I wanted a book that would appeal to my two children, aged 8 and 4, and give them the basics of the most child-friendly stories of the bible. I wouldn't describe myself as a religious person to any degree but even from a cultural point of view, I think it's nice for kids to have some knowledge of the most well-known bible stories and I have fond memories of listening to the tales of Noah's Ark, the Nativity, the Good Samaritan and Adam and Eve at school. In France, all references to any religion whatsoever are totally outlawed so children never learn anything about the bible stories at school. This book fills the gap nicely.
The stories are presented in a really child-friendly way, almost like fairy tales. There are the references you need to look up the full story in the bible, but the religious/moral message is not overly emphasised. The pictures are simple and colourful and the charcaters really appeal to young readers. Each story is incredibly short, on average about 4-6 pages with about 20 words to a page (whoever managed to condense the stories that much must have had lots of practise on twitter !!), and this is ideal for short bedtime stories or for a young reader to manage to read alone. The accompanying DVD presents each story in a 3-minute segment which is great for kids with a short attention span.
My 8-year-old loved reading the stories aloud to her little sister, and understood everything perfectly when I asked her to explain the stories to me. My 4-year-old loved "reading" the book along with the DVD and finding the pictures on screen that matched the pictures in the book. They both devoured all 40 of the stories in the the book and 14 on the DVD in one sitting. It's a great introduction to the classic bible stories for young children and a way to spend some lovely family time together, a few minutes at a time.
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Hardcover: 192 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (July 7, 2009)
ISBN-10: 140031464X
ISBN-13: 978-1400314645
star rating : 4/5
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