My son received this book as a gift from a dear Aunt when he was baptized last year. It was lost in the move and smelled of smoke. After airing out for half a year it doesn't smell too bad and we of course had to chuck the book cover. He read it all the way through really quickly and kept saying, "Mom you have got to read this book!"
When he finished it I asked him which latter-day prophet was his favorite. He thought for a long time and then started reading the book over again. This time a bit slower and taking in more details. His favorite prophet is Ezra Taft Benson.
When he was finally finished, I started reading it. I read it in about 2 1/2 hours. It was really good. It is also historically correct. The author had a primary class and they wanted to be able to relate to the scripture stories. They loved it when she shared about the prophets when they were children. It really brought them to life as a real person. She decided to research all of the prophets and compile the book especially for the children in her Sunday School class to read. She also wanted to include the girls not only the boys in the class so she made sure there were things about the prophets sisters and mothers, not only about the prophets or their dads.
I think Howard W. Hunter will always be my favorite prophet. I saw him in person when I was at the MTC in Utah right before leaving on my mission to Germany. I know he is a prophet called of God. I know that the gospel is restored in the our day and the Book of Mormon is the word of God! I know this without a doubt. After reading this book my testimony of all the prophets has only increased.
I think the most curious thing I got out of the book was the realization that the advisory didn't want these young people to grow up and be prophets. Wilford Woodruff had so many accidents, broke so many bones and barely survived childhood. It is a miracle that he ever grew up to adulthood because he was so close to death so many times. He could have easily died and then who would have been the prophet in 1889? That reminds me of the scripture, something like many are called but few are chosen. Are there lots of children living right now chosen and because of the choices they make they don't reach their full potential and another has to step forward to fill that place? Each one of these boys mother's and father's had such an important part in preparing these young boys for great things. What if the mom chose to be a lazy drunk or just gave up? Would they have still been able to learn the things that prepared them to be a leader in the latter-days? Many of the prophets lost their mom's or dad early in life. The spouse left could have given up and all the children sent to an orphanage or something...would that child still be prepared for serving as a prophet of God later on?
I think our lives are all intertwined. There are children all around us that are chosen for great things and they need us to help. We are chosen to help them or to be in the right place at the right time to help them learn something or feel the spirit or gain a testimony of some gospel point. If we aren't there will it have to be someone else to help or prepare them? It all comes to choices, choosing right or wrong...setting a good example and doing the best we can do.
I like the new apostle Elder Bednar. He was an ordinary boy growing up not too far from where I grew up, San Leandro. He played football...what made him so different then the other boys around here? Anyway...these things and other things are interesting to ponder. I'm sure God has it all worked out. I just don't know if I am really doing my part to the fullest I can...how many of those little children in my Sunbeam class are going to need to be prepared for wonderful things in life? All of them! They are all Heavenly Father's children. We are all living in the best of times, the latter-days...preparing for when Jesus will come again.
Anyway, if you get a hold of this book, read it. It was really worth it for me and my son!
I would say it was definitely a WHOLE BOOK.
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