and realizing how much I enjoyed this book, I'm not sure that there is a specific target audience. This is a book that I think adults and children (and hopefully teens) will enjoy! And it's one we will definitely read again.

Amazon  * Cedar Fort * Deseret Book

Heidi Poelman has always loved learning about inspiring people. In A is for Abinadi, she found a way to write about many of her favorites. Heidi received her degrees in communication from Brigham Young University (BA) and Wake Forest University (MA). When she’s not writing, cooking, cleaning, or carpooling, Heidi enjoys reading bedtime stories and going on outdoor adventures with her family. She lives in Utah with her husband and three children.

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Illustrator Jason Pruett has a BFA in industrial design from Brigham Young University and an MFA in illustration from the Academy of Art University. He has created art for games and animation. Jason currently illustrates picture books and the children's comic book Jimmy Brass, 2nd Grade Detective. He lives in the Los Angeles are with his wife.

Be sure to check out his website for coloring pages you can print out!

Website