A Child's ABCs of Praise by Patti Wiens is a beautifully illustrated hardback book with about 60 pages. If used as intended, it will become a personal scrapbook for your child. Each set of facing pages represents a word about our Lord and has an activity for your child to complete. For instance, the E page says, "I praise You because You are EVERLASTING." Everlasting is then defined as "has always been." On the facing page is a large circle. The child is instructed to trace the circle with his finger and find the end. The circle has no beginning or ending and is a symbol of "everlasting." The child is then told, "God has made an everlasting promise to love you," and instructed to glue inside the circle pictures of people the child has promised to love. Then Psalm 90:2 is quoted.

At the end of the book are prayer starters. The prayer starter for E is: "Dear Jesus, My friend got a new sister today, but You were never born! You have always been alive. That's amazing! Amen."

The illustrations in the book are photographs and are just beautiful. The entire book is put together like a scrapbook, and with the child's additions to every page, it will truly become a personal testimony of praise. This book is suitable for the Bible portion of your young elementary-aged or preschool-aged child's curriculum. That is my intention for the book. I will use it for my 5-year old granddaughter. I have not seen another resource like this that is hands-on and teaches some very deep spiritual truths along the way. I highly recommend this for young homeschoolers.

I Praise You Because by Patti Wiens is a hardback devotional book with 365 daily devotions for adults. This is a wonderful daily devotional! What I like about it is that no matter how little time you have allotted for yourself on a given day, you can still complete this devotion sometime during the day. Each page is short and sweet and to the point. For instance, Day 146 reads as follows: "You have an eternal plan for all people to know you." Following is Psalm 67:2 (LB) and Today's Truth: "I am a part of God's eternal plan when I share the Good News with others!" Following is a one paragraph "Prayer of Praise." Then the bottom quarter of the page is a section for Personal Meditation, where you fill in your thoughts on the Scripture. That, for me, is the icing on the cake. When you have completed this journal, you will have a year's worth of personal reflections about the Lord.

While this devotional book is targeting adults, I believe it would also be great for teens. What a great way to keep them focused on what is important. Even the child who just wants to get done can take the time to reflect on one of these pages each day and gain some personal insight into the things of our Lord. I intend to add this to my 12-year-old granddaughter's curriculum just as a good day starter for the school day.

Product review by Christine Hindle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June 2011