"Question. How many Gods be there?
Answer: There is but one God in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
-From Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes, 1646
John Cotton's Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes (1646) is a children's catechism and considered the first children's book published in America. It consists of a series of questions and answers related to the teachings of the Puritans and the Reformed Protestant faith. It discusses morals, religious life, the ten commandments, and the last judgment, while being accompanied by hundreds of Bible references.
Since its publication in the 1640s, Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes remained in print for over 200 years and due to its popularity and importance for New England also became known as The Catechism of New England.

JOHN COTTON (1585-1652), a preeminent English clergyman, who was forced by the Church of England in 1632 to flee for New England. There he became an influential New England Puritan leader and minister. Cotton wrote several books, including Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes (1646), a catechism for children, which is considered the first children's book by an American and remained popular into the nineteenth century.