The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name Hardcover – February 20, 2007

I'm a pastor, and (currently) the father of two, a 2.5 year old boy and a 7 month old girl. I've been excited to introduce my children to the Bible, but totally overwhelmed with finding a Bible that would faithfully communicate the Scriptures at a level that made sense young children. I've tried three or four toddler Bibles, but they ranged from the meaningless and banal (Read With Me Bible For Toddlers) to the downright horrifying in their interpretation (The Story For Little Ones). Let me give you a couple of examples to demonstrate what I mean. The Jesus Storybook Bible, on the other hand, seeks to show how God's plan of salvation is unfolding through each story, and largely succeeds in doing so. Let me try and demonstrate what I mean.

First of all, there are children's Bibles like the Read With Me Bible that are simply bland. Granted, toddlers are not going to pick up on every nuance of a story from the Bible, but the Read With Me Bible often chooses the wrong points to emphasize, entirely leaving out important points of narrative along the way. One story simply lists miracles Jesus did with no context, failing to communicate that Jesus' miracles actually anticipate and begin to realize a new world, a world where God's Kingdom and rule are breaking into the world in a new and exciting way. Now, children obviously won't grasp the entirety of this message (indeed, even the most mature Christian is still growing in their understanding) but Jesus is more than a magician, he is more than simply amazingly powerful, so why drain the miracle stories of their power? If salt loses its saltiness, what is it good for?

Next, there are children's Bibles that don't simply drain the Scriptures of their power, but that actually wrongly interpret the Scriptures in horrifying ways. Two examples from The Story For Little Ones. The story of Samson says that Samson did everything God wanted him to do. This simply displays a level of ignorance about the story of Samson that is beyond belief for someone writing (interpreting) a Bible for children! Samson disobeys God at every turn, and the end of his story is that of a man so consumed by hate and revenge (and who does revenge belong to, by the way?) that he is willing to kill himself to destroy HIS (not God's!) enemies! The point is that the best God has to work with to rescue Israel is someone as corrupt as Samson, yet God is able to use even Samson to rescue His undeserving people! Consider also the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation. In The Story For Little Ones, the end of Scripture is that Jesus will return and take us away from this world and we'll live with him forever. This is exactly what Revelation does not say. Now, I'm not a dispensationalist, nor do I believe in a rapture, but that isn't the doctrine I'm criticizing here. At the end of the book of Revelation, the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven to earth, precisely because the Christian hope is resurrection, not going to heaven when you die (that's what happens to those who die before Christ's return, who go to be with Jesus in paradise). God's goal is not for His people to escape the world, but instead God is working to redeem and recreate the world. That is why Romans 8:22 speaks of the creation groaning as in the pains of childbirth, waiting for the revealing of the sons of God.

Okay, finally on to The Jesus Storybook Bible. This Bible works to explain the big idea, and big picture of the Scriptures at every turn. The focus is on God's love for the lost, the great problem of sin, and the great hope we have in Christ. So, for example, the story of the Exodus is told not as the story of God's great magic show, but instead on the great, mighty, and terrifying rescue of God's people from their slavery, pointing forward also to humanity's slavery to sin and coming rescue in Jesus. That is why the subtitle to this Bible is "Every Story Whispers His Name." Every story anticipates the coming of Jesus and the great rescue he brings to those who put their faith in him. This is a great Reformed concept, and a great Reformed work for children (I am an evangelical Presbyterian, by the way).

Now is this Bible perfect? No, and no translation is, much less a paraphrase. Other have commented on some of the shortcomings of this Bible. Sometimes the language and tone is a bit casual, although casual doesn't necessarily mean disrespectful. Every story doesn't say as much as it could, although this is a strength rather than a weakness for a paraphrase (See: The Message). Not all of the theology expressed in the paraphrase matches perfectly with my own, but I see that as a teaching opportunity rather than a fatal flaw, not to mention that I think children should know early on that there are many ideas in the world, and not all of them are equally valid, and certainly not all of them are true. But again, the strength of this Bible is that it gets the story right, interpreting the main idea correctly and always pointing toward Jesus.

I purchased the Jesus Storybook Bible to read to children I babysit and to give them as gifts. For these purposes, the book is really neat. The illustrations are captivating, and the book is a good way to get a summary of the Bible focusing on Jesus as the center of its message. For someone who has never read the full version of the Bible, this book could be a great introduction and even an enticement to pick up the Bible and read it.

For someone who may be familiar with the full version of the Bible and may be concerned about teaching children biblical accuracy, this book may be found a bit frustrating. Since other reviewers have thoroughly described the inaccuracies and artistic liberties taken in the Jesus Storybook Bible, I won't go into detail regarding those. Those are the same types of things that bother me. While the illustrations are whimsical and a great accompaniment to the text, and the story language is simple and easy to follow, there are an awful lot of unnecessary additions. These embellishments could possibly be helpful in a quest to grasp situational context, but they more seem to be wild imaginations that may or may not veer too far. In a read aloud, the distracting sentences can be omitted.

Still, I would recommend this book as a gift for anyone who may want to know more about the Bible or who may want to introduce their children to the Bible. While it very much diminishes the basic wrongness of sin along with our sinful guilt, it very much raises the centrality of Jesus to the story of the Bible and depicts very well the fact that most of the Old Testament stories are pictures of Jesus. It could be extremely helpful as a summary for anyone just beginning to study the Bible or for many of us who have studied the Bible for years without realizing these things. It is very well done.

We purchased The Jesus Storybook Bible as a baptism gift for our 2 year old God-child after it was recommended by a friend. This is hands-down the sweetest chiidren's Bible I have ever laid hands on. My own son has another popular "first Bible" with retellings of some key stories from the OT & NT, but this Jesus Storybook Bible is sooooo much better! The stories are retold beautifully and with more depth, and the artwork is superb. (I also really appreciate that the people represented in these images are not Caucasian--all of our other children's Bibles show blond haired, blue eyed prophets.) I will definitely be buying another copy for my son, and will probably buy this several times over in the future for other children in our lives.