Seven Years Old and Preparing for Baptism

by George Durrant

As a seven-year-old boy, George Durrant had several meaningful experiences when he was preparing for baptism. Each of these experiences helped him learn a different gospel principle that strengthened his testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Now as a grandfather, he has written and illustrated this delightful book about that year in his life. He says, The stories in this book ring true, because they are true. They depict the tender feelings of a less-than-perfect seven-year-old who is growing emotionally in ways that will help him or her be prepared to be baptized at the age of eight. Your seven-year-old can read these stories alone, or you can read the book aloud to your young one and discuss ideas that arise. This book will capture the interest and touch the heart of your beloved seven-year-old child who is preparing for baptism.

Genres: Lds, Church, Religion

60 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cannot overemphasize how much we loved this book. Durrant writes these stories on a level that is just right for the target audience. The last baptism book we read was a slog to get through, and I don't think we finished it with any real insights or takeaways, unfortunately. This one not only was more fun to read - it's like a collection of tell-me-about-when-you-were-my-age-Grandpa stories. Most of them start out, "When I was seven years old..." This statement in the last chapter sums it up nicely. He talks about how he learned important gospel principles in Primary and from his parents, then says, "However, ...it was the things that I learned in real life - the things I have told you in this book - that were among the most important things that helped me be prepared to be baptized." While the previous book on baptism we read came with discussion questions after each chapter, this one didn't, yet naturally led to meaningful conversations after our reading. Even before we got the last chapter, we had expressed together how seeing the lessons in young George Durrant's life helped us recognize the lessons we were learning in our own life. The children I read this with are already 8, and were recently baptized. This was in a stack of books I had meant to get through months ago but with some life upheavals, we are just now getting to them. We talked about how even though these lessons are meant to help prepare a child for baptism, they are still stories that we can learn from after baptism as well, to help us to stay on the covenant path.

Another thing all of us enjoyed about this book was the humor. A favorite story was the one in which George brings home an ice cream bar he received in Primary. He wanted to give it to his mother as an apology for treating her poorly and to show her his love. By the time he got home, it had melted, and all that was left was a stick, a pocket full of goo, and melted ice cream that had run down his leg.

A reviewer that rated this book far lower than we did seemed to have missed the humor in one of the stories. When George talks about not liking comic books because the contents of superheroes and space aliens were "not true" as opposed to his "true stories" about the Lone Ranger, he is saying that tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at his 7-year-old self and his boyhood notions. We thought it was funny. I also didn't agree with her assessment that George lied to go play with another child. There is more to the story, so I hope readers don't shy away from the book because of that perception. I'm pretty sensitive to books portraying bad behavior as good, and didn't feel that this was the case at all.

Even though this book is aimed at children preparing for baptism, we are going to be keeping it on our shelves. My kids will enjoy revisiting these stories.

[Caleb Short]

1. My favorite character was the dog because he saved someone.
2. I was surprised that the dog saved a man from getting hit by a car.
3. I would change the ending so that it was long because it's more like a cliffhanger, because it was a really tiny sentence at the end.

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Caveat: This was given to us as a gift. It's not the kind of book I'd normally pick up on my own.

I enjoyed the writing style here. Durrant writes in a conversational, easy-to-read way with simple language many seven-year-olds would be able to read by themselves.

I also enjoyed the historical tidbits -- half-day school for second grade? Super-interesting.

As a book on baptism, I found it a bit odd. "Why does Heavenly Father want us to be eight before we get baptized? This book tells us why," Durrant writes. Stories from his life as a seven-year-old follow, showing how at seven, he was old enough to learn new lessons about honest, service, loyalty, etc. But there's absolutely no mention of what the baptism covenant actually are -- what you're old enough and getting ready *for*. The chapters are about increasing responsibility and developing positive character traits, but not super-specific about baptism.

I found a couple of the chapters odd as well. The one about prayer actually just has a priesthood blessing in it -- "I wanted to have the power of the Priesthood so that if my mother ever got sick I would be able to give her a blessing like he did and make her all better." Not related to priesthood. Not a goal that half the kids getting ready for baptism can have. And I felt like this was simplistic, even for kids -- blessings aren't some kind of magic or medicine that always works. Sometimes the answer is no.

But the chapter on "Loyalty" was the weirdest. After the chapter on honesty, it was odd that lying to one boy to go play with another was framed as a positive thing. All the talk about playing cowboys and Indians makes me feel like we'd need to have a history lesson to explain that this wasn't some good vs. evil dichotomy. And then there was this:

"[The books] did not make sense to me. I just felt that stories of going to other planets and men flying around like birds were not true, and I did not want to read any false stuff. I wanted to stick to things like the Lone Ranger and other true stories."

Yup. I'm sure all the stories about the Lone Ranger were 100% true, involving no fiction, exaggeration, or historical bias. We probably shouldn't read parables, either, because they're all made up. Sigh. Like I said, this isn't something I'd usually pick up. Especially when we could be reading The Hobbit again instead.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this book a five because it is wonderful at accomplishing exactly what I hoped it would! We have several books about baptism but they are all more of a lecture and loose the young child right from the start. Not this one, George is a wonderful story teller and uses dialog that pulls young children in. He uses stories that happened to him during his young life to isslustrate how Heavenly Father was teaching him the things he needed to understand before he made the commitment to be baptized. I only wish I would have found it sooner! It was great for my 8 year as well as a great reminder for my 12 and 10 year old on what we commit to do at baptism. I won't lie, it was a good reminder for me as well! I'm excited to have it in my home.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

George is a great storyteller. He has this low-key, self-effacing sense of humor which immediately draws you in.
This book is wonderful-- I read it to my youngest son when he was seven, about to turn eight, and it was the sweetest experience. We laughed and cried together. There is nothing preachy or didactic here, just these excellent character-building stories that subtly point to why developmentally eight is the ideal age for baptism.

I promptly ordered them for every 7-year-old in our ward primary the next year. And all the 7-year-old cousins as well.

Highly recommended.

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this a five because it fulfilled the intent for which I bought it. I wanted to read it to my children as my son prepared to be bapized. There are a variety of stories from George Durrant's childhood that he shares- each one taught him something and prepared him to be baptized and keep the covenants made. My children ages 7, 5 and 3 all enjoyed listening to the stories and wanted me to read them again.

[Sanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a cute book. It has 11 chapters and each chapter is a story from the author's childhood (when he was 7) about different topics: compassion, honesty, honoring his parents, loyalty, prayer, etc.

The kids and I enjoyed it.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this with my 7 year-old. It was written so well for this exact age.

[Carly Christensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because it told me how to prepare for baptism.