Great Christmas Gift Idea (or Shameless Self-Promotion)

Ok, this is my blog so I can write what I want, right? Right. So I'm going to plug my own books. I hope you don't mind.

My books Monday Nights in Zarahemla and Monday Nights in Nauvoo are excellent resources for teaching your family about the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. My newest book Monday Nights in Nauvoo will help you and your children better understand the Doctrine and Covenants. I don't know about you, but that book is a tough one to read with children so I included only the sections that contained gospel principles and topics that would apply to their lives or that taught about important events in Church History. I also included a few Church History stories to fill in the gaps. The book is arranged chronologically and includes passages from Joseph Smith History in the Pearl of Great Price. Each lesson is divided up into sections that contain the verses to be read, questions to ask, and
"treasures of knowledge" that help explain words or phrases that might not be known. You can read just one section each time, or you can read several; whatever best fits the needs of your family.

I wrote these books to help transition my children from the picture scripture books into the actual scriptures because just jumping straight into the scriptures was a little overwhelming and confusing. So many of the chapters contained deep doctrine that my young children were not ready for. Most of the lessons in my books contain the same verses found in the picture scriptures so there is already some familiarity for the children to connect with.

Even though the title of my books suggest that they are for Family Home Evening, I actually wrote them for family scripture study and that is what we use them for. They work great for both FHE lessons and scripture study (personal and family). Each time we get together for scripture study we start where we left off, and sometimes we only read a few sections at a time (once and a while we only read one!).

If you have younger children you can still use these books. I would recommend reading a story from the picture scriptures and then finding that story in one of my books and reading just a few verses at time. This helps children to learn where the stories are coming from, and the language of the scriptures. After reading a verse, ask questions to see if the children comprehended it. If they don't know the answer, read the verse again and have them listen to find the answer.

I know from experience that family scripture study can be a struggle for families and wrote these books to help make it easier and more enjoyable. So if you're looking for something like this for yourself, or if you're looking for a great gift idea look no further!

You can buy them at any LDS bookstore or online at deseretbook.com and amazon.com.

And if you don't believe me on how great they are, you can read some unbiased book reviews here and here. :)