ABC's and Sweet Tea: The Kingdom File Series by Barbour Publishing ~ A Homeschool Crew Review

Our newest review is over two fantastic books, Who Was Jonah?, and Who Was Mary, Mother of Jesus? Both of these books are from Barbour Publishing and are in the Kingdom Files series.

I had never heard of the Kingdom Files series before reviewing these books. They were written by author, Matt Koceich. Matt lives in Texas with his wife and children, and is a public school teacher.

I have to say, I was really impressed. In this series, you will find that it's a Bible based biography, and is geared for kids ages 8-12. Each book in the series follows a different Bible character. The story is well told, and lets the reader dive right into that time period.

The first book I want to talk about is Who was Jonah? This is the first one Gav grabbed because we have always enjoyed the story of Jonah. As you can see from the cover, these books are very inviting to any reader.

In the beginning of the book there is a page directed to the reader, or the Reading Detective. It explains all three of the sections that the book is broken down into which are the Fact File, the Action File, and the Power File. These aren't just your regular run of the mill children's books. They are full of information not only about the Bible character, but also about other key people in the Bible.

So before your child even starts the story, they are given the Fact File we talked about earlier. I thought this was such a neat extra to the book. The Fact File tells us all about our character, in this case, Jonah. It gives us his occupation, where he's from, a timeline, and even some key stats.

Now we are ready to get into the Action File portion of the book. This is where we will read
all about Jonah and his adventures. Throughout the story there are Bible verses for reference which is another plus. Gavin told me that he really enjoyed every part of the story. He said it was written in a way that it was not only easy to understand, but also enjoyable. While reading the story there are little clue boxes. They are just little extra bits of encouragement for the reader.

One of my favorite things about the book is the Power File at the end where the reader is given 10 "Power-Ups." These are more in depth bits of encouragement and memory verses covering topics that connect scripture to the reader's lives. Just to name a few are: Obey God, God Cares, God is Faithful, and more. I think these are fantastic because it helps the reader remember just who God is and how much He loves us!

The second book that we were given the privilege to review is Who Was Mary, Mother of Jesus? It again has a very inviting and lovely cover.

Gav hasn't started this book yet, but he's excited to do so. This book follows Mary and the birth of Jesus, so I think we are going to save it for when it gets closer to Christmas. It has all of the same great pieces to it as Who Was Jonah?.

Gav really loved reading these books, and I think he benefited from them even though he is 13. I hope to order some more and add them to our library!