Illustrated Jewish Bible for Children [Hardcover]

Selina Hastings (Author), Eric Thomas (Illustrator), Amy Burch (Illustrator), Rabbi Joseph Potasnik (Foreword)

Book Description

Age Level: 7 and up | Grade Level: 2 and up

An outstanding new edition of the Bible, with stunning illustrations on every page.

In this magnificently illustrated edition all the best-loved stories of the Bible are retold for young readers by Selina Hastings. Her fluent, lively style reflects the character and poetry of the original Bible, while vivid and finely detailed illustrations by Eric Thomas bring to life the people and places referred to in the stories.

To help explain the stories and set them in their historical and geographical context, background information is included, together with color photographs and maps of places mentioned in the Bible. The combination of color photographs and illustrations gives children an exciting and completely new visual approach to the Bible.

The Illustrated Jewish Bible for Children has been carefully prepared with a panel of religious consultants, historians , educators, and scholars. Its unique qualities -- clear text, beautiful illustrations, stunning photographs -- make this illustrated Bible a continual source of inspiration and pleasure for the whole family.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 2-6?Stories from the Hebrew Bible are retold and accompanied by drawings, maps, and captioned photographs. The retellings are brief and would be more useful for information than for reading aloud. The illustrations are often crowded, unexceptional, and unattractive. It is curious to look at a contemporary, unlabeled photograph of a young girl who is probably from the Middle East and read that Rachel "would have been young, with a natural beauty like this girl." It is also curious that in the description of the Creation, the text reads, "And so ended the first day and night of creation." The Hebrew text puts evening ahead of day, which is why Jewish holidays always begin at sunset. Schools with Bible study programs may find this useful, but only as a supplemental purchase.?Susan Pine, New York Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 7 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: DK Publishing; First Edition edition (September 8, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789420635
• ISBN-13: 978-0789420633
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,006,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars EEEEEEEeeeee-VIL!, September 20, 2000

By 

Jennifer M. Macleod "yiddishe supermama" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Illustrated Jewish Bible for Children (Hardcover)

If you are Jewish, DO NOT buy this book! And even if you are a Christian, if you have any respect for Judaism, you should probably steer clear as well...

This book is designed to perpetuate the myth that the Torah and the other books of the Tanach (the Jewish bible) are an "Old" Testament, which has been supplanted by Jesus' teachings, contained in the "New" Testament.

I feel sorry for unsuspecting Jewish parents or grandparents who buy this book for their kids or grandkids only to discover that it presents Judaism only in relation to Christianity, not as a religion in itself. (for example, it discusses Abraham in terms of how long before Jesus he lived, and refers to the Tanach as "what Jesus would have read when he was a child."

Notice that the publisher has stuck a "rabbi's" name on the cover, while hiding the genuine author's name on the back cover... this is a conscious ploy to attract Jewish customers to what is basically a Christian book.

I have no fight to pick with Christianity, and if Christian parents want to teach their kids about their Jewish roots, this is probably a fine book for them to use. But because of its deceptive targeting at Jewish families, I strongly suggest that nobody -- Christian or Jew -- buy the book, as it would only encourage the publishers in their efforts to mislead.

(P.S. I tried to give this book 0 stars, but the form wouldn't let me)

68 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good but misleading, November 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Illustrated Jewish Bible for Children (Hardcover)

This is a well done book but the title is misleading. Jewish parents will especially want to take care, as this book is really written for non-Jewish children to learn about the Jewish Bible. THe book references the Jewish Bible from a Christian point of view, and references historical characters as to their distance in time to Jesus. I wish they had been more explicit about this; in fact, by prominently featuring the name of a rabbi who wrote the FOreword on the book's cover, the publishers seem to be purposely misleading potential buyers as to the nature of the book

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Warning!Deceptive marketing at work! Not a Jewish Bible!, January 1, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Illustrated Jewish Bible for Children (Hardcover)

If you are looking for a children's Bible for a Jewish child, DO NOT buy this one. This book has been inaccurately titled. It should have been named "The Old Testament for Christian Children". A quick glance at the religious consultants listed is a pretty good warning that all is not as it seems. Only one of the names listed is identifiably Jewish, while two Reverends, a Father, and a Sister are obviously Christian. The remaining three consultants are not identified with titles (but one is named Mary...). The front cover only lists the author of the foreword (a Rabbi), and not the true author of the book, Selina Hastings.

Upon reading the "Introduction to the Bible", I was shocked to find such passages as "The Bible...is divided into two main parts, the Old Testament (or Hebrew Testament) and the New Testament." Further on, I read, "The 39 books of the Old Testament have guided the Jewish people throughout their history. These are the Scriptures which Jesus read." Every mention of Jewish tradition is followed by a reference to the Christian counterpart. Had this been presented as a book for Christians, or even a book of comparative religion, I could understand this. But it was not. When presented as a Jewish bible-with a foreword by a Rabbi-it should stick to Judaism as the focus, rather that referring to the Christian Bible at all. For their edification, I do not refer to the Jewish Bible as "The Old Testament"-it is THE Bible for me, period.

To the author's credit, this book is excellently illustrated, with a large amount of historical information. If anything, this, rather than the overly simplified Bible stories, is the main value of this book. Note-even the illustrations and stories are from a Christian perspective, such as the sidebar on circumcision (on a page labeled "Abraham's Two Sons"), which includes a painting of Jesus' circumcision.