Ah, yes, children's bibles. Love 'em or hate 'em, most Christian parents read them to their kids. If you've ever tried to buy one, you'll know how many there are!Most are collections of bible stories picked with an eye to "things kids like and can relate to". These range from good to indifferent. You'll probably want a few on your shelf for different ages. I reviewed lots in this post (recently updated).
Some kids' bibles are more interpretative. They give kids a biblical theology - an overview of God's big saving plan - and show how every bible story points to Jesus, which is brilliant. There are two excellent bibles for younger children that fit this category - The Big Picture Story Bible and The Jesus Storybook Bible (I reviewed them here).
A couple of years ago, another children's bible was published that shows how every story is fulfilled by Jesus: The Gospel Story Bible. I've been reading it with Andy (7) and Thomas (10). The writing is clear but dense and the ideas challenging, and it's not highly readable - it's sometimes a little over Andy's head - so it's more suited to older children than the two I just mentioned; but it's still a good choice.
My friend Deb says, "It’s much meatier than most children’s bibles. It is not straight text – it is still a re-telling of the story – but it sticks closely to the text and doesn’t add in too many imaginative details." We read to our whole family from a complete bible too, but it's helpful for my younger children to hear the fuller story in an accessible format.
At the end of each story is a paragraph explaining how it's fulfilled in Jesus; these are mostly excellent. My kids particularly enjoy the 3 discussion questions that go with each story - a great way of revising the story and driving the point home. The pages are bright and glossy (a bit hard on these old eyes, but the kids love them!) and the pictures unusual and eye-catching.
So if you're looking for a children's story bible for ages 7-12, one that will show kids how every story points to Jesus, you might have just found it.
If you want to find out more, check out ...
my review of children's Bibles
Deb's review of children's bibles
this detailed review of the most popular interpretative children's Bibles
8 comments:
Thanks, Jean! I hadn't seen that one!
My oldest is now 9 so that sounds great!
Thsnks! Have you seen anything like How to Read to Bible Book by Book (Fee, Stuart) which is good for kids? Rachel
I highly recommend the family devotions books he has written too. We use 'Long Story Short' (works through the whole OT in about 70 weeks) with our 4yo with occasional modifications. Next comes'Old Story New' for the NT. Be great for older kids too. I can see us going through this book a second time in years to come.
Rachel, there's an excellent series that begins with the book "How to study your Bible for kids" by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt. Well worth a look. Must review them one day ...
Hi Jean, we have also been reading this one to our kids (10, 8, 6) and we like it too. But, I agree with you, it is meatier than the others and sometimes we need to do a fair bit of extra explanation & reminders of other passages to get it to sink in. I think my real hesitation with is that I don't find it easy to read aloud. It's dense. It sort of feels like you are reading a textbook, especially the end link to Jesus. I think that's why we have found it hard at points. But, the points he makes are great, I just find I have to add extra explanation (and a lot more voice variation!)
Yes, I agree, Wendy: that's why it hasn't made it on to my "favourite kids' Bibles" list. It's dense and a bit hard to read out loud, though thorough and with good content. Probably needed a good re-write.
I'm going to go and add one of your points to my original post, Wendy. Thank you.
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