Ingrid Hess

I really enjoyed the book "An Amish Alphabet" by Ingrid Hess. As the title indicates, this text teaches the reader about Amish life and faith through an alphabetic format. I think that is a clever way to expose children to another religion or culture other than their own without offending the reader. My favorite part of the book were the illustrations. The pictures were very simple, but had enough detail to keep them interesting. Also they look as they were done with construction paper. There is no drawings, or paintings, just pieces of construction glued together to create the images. Another interesting part of the book was that there were scriptures under the information pertaining to the letter. For example, the letter E is for electricity has a scripture under the explanation that the Amish do not use electricity because is weakens family and community values. The scripture is then used as an explanation as to why the Amish believe that is so. The incorporated bible verses are used in a way where they are not preaching, but explaining a way of life. The overall idea of this book is to teach children about the Amish, and their belief system.… (more)

As per usual, I received this book because of a GoodReads giveaway. Despite this very kind consideration I give my candid opinion below.

First off, it must be admitted that as alphabet books go this is pretty unique. At the same time it introduces those ubiquitous letters of the English alphabet it gives us some simple factoids about Amish life and culture. How better to let your kids know more about those quiet but industrious people in the buggies? It's a good thought. The book even introduces some relevant verses from the Bible in support of each aspect of Amish culture.

The idea of the book is executed fairly well. The illustrations are colorful, appropriate and well done as paper cut-out art. For the most part the content is 4-6 year-old-appropriate though I do wonder about the inevitable questions that will arise from children when they reach S (Social Security) and X (XXXXXXXX representing quilt stitching, also covered by Q). That said, it's far from a trivial matter to find child-appropriate topics for all 26 letters and also make them properly fit your topic so any slight misstep should be forgiven.

In summary, a good introduction for children to the Amish culture. It'll take a bit of adult explanation in parts but a parent-child face-to-face interaction never hurt anyone so it's all to the good in the end.… (more)