I am a Latter-Day Saint (Mormon)

I was raised Mormon and made a conscious decision to leave the faith as an adult. Given that, it may seem strange that I would choose a book to educate my children on Mormon beliefs, but the fact is that my children's grandparents, cousins, and other relatives from my side of the family still believe and practice. We also live in Utah so a good share of the friends and neighbors are Mormon as well and I feel like they should have a basic understanding of something that they're bound to encounter regularly.

Being Utah, there was a wide selection of books about Mormonism in the children's section, but the majority were written for a Mormon audience. I could only find one book written to explain Mormonism to non-Mormon children titled I am a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) by Gayla Wise. I found it to be adequate, but I didn't love it. I had  been hoping for something respectful, but objective, however this read more like a Mormon missionary would present information. I would have emphasized slightly different information and my son was didn't find it a particularly interesting read, but I'm not aware of any better resources. It did introduce my son to vocabulary that he's likely to hear, such as 'ward', 'preisthood', and 'general conference' and it talked a bit about how the church was formed and what Mormons believe. I would give this book a somewhat neutral rating. Not great, but not terrible either and I'm not aware of a better alternative.

Everyone Prays: Celebrating Faith Around the World

Everyone Prays: Celebrating Faith Around the World by Alexis York Lumbard is a book that illustrates the diversity that exists in various world religions. It does not really get into any specific beliefs or practices (beyond prayer), but it was written in a way that even my three-year-old was able to follow along and learn. Through colorful illustrations, children are shown that there are many different faiths and many different ways to pray. I liked that the book included several lesser known religions such as Sikhs and American Indians as well as the major ones. I also appreciated that the book did a decent job of highlighting some basic similarities between religions while also acknowledging the diversity that exists. It's very clear that while all religions pray, they do not all pray the same way. At the end, there are a couple of pages that offer more details about the various religions and illustrations. It's good information, but I feel it would have been more useful if it had been incorporated into a footnote on each page. I also wish there had been more of a balance between modern and traditional dress in the illustrations. The fact is that most Muslims, Buddhists, American Indians, etc. my children are likely to encounter will probably not look like the people in the illustrations, and I feel that's important for children to understand.

Still, I think this is a good start for introducing young children to world religion. It's not so much information that it overwhelms them, but it gives them a basic overview of religious diversity. After reading, I asked my children what religions that people we know are part of. My kindergartener was aware that many of the people we know are Mormons (though he didn't know the name for it) and also identified some Christian friends. He was surprised when I told him that one of his friends from preschool last year was Muslim. We talked about ways we can be respectful of other people's beliefs, such as when we are guests in their home and they want to bless the meal. I wouldn't recommend it for kids older than 7 or 8, but it's a good resource for younger kids.