A new book for young children aims to both teach kids the alphabet and introduce them to new heavenly friends – through pictures and rhymes about more than two dozen saints.

ABC Get to Know the Saints with Me is available through EWTN Publishing Inc., and was written by Caroline Perkins, brand content editor at Church Pop, a service of EWTN.

Perkins told CNA that asking the saints for their intercession is part of her daily prayer life.

“I turn to [the saints’] wisdom during tough times or periods of dryness,” she said. “I also like to learn about new saints!”

Perkins wanted to help families share this love of the saints with their children from a young age.

“Laying a faith-based foundation is so important,” she said. “I can’t imagine where I would be if I didn’t have that to fall on as I got older. The world is providing less than ideal ‘role models’ for our kids.”

ABC Get to Know the Saints with Me teaches letters of the alphabet, each with a picture and a rhyme about the life of saint. The book encourages children to pursue sainthood.

Perkins said she knew she wanted to include some of her personal favorite saints in the book – including Mary, Joseph, Maximilian Kolbe, Faustina, and Pope John Paul II.

“The others I was able to fill in as I went through the alphabet,” she said, noting that with the rich Communion of Saints in the Church, “there are a lot to choose from.”

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