Everyone a Child Should Know

Every Child Should Know

by Clare Heath-Whyte

It s never too early to introduce the next generation to some of the heroes of faith. In this book children will meet 52 christian men and women (one for each week of the year) from all walks of life who wanted to live for their friend Jesus. There are missionaries, martyrs, writers, reformers, politicians and poets. Their stories are exciting and inspiring and will show children that any of Jesus friends can do remarkable things for him - even them! The book covers the following people:
Brother Andrew
Augustine
Gladys Aylward
Johann Sebastian Bach
Thomas Barnardo
Corrie ten Boom
William and Catherine Booth
Anne Bradstreet
John Bunyan
John Calvin
William Carey
Amy Carmichael
George Washington Carver
John Chrysostom
Fanny Crosby
Joni Eareckson Tada
Edward VI
Jim and Elisabeth Elliott
Billy Graham
Argula von Grumbach
Mary Jones
Adoniram Judson
John Knox
C. S. Lewis
Eric Liddell
Katie Luther
Martin Luther
Dwight L. Moody
Hannah More
George Mueller
John Newton
Florence Nightingale
Rosa Parks
Patrick Robert Raikes
Rembrandt
Selina, Countess of Huntingdon
Lord Shaftesbury
Mary Slessor
Charles Spurgeon
C. T. Studd
Hudson Taylor
Lilias Trotter
William Tyndale
Charles Wesley
John Wesley
Susanna Wesley
George Whitefield
William Wilberforce
Richard Wurmbrand
John Wycliffe
Katharina Zell

Genres: Biography, Childrens, History, Christian, Faith

112 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2017

About the author

Clare Heath-Whyte is a popular speaker and author of Old Wives Tales and First Wives Club . Clare is Vaughan Robert's sister and is married to David who is a vicar who writes groovy tunes and they have two children. She lives in Morden, South London.

Reviews

[Nancy Ovchinnikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice little intro to the biographies of many great Christians in history. Good level as a read aloud with my kids, all 6 years old and younger.

[Liliya · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intro of into some historical heroes of faith for maybe ages 4-6. There were at least 7 people that I’ve never even heard of!

[Izzy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's cool to read about all the biblical people who lived long ago, some very famous, some not even heard of.

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short bio of notable people from church history.
I read it to my 10 and 13 year old girls and it was a little too young for them. First through third grade would probably be better.
British spelling and wording throughout.

Read to my children at lunch
2024 A book about church history

[Ammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

We will likely reread this daily as we really enjoyed learning about so many, new to us, believers. I think we'll do a little more research into each as we go through it again.

[David Goetz · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good collection of 52 mini-biographies that emphasizes being a friend of Jesus and demonstrates that being his friend radically changes the course of one's life. Each biographical subject gets two pages--the left page a whimsical and colorful drawing of the subject with a Bible verse beneath, the right page a 3-4 paragraph snapshot of the subject's life. Most of the questions with which each biography opens effectively draw the child-reader into the biography. The author did a good job of showing that God can use men and women of all sorts to bear witness to the work of Jesus on our behalf.

A few weaknesses worth noting. First, although the writing is accessible to children, it is otherwise of mediocre quality, and the punctuation occasionally seems arbitrary. Second, the book is strongly biased in favor of men and women from the United Kingdom. Though I can imagine someone objecting that the author is from England and writes primarily for English children. Third, and somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the title is preposterous. Possible titles for a sequel: Everyone Else a Child Needs to Know; or, Everyone a Child Needs to Know: The Expanded Edition; or Some More Everyones a Child Should Know; or, People We Forgot the First Time Round.

Seriously, though, my 3-year-old has enjoyed the book quite a bit. It's fun to hear her walking around talking about Brother Andrew and Augustine and Gladys Aylward.

[Sassa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book with an excellent list of people worthy of further reading, names to fill a biography wish list. Many people I previously knew about but many others I did not. Each person has a short, one-page biography and a selection of Scripture that is appropriate and relevant to that individual. The Scripture choices were very well done!
I do hesitate to the repeated referral to Jesus as a friend. I know this book was written for small children but they should, and easily can, realize Jesus is much, much more.

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Extremely basic and brief.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: Brother Andrew. What do you like most about going to church? Bible stories? Singing? Meeting friends? Did you know there are some countries in the world where Jesus' friends aren't allowed to meet together, or read the Bible, or tell other people about Jesus?

Premise/plot: If you're looking to introduce your child to heroes of the faith, then I'd recommend sharing Everyone A Child Should Know with your family. "There are loads of Christian biographies around for older children and adults, but almost none for younger children--yet it is never too early to introduce the next generation to some of the heroes of the faith. Here we meet fifty-two Christian men and women (one to read every week of the year...) from all walks of life, who wanted to live for their friend Jesus." Each hero is given a two-page spread. One page is an illustration with a bible verse; the other page is a brief biography. There is a lot of variety; the book spans centuries.

My thoughts: I liked this one. I think it would be hard to choose just fifty-two. If I'd been choosing the list, it would be slightly different. I'd definitely want to include Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and maybe James Montgomery Boice. Jerry Bridges. Oh, also A.W. Tozer. And J.C. Ryle. And are there really enough Puritans on the list?! I don't think so!!! Every one's list would be different. I think there's room for a sequel.

[Liz F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great little book. The cover is absolutely adorable!

I learned a lot about great Christians! There were some interesting facts in this book and I love how Clare Heath-Whyte told her story. *applause*

I really appreciated how there was a verse from Psalms describing each character. That is a great idea! :D

AND THE ILLUSTRATIONS!!! A+++++++++++++ Seriously though, they were so incredibly cute. Especially the little picture of something that as mentioned in the biography in the bottom left corner.

This book had a good amount of mini biographies (52 I think) and they were entertaining to read!

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nice overview of various famous Christians. I love how they are all famous for various reasons, rather than all being missionaries, etc. Many of them are people who are famous even in the secular history books, and through this book I learned that they were Christian! However, I don't like how vague this book is about some things. Sometimes you're left not knowing exactlyyy what the person did, but only a vague idea. I also don't like how the author chose to say "Jesus's friend" instead of saying "a Christian." I personally change it when I read it out loud to my kids.

[Christina C · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great little book for an introduction into various people in church history. Every page talks about"Jesus' friend" how being Jesus' friend motivated their actions/faith. The last page gives a simple gospel message and invites children to become Jesus' friend too. I do wish it had more diversity in it. It mostly focuses on believers from Europe and America.

[Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

52 one pagers about notable Christians from the past up until today. Fun to read and the stories spark enough interest for more research information about the subject of each story.

Illustrated and directed to younger people 10 and younger. Or maybe older than 10, like myself!

Fun read.

[Michael Schmid · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good selection of short one-page biographies of famous and some not-so-famous Christians in history. Each story includes a nice drawing of the person and a Bible verse.

[Abby Huette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book to read with our kids. It brought out good discussion and introduced them to many heroes of the faith. I think it’s a great resource for young children—elementary aged.

[Lisa Thompson]

This is a family favorite! We all love reading a page at the dinner table each night. So many great stories!

[Laura Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic and inspiring read. A wonderful picture of God’s story playing out in different people’s lives in different eras. Great for my kids and great for me!

[Gabrielle Houweling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read aloud with the kids- I found it ok. The stories were over simplified and the writing was a little awkward, I changed the words as I went to make it more applicable for my kids

[Anna Houweling · Rating 4 out of 5]

We really enjoyed reading this book as a family. It is a good introduction to hero’s of the faith. Found it was a little too simplified and wish it contained more information.

[Patti Parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent resource for toddlers-preschool age!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Simon Field · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great selection of figures from Christian history covered.. great for our 4 and 6 year old although the theme of being Jesus' friend (on every page) was overused in my opinion.