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 bought this upon the recommendation of friends. I was told it connected everything to the new covenant in Christ, and that was exactly what I wanted for my daughter as she gets older. When I received it, however, I was greatly disappointed to find lots of extra information added that's nowhere in the real Bible. For example:

"God saw all that he had made and he loved them. And they were lovely because he loved the. But God saved the best for last. From the beginning, God had a shining dream in his heart. He would make people to share his Forever Happiness. They would be his children, and the world would be their perfect home. So God breathed life into Adam and Eve. When they opened their eyes, the first thing they ever saw was God's face. And when God saw them he was like a new dad. "You look like me," he said. "You're the most beautiful thing I've ever made!""

And

"Just trust me,' the serpent whispered. 'You don't need God. One smal taste, that's all, and you'll be happier than you could ever dream...' Eve picked up 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 everyone one of God's children: 'God doesn't love me.'"

It gets better later on in the book, but there's just too much added in the way of emotions, particularly on God's part, for me to feel comfortable. And I understand what the author was trying to do. She was trying to make the Bible personal to children with an angle that points toward Christ, a desire I applaud. But that doesn't mean we can twist the Bible to say things it doesn't say. I'll be sending it back and buying something that's a little less creative.

Last fall, I started attending a mom's group at our church and they were giving away copies of the Jesus Storybook Bible. I didn't win one that day but my friends told me this book was one of their kids' favorites so I ordered the hardcover copy since it would be easier for us to read and for my kids to look at.

The Jesus Storybook Bible contains many stories from both the Old and New Testaments that children would be likely to hear at Sunday School or kids' groups that teach Bible lessons. The book is 351 pages long and contains 21 stories from the Old Testament and 23 stories from the New Testament. Each story ranges from about six to ten pages in length and contains beautiful, colorful pictures that go along with the stories. The pages are glossy and the book is a hardcover, measuring 6 1/2 inches by 7 3/4 inches by 1 inch. Unless otherwise noted, all of the Scripture notations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version.

When we received this Bible, my kids initially weren't too interested in it but they started asking for me to read it after awhile. My son, especially, loves it and calls it the "Bible book." A lot of times I will find him sitting and looking through the pictures. I love that the stories are paraphrased for kids to make the stories simple and easy to understand, not to mention FUN! The stories are told in words that kids are likely to understand and they are easy for parents to explain if an explanation is needed. I'd say the stories take about ten minutes to read, give or take a few if you take some extra time to explain more of the story or the pictures so they would be great for bedtime stories.

I cannot recommend this book enough because my kids LOVE it! They weren't too interested in this Bible at first but now they love it and ask for me to read it fairly often. There are a lot of stories that kids are likely to hear in Sunday School so this would be a great book to help reinforce their learning and understanding of them. I'm so glad we purchased this Bible for my twins, who are now four. It's a fun way for them to learn Bible stories and it would make a great gift for many children!