"The Big Picture Story Bible" by David Helm

From the Crossway site:


No child is too young to begin learning about the greatest love story of all—God’s love for his people, as portrayed in the Bible. David R. Helm and Gail Schoonmaker collaborate to create a beautifully illustrated book of Bible stories especially for children, written with simplicity. Rather than simply retelling the most familiar short scenes from the Bible, this book presents the “big picture”—the unified story running through the Old and New Testaments. This delightful book will help children learn the Bible’s whole story and begin to appreciate the fulfillment of God’s promise to his people.


The Big Picture Bible Story Book is perfect for parents to read to their children, and eventually, for children to read on their own. It is an excellent way to introduce them to a book that will guide them through all of life


My Opinion:


When this arrived in my mail box, my children and I were very excited! This is a huge hard cover Bible just for children with 456 pages and a 9 X 9 size, just right for little ones to enjoy looking at. Larger print will allow begining readers to more easily see and read the words and with larger type there aren't as many sentences per page so as not to overwhelm a child reading this. A good basic Bible story book for young children with short attention spans, each story can be read in 10 minutes or less of course follow your child's lead and come back to it later.


Large, vibrant colored illustrations done by Gail Schoonmaker are beautiful additions and hold children's attention from the minute they open The Big Picture Story Book. Even I enjoyed the illustrations - with simple detail for children but enough for an adult to enjoy while reading the story - it's a great balance.


Each story has a question weaved into the writing that can be asked nonchalantly and a pause after will allow children to give their thoughts. Such as in the account of Adam and Eve children will be asked what they might have done? and what did Adam and Eve do? This will increase their cognition of the Biblical accounts of those gone before us and well as help later when they need to recall these historical happenings. This Bible will have an honored place among the 'grown up' Bibles in your house for years to come and would make a great heirloom that your children's children can enjoy.


To purchase your own copy.


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**I was provided a copy of The Big Picture Story Bible through Crossway and Amy S. in exchange for my honest review - no other compensation was given.

100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs created by Stephen Elkins

100 Bible Stories 100 Bible Songs was created by Stephen Elkins and illustrated by Tim O'Connor and published by Thomas Nelson. A wonderful book for driving home Biblical stories and having children remember them for years to come.

It has been proven before that children learn faster when the things they are supposed to be learning are put to song. So, why is it, that when we teach our children Bible stories we tend to make it too dry for them to comprehend and remember? I realize not every child learns better when stories are put to music but most do, so it's great to have this resource, all three of my children from the 7 year old down to my soon to be 3 years old enjoyed it.

There are 100 Bible songs to go along with the 100 Bible stories. The songs are professionally recorded with children singing the songs. Some songs are familiar Sunday school favorites while other ones are not so familiar but are fun and easy to sing along to. There is over 2 hours worth of music on the two included Cd's. Some of the songs are In the Beginning, Noah's Arky Arky, When the Saints Go Marching In, Who Did Swallow Jonah, What A Mighty Friend We Have In Jesus, J-E-S-U-S, Deep and Wide and many, many more.

The book is a hardcover but has soft, puffy feeling to it, which I think serves to help protect the Cd's which can be stored in the book. The stories are short which is good for little ones who have short attention spans. Each story is accompanied with the Scripture verse that it is taken from, so that the story can be elaborated on for the older child who needs more details. The illustrations are beautiful, in a child sense, they are colorful and not to cartoon looking but enough that a child won't loose interest while looking at them.

This is a wonderful book for families who want their children to learn Bible stories at a young age and continue to grown in the Word. Also, any Christian denomination could use this without fear of it contradicting their church's teaching - just basic straight forward Bible stories. Older children can read it to younger children and it allows bonding time for families as they indulge in God's Word.