Customer Reviews

My First Message: A Devotional Bible for Kids

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I purchased this devotional Bible for my 5 year old son. We had been using some other kids Bibles, like the Beginner's Bible. We liked the ones that we had, but this one is the best by far.

First of all, it feels much more like Bible reading and less like a bedtime story. But the words are simple enough to understand for my 5 year old. One of the nice things is that when a word comes up that the child may not know, the book will put the word in bold type and have the definition at the bottom of the page.

Each page of the Bible reading has a discussion question. My son loves these. Some of them allow us to use our imaginations. Like during the Creation story, you get to talk about what kinds of things you would want to create if you were in charge of Creation. Some of them help you discuss particular elements of the story more in depth. And some of them get you to talk with your child about personal choices and difficulties that they face in their lives.

At the end of each reading, there is a 'Prayer' section, that gives you suggestions on things that you can pray about with your child. I like this a lot, as it helps me to show my son many different kinds of things that we can pray to God about, rather than just saying pretty much the same thing every evening (which sometimes tends to happen).

There is also a 'Live' section. This is my son's favorite part. It's an activity that you get to do together. It might have the parent discussing their own personal experiences. It might be a game related to the story. It might be the parent and child drawing something together. One of the activities that my son particularly liked was taking a walk outside together and talking about God's creation.

My son enjoyed listening to me read Bible stories before, but he likes listening to stories in general. But he really looks forward to our Bible time with this book. It's great to see him so excited about God's Word.

The book says that it's for ages 4-8. My son is 5 and it's perfect for him. I'm not sure how it would go over with older kids.

Most children's Bibles offer simplified retellings of Scripture. This one doesn't. This book tells real Bible stories, from Genesis to Revelation; it even uses the same text as the adult version. Toss in kid-friendly cartoon illustrations and age-appropriate applications and you've got an excellent study Bible to keep kids interested in Scripture.

The devotional format encourages children to Read, Think, Pray and Live.
-- Read: Included are 50 Bible stories. Biblical references are clearly featured.
-- Think: Colorful "bubble" sidebars ask questions to involve children in the story. For example, the chapter on Exodus 7-11 (The Plagues) asks "What does it mean to be stubborn?" and "Would you change your mind if all these things were happening to you? Why or why not?"
-- Pray: Prayer prompts are at the end of each chapter. After reading about the good Samaritan, children are encouraged to "pray for neighbors on your block, in your school and around the world."
-- Live: A special character, Manty the praying mantis, details fun activities and applications right next to the prayer prompts. Some are service activites or ways to reach out to friends at school. Others are drawing or craft projects. All of them reinforce the lessons from the stories.

Additional features include a parents' guide (in the front of the book), vocabulary words (definitions offered in the margins), and hidden Mannys (Manny the praying mantis is hidden in several of the illustrations).

Rob Corley and Tom Bancroft have filled this book with inviting illustrations kids love. The characters are distinct (as opposed to some children's Bibles where every character looks the same) and active. Their cartoony, comic book style comes from over 30 years combined experience in animation, most of which while working for Disney.

What I Like: This is the first children's Bible I've found to make real age-appropriate connections. For example, the author makes the story of Jonah personal, understandable by saying "God sent Jonah to time-out in the belly of a huge fish." (This is in the Pray section, not the story section.) It then encourages kids to confess their sins to God and ask Him to help them obey. I think this is a fabulous application! I also really like the introductory material. The front of the book gives several pages of parent helps to direct them in how to use this book with their children, how to effectively teach their children to love God.

What I Dislike: Some of the illustrations are a little odd, but this may be my more conservative nature popping through. My kids LOVE this book, especially the illustrations. It's the new favorite Bible in our house -- and we have a lot!

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Tanya -- Christian Children's Book Review

I purchased this for my children after their intense interest at the book store. I didn't realize how well it would work as a morning Bible study for my kids. The sections can easily be read in 10 minutes and it includes a section to help lead the kids in prayer. I'm not always comfortable sharing my spirituallity with my kids, and this helped me not only share it but explore my feeling about certain subjects and share it with them. My daughter noticed (don't ask me how) that Jesus had different colored eyes in some of the pictures. I can confirm that that is true..but anything that gets my kids this excited about God is a happy addition to our library.

I bought this bible for my son who's 6 years old. The bible stories are great, however, the book part is cheaply made. We have only had this bible for 6 weeks and the whole thing fell apart. The back flap and binding on the spine fell off after the front started peeling. I am very disappointed with the quality of book. I bought one for my sister's son on 02-26-10 and it fell apart the same way within 4 weeks. If you are looking to buy a bible that will last for a while then DO NOT BUY THIS BIBLE!

I purchased this book for my almost 5-year-old, and it has been a great discussion starter for our family! (My 2 1/2 year old also loves it) The stories are created for short-attention spans and include great practical questions about our every day life. My kids love the illustrations too. We have created a new family tradition by reading one story each evening after dinner or before bedtime. We love this book and it makes a great gift for 4-8 year olds!

My daughter loves this book, and I was so excited to see her finally become enthusiastic about praying and reading Bible stories. This is the book that helped her truly understand God's importance in her life. The "Pray" and "Live" sections really bring the book to life, the questions throughout each Bible story ensure that the child understands and is thinking about the story, and the illustrations are lots of fun. When I adopted my daughter from foster care, she had had very little exposure to religion, and no positive exposure at all. Religion scared her and was unfamiliar. I tried various books and experiences, and while our church community helped her feel loved, My First Message was what really got her to feel a sense of God at work in the world. I am so grateful!

this bible is awesome for my children in the church.
All of them enjoy this bible and want to learn from it every second they can and also the people who drew alladin, beauty and the beast, mullian and veggie tales did a awesome job drawing the pictures! A must have!

I really wanted a Bible for my kids that didn't shorten or dumb down the stories of the Bible. I also didn't want the same famous stories from the Old Testament and hardly anything from the New Testament. This Bible has the full stories, and a good number of New Testament stories. The downside to the book is the binding itself-we've had it for a year and it's starting to fall apart. It gets read everyday, but it doesn't get played with-I would expect a book of any type to last longer.

We have really enjoyed working through the bible stories in this devotional. Here are some of the key aspects of this bible that sets it apart from others like it that we've tried:
1. The text is easy (but not too easy and boring) to read and understand. (We are using it mostly with our 6 and 8 year old)
2. Words that may be unfamiliar to children are explained.
3. Throughout the story there are questions to engage the child/ren.
4. At the end there is a pray section that suggests things that you can pray about that relate to the story that was just read.
5. There is a live section that offers suggestions/activities to apply the story/principals to your life.
You can take a "look inside" the book here on Amazon and i'd encourage you to do so. It gives you a good idea of what it's like.

We got this Bible for our 5-and-1/2-year-old daughter. We wanted her to have more of a Bible than most kid story Bibles but knew a regular Bible would be above her reading level. This Bible is perfect! It's illustrations are by the same artists that have done Dreamworks movies and so are attracting to her. We have "caught" her reading it by herself many times, and the Bible prompts her thinking with age-appropriate questions ... which she has asked me about in turn. Her 4-year-old brother can't read yet, but he loves our Bible storytime with this Bible as well. Great choice for an early reader's Bible!