This book presents Original and New Testament stories (in order, one 2-page layout per story) with very simple language and a full-page picture for each story. It is a helpful book for connecting our most important formative stories and is a good conversation-starter for discussing the stories in more detail with children. This book is within the reading ability of 1st grade emergent readers and 2nd-3rd grade early readers.

How a children's Bible can omit the story of Adam and Eve, and thus the fall of man, is beyond me. As the story of God and the redemption of man it therefore fails right out of the box. On the other hand, the illustrations are some of the best ever to be found in a children's Bible. They are primitive, yet elegant in their simplicity. I very much appreciate that they are not cartoon like characters, which so many Bibles for young children include. These illustrations uphold the serious and beautiful content of the Bible; unfortunately, the story selection and flow of the narrative does not. ( )

A simple presentation of an important Bible story. This little book is an excellent example of how to present Bible stories to children. This is a book that children can make their own, teaching them the importance of reading their Bible as well as beginning their own library of important literature. ( )

the drawings were exceptional. the stories were good. i thought that there should have been a more pronounced ending and beginning between each story. good beginers bible story book though.

This volume, graciously given by Eerdmans to review, is a nice collection of art and brief summaries of key events relating to redemptive history. The art, corresponding to the different events being re-told, is simple and clear. Likewise, the summaries of the events are equally simple, with no controversial interpretations, though at times lacking in important details (see e.g., point 2 below).

A couple of observations should be noted.

1. It is not the whole biblical story which is re-told. Rather, key biblical events are selected (9 in total), some more germane to the overall biblical drama than others. For instance, the Exodus event, clearly a key event in redemptive history, is chosen along with the story of Daniel and the lion's den, a comparatively minor event in redemptive history. Why there is no mention of such key events as Israel's exile or Acts' history of the early church is puzzling.

2. On the positive side, theologically speaking, all the stories, many including supernatural events like Jonah, are told as if they were in fact real events (as opposed to myth or fictional story). Negatively, however, is the absolute lack of any mention of sin or the need for a Messiah to deal with sin. Yes, the story of Jesus is told, but noticeably without any real mention of the Jesus' message, "repent and believe." Even in the Exodus event, the forty years of wandering in the desert is told without any hint of the reason for the wandering--namely, because of the Israel's hardness of heart. In fact, it gives the reader the impression that it was just a "very long trip"(pg. 40).

3. Finally, it should be noted that there are pictures of Jesus, which, in some Protestant traditions, are a violation of the second commandment. Thankfully however, the pictures of Jesus are not the typical 'white Caucasian-Jesus' which is unfortunately prevalent in much of the art depicting Jesus. ( )