Approximately 3/4 of my ancestry is Mennonites who lived in what is now Ukraine before immigrating to the United States. (The rest were Mennonites who immigrated to the USA directly from what is now Poland without spending approximately 100 years in Ukraine.) [For further explanation, 41 of my direct ancestors immigrated from Ukraine to the USA between 1874 and 1878.]

This is the best book for introducing someone to "Russian" Mennonite history and culture; it is my go-to. It might ostensibly be a picture book for learning the alphabet, but I wouldn't recommend it for that purpose. It is full of words and photos/illustrations. It is as text-dense as the DK non-fiction picture books that I love so much, though this is a different format. I'd estimate that the total time to read every word is a good 15+ minutes, though you will probably want to really look at each picture/photograph of which there are many. 7 recipes are included; I haven't tested them, but they look fairly standard. (As if there is a standard recipe for peppernuts!!!) :D

I'd say that this book is roughly equivalent to walking through the Kauffman Museum on the campus of Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas. I had my significant other read this book and then go through that museum with me and now he is much better equipped to understand the culture that I grew up in. I own lots of other books about Mennonite history, particularly "Russian" Mennonite history, but this is my favorite for getting a fast overview.

As a disclaimer, the author's husband is my 4th cousin twice removed, but that doesn't influence my opinion of this book. Everyone wins when playing the Mennonite Game, though that game isn't explained in this book. ( )