Customer Reviews

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

5 star:		(264)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I love every aspect of this Bible. The illustrations by Jago are both charming and intriguing. There are about fifty stories, a good balance. The text itself is exactly what I want my children to hear, theologically. I love this line from the very first chapter. "The Bible isn't mainly about you and what you should be doing. It's about God and what he has done." AMEN.

The subtitle is "Every Story Whispers His Name" and indeed, every story does. "No, the Bible isn't a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It's an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It's a love story... You see, the best thing about this Story is -- it's true. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them."

She goes on to say that the center of the story is a baby who is like the missing piece to a puzzle that makes all the other pieces fit together, and to reveal the beautiful picture. She stays true to this aim, pointing to Christ with every story, helping children to see the whispers of redemption through it all. If you buy just one Children's Story Bible, I'd commend this one to you.

As I pastor I've just finished preaching an overview of the bible - I'm passionate about gettting people to see the big picture. So I was really excited to see this for children. The idea is superb, the tying every story to Jesus is magnificent. Our 4 year old daughter has started seeing the connections already. And that excites me. I love how it fits every story in with the plot-line of the bible.

However I have a couple of caveats.

Since children get so much from imagery I was really disappointed with the artwork. The quality is great, but the content very poor, and underscores misconceptions of the bible, actually making the bible look less believable. Noah's ark is shown balancing precariously on the pinnacle of the mountain, as well as being that silly shape that it is often drawn - nothing like the proportions given in the bible. Jericho is a five house town - not much of a conquest there. Goliath is make to look like a gruesome ogre of fairytale proportions. The people of Israel coming to the Red Sea look like a small Sunday school outing rather than 1.5 million people making the exodus. I could go on. For me, the pictures undermine the very thing the words are seeking to do - they push the stories into the realm of fairy tales.

(A far better set of illustrations are by Gail Schoonmaker in the The Big Picture Story Bible written by David Helm.)

The other caveat is that sometimes Lloyd-Jones is a little loose to the story, making up things that aren't in the passage. For example - Jesus being bathed in a golden light at his baptism, there being three wise men, Jesus winking at the boy who brought the 5 loaves and saying "watch this" and others. It's little things like she says Jacob had to wait 7 years to marry Rachel instead of just a week, like God creating by saying "Hello Light", like using "Papa" for Father - a word which doesn't carry the same connotations as Abba. Like the feeding of the '5000 people', rather than 5000 men, plus a lot more women and children. Like Jesus playing games with children. Like Zacchaeus being so small that he had to take a flying leap to get up into his chair for breakfast.

In one sense they're small things, and it is in the style of other children's books. And therein lies the problem - the bible isn't another children's book. It's true in every detail - so when it comes to a Children's version of the Bible, it should be true in every detail. We owe that to our kids.

I'd prefer not to have to edit the story as I tell it. Growing up, we had the Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos read to us. Time and time again when we thought she was stretching the text, when we looked up our bibles we found she was exactly right. Since we read it so many times, a vast quantity of accurate bible knowledge was imbibed. That's what I look for in a children's bible.

Having said all that - the links to Jesus often make you stop and praise God for Jesus. We've read it following on from the aforementioned Big Picture Story Bible - which I would heartily recommend. And that's probably the best way - read it along with other children's bibles and correct it as you go.

Looking forward to the revised edition of this potentially tremendous asset.

This is the Bible storybook I have always hoped would be written, though I didn't realize it until I read it. I LOVE THIS BOOK! And so do my 8 year old, my 6 year old, my 5 year old, and my 3 year old.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this. My favorite line so far: The Bible isn't mainly about you and what you should be doing. It's about God and what he has done. Amen. Our children are capable of hearing this and this book tells it to them in a way they can certainly understand.

In Sally Lloyd-Jones' unique, kid-friendly style, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells 43 Bible stories from the book of Genesis through Revelation. But this book is more than a mere collection of Bible stories. Each story in some way relates to Jesus and who he is, giving children the big picture of what God is all about.

What I Like: Sally Lloyd-Jones has a unique gift for writing for children. Her sense of humor is spinkled throughout - and does not detract from the importance of the Bible's message. I also appreciate the author's clear understanding that parents must help children understand that Bible stories are different from fairy tales. As she says: "You see, the best thing about this story is--it's true. It takes the whole Bible to tell this story. And at the center of the story there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle--the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture." The illustrations by award-winning artist Jago are also engaging, colorful, and often look beyond the obvious.


What I Dislike: Nothing.


Overall Rating: Excellent.


Age Appeal: 4 - 8.

Kristina, Editor at "Christian Children's Book Review"

Sally Lloyd Jones' version of the the Bible is the one I wish I'd had when my own children were growing up. It has it all, including action, drama, pathos, humor, poetic language AND an awareness of how the Old Testament prefigures the New, leading us to Jesus and his message of hope and redemption. I love it, read it myself for comfort and encouragement, and am truly grateful that I found it in time to read to my grandchildren.

I purchased this Bible for my 5-year-old because I wanted her to have "her own" Bible, it had received a plethora of positive reviews, and I loved the cover illustration. I also really liked that each story brought Jesus into the picture. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed with the liberties that were taken with the very first story, and things never improved from there.

What I like about this book:
1) The illustrations are beautiful.
2) There is a nice, poetic ring to much of the text. One example: "And Adam and Eve joined in the song of the stars and the streams and the wind in the trees, the wonderful song of love to the one who made them. Their hearts were filled with happiness. And nothing ever made them sad or lonely or sick or afraid."
3) The Bible is presented as one unified story pointing to our Savior (the Rescuer).
4) In the nativity story, the wise men actually come later (to a house) as opposed to coming to the manger. Most nativity stories get this wrong. It's nice to see it done correctly.

Despite these positives, I am unable to keep this book in my home because I feel it distorts the truth of the Bible too much. All of the things I appreciate about this book could have been done while remaining faithful to the Biblical text, but the author chose to add her own alterations.

One example:
In the very first story of Adam and Eve, the book reads:
<As soon as the snake saw his chance, he slithered silently up to Eve. "Does God really love you?" the serpent whispered. "If he does, why won't he let you eat the nice, juicy, delicious fruit? Poor you, perhaps God doesn't want you to be happy."
The snake's words hissed into her ears and sunk down deep into her heart, like poison. Does God love me? Eve wondered. Suddenly she didn't know anymore.
"Just trust me," the serpent whispered. "You don't need God. One small taste, that's all, and you'll be happier than you could ever dream..."
Eve picked the fruit and ate some. And Adam ate some, too.
And a terrible lie came into the world. It would never leave. It would live on in every human heart, whispering to every one of God's children: "God doesn't love me.">

This whole thread of "God doesn't love me" is carried throughout the book. The problem is that this is nowhere to be found in the Genesis account. That is not what the serpent said, and nowhere in the Bible does it say that every human heart is crying out because God doesn't love it. Ephesians 2:3 tells us that before we were saved, we were "by nature objects of wrath." This book completely removes the concept of hell, and instead presents every human being as a child of God. This is not biblical. (See [...]) A number of times in this book, the author states that Jesus has rescued "the whole world." One example is at the end of this book where Jesus says, "Now everyone can come home to God. Death is not the end of you. You can live forever with your Father in heaven because I have rescued the whole world!" If that were so, then everyone would be in heaven. That isn't what the Bible teaches.

Some other problems I have with the text:

At the end of the story of Noah, we are told the following:
<And the first thing God did was make another promise. "I won't ever destroy the world again.">
2 Peter 3 and other texts tell us that God will indeed destroy things again, this time by fire. The author could easily have communicated what God actually said here: "Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

Later in the book, we read the following:
<Sometimes people couldn't understand things very well. So Jesus helped them by telling them stories called "parables.">
Actually, in Matthew 13 Jesus said just the opposite when his disciples asked him about it:
The disciples came to him and asked, "Why do you speak to the people in parables?"
He replied, "Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them."

In the story of the prodigal son, the following text appears in the book:
<Once upon a time, there was a boy and his dad. Now, one day, the boy gets to thinking, Maybe if I didn't have my dad around telling me what is good for me all the time, I'd be happier. He's spoiling my fun, he thinks. Does my dad really want me to be happy? Does my dad really love me?>
We see again here the "Does God (my dad) really love me?" theme. And, again, we see this completely absent from the biblical text in Luke 15: "There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, `Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them." That's it. Where God doesn't speak (or write), we should tremble to put words into His mouth (or book).

Biblical truth is very important to me, and I want to communicate accurate information to my children about the God I love who saved me. In keeping this book I would be agreeing with what it says and, unfortunately, that I cannot do.

"Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God." - 2 Corinthians 4:2

I am a Sunday School teacher, and the father of a beautiful 4 year old girl. We have probably ten children's Bibles around the house, and all of them have something special about them...
But this is simply the BEST children's Bible I have ever seen (my little girl loves it too.)
Every story is wonderfully told with a heartwarming sense of humor. The illustrations are truly cute (without crossing the line into sugar-coated.)
Best of all is that every story (from the Old and New Testaments) refer in some way to the Lord Jesus, and show how the story fits in with Him... whether it be a shadow of His future coming or directly referencing bloodlines, etc. IE that king David was a good shepherd, but later would come a greater shepherd to save the whole world.
Just can't rave about this children's Bible enough!
I'll be buying one for every child in my Sunday School class... and nieces and nephews... and neighbor children... a few in the car just in case...
Jesus IS Lord!!!! <><

I really like this book. My daughters, ages 5 and 7, enjoyed reading it, and I love the way it shows how the Old Testament points toward Jesus. In fact, there were a few "a-ha! I get it!" moments from ME, as well...you know a kids book is good when an adult can get something out of it as well!

I also liked that the illustrations are charming without being cutesy. Too many kids' Bible storybooks have really cheesy art.

For the last 30 years, when I've read Bible storybooks to my own children or others, and now my grandchildren, I've winced, usually at the moralistic finger-wagging tone. I kept thinking I'd write one someday, but now I don't have to! This is it - a captivating story that truly does point to Jesus on every page. My six-year-old grandson loves this Bible. I'm spreading the news to anyone I know who has, or who works with, young children. And I'll especially promote it with women who are just coming to faith themselves, because as they read this to their children, it will whet their appetites to open the Scriptures for themselves.

Finally someone has gotten it right -- a book for children that presents the bible as a wonderful love letter from God, filled with grace rather than "be good/do good so God will love you" stories. You'll want to buy 4 or 5 copies to give away once you've read it, and when you start reading it, you'll be hard pressed to put it down, for every story truly does "whisper His name." It reads like an adventure book, or a mystery really. The artwork is phenomenal and totally engaging. The author has a knack with humor that children and adults alike will love. I'm giving it to my adult friends as well as children! Thank you Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago!