Sparkle and Changed International Children's Bible - A Review

Sparkle and Change

International Children’s Bible

publisher

Tommy Nelson

With the exception of the cover and some of the colors chosen for trim on the inside, these Bibles are identical. Using reversible sequins, they would appeal to girls from 1st through 4th grade. The 24 pages of full color helps include short essays, suggested Bible memory verses, and maps. Important verses are highlighted - though the paper is so thin that highlighting from the reverse side often appears on the reverse side of the sheet:

The highlighting above actually is from the verse (Psalm 139:23-24) on the previous page. A quick glance of this whole page looks as if four verses are highlighted - all four are from the previous page. The thin pages might make the Bible difficult to handle for a child - it is difficult to turn back a single page and pages may be easily torn.

The translation reads easily:

16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son. God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. 17 God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. 18 He who believes in God’s Son is not judged guilty. He who does not believe has already been judged guilty, because he has not believed in God’s only Son. 19 People are judged by this fact: I am the Light from God that has come into the world. But men did not want light. They wanted darkness because they were doing evil things. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light. He will not come to the light because it will show all the evil things he has done. 21 But he who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that the things he has done were done through God.”

I am not qualified to evaluate the translation, per se. But neither is a child - if the stones can deliver the Word of God (Luke 19:40), so can this translation.

The publisher suggests that both version of this Bible are aimed at a feminine audience - similar resources need to made available for the boys in the church.
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This review is based on a free copies provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are my own.

New King James Version: Holy Bible - A Review

New King James Version

Holy Bible

A Review

Tommy Nelson has put together a simple paperback Bible suitable for a gift for a young child. Included are 24 pages of colorful helps and a couple of maps. Though this will not serve as an heirloom gift, it would be appropriate for the child moving from 3rd to 4th grade or for a gift from grandparents to their grandchild. If is well-used, expect to replace it with something more sturdy and long-lasting within two or three years, but by then the child will be better prepared to appreciate something with a better binding and more helps.
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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions expressed are mine alone.

ICB GOLDEN PRINCESS SPARKLE BIBLE - A Review

ICB

GOLDEN PRINCESS SPARKLE

BIBLE

A Review

Based on a translation specifically designed for children, this easily held book may be attractive to girls in the 1st through 3rd grades. The Bible is rather bare bones - with the exception of translator notes, no helps are included in the body of the book.

That is not to say that study helps are not included. Most obvious, to the younger reader, will be the 24 full-color pages scattered throughout the book. To the older reader are a number of helpful indexes:

• A list of key verses on various topics of interest to kids
• A brief (22 pages) Bible dictionary
• A three-page list of “Where Do I Find It” pointing the reader to specific texts on key Bible people and themes
• A two-page listing (along with the Bible text) of some of the important promises found in the scriptures
• A three-page listing (along with the Bible text) of suggested memory verses

The back cover indicates that a concordance is also included; I suspect that the short lists mentioned above intended to serve as a concordance - they barely serve that purpose. Thus, this reader does wish these additions were a bit longer and included more content.

Given the minimalist approach taken by the editor in compiling this Bible, this reviewer is only giving three-stars to the final book. It would make a great gift, but not a helpful Bible for most young children.

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

The Prayer Bible For Children - A Review

The Prayer Bible For Children

A Review

In spite of many positive reviews, I found this children’s Bible to be lacking. 

Using the description provided by Bible Gateway, the ICB is best suited for “a barely literate society because of its economy of words, acrostic literary form, and poetic parallelism.” Though the text is aimed at the third-grade reader, the book as a whole is not. Having said that, this version is also not presented in a manner that will be appealing to children. The chosen font is too small for most young readers. The illustrated pages use only gold and dark blue - with black text, possibly providing more appeal for an adult audience than for the children the title suggests the book is targetting. 

The various helps included might be more suitable for the middle school or junior high reader, but this reviewer doubts that typical middle schooler or junior high students would want to be carrying a “Children’s Bible”. Also attached as a separate booklet is a 64 page (lined) “Prayer Journal” for the child to record their own prayers. No suggestions are available for the use of this booklet and the child using this Bible will need assistance from a parent or Sunday School teacher in order to make use of it. 

My rating for this Bible is not that I do not think it has value, but because I question the value of this edition for a child. If an adult wants to say, “I gave my child a Bible as a gift,” this may be a suitable gift. But that would be more satisfying to the adult than to the child. There are more suitable children’s Bibles available. 

If the word “Children” were removed from the title, this book would be better suited for an audience working with a group where English is considered a second language. An adult ESL student would be able to overlook the title and be able to accept the format as appropriate for their age and educational status. 
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This review is based on a copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone. 

NIV Color Code Bible (deluxe leathersoft version) - A Review

NIV Color Code Bible

(deluxe leathersoft version)

A Review

This volume is a kids Bible that has much in common with the widely available Rainbow Bible. The major difference is that not every verse is marked with a highlight color, but only a limited number of verses focused on ten sub-topics:

Animals Family Love God Sin

Jesus Praise/Prayer Washed Clean Growth Heaven

A Scripture Index (located near the front of the book, allows the reader to locate each verse assigned to the various categories. The marked verses will make the make the Bible attractive to the young person.

A number of other essays/features will make this Bible increasingly valuable as a child uses it. Brief, but helpful, articles are included on a number of topics:

• What Is the Bible?
• Who Wrote The Bible?
• Why Should You Read the Bible?
• Why Did God Send Us the Bible?

Mixed in with the essays are several daily Bible reading plans, the Scripture Index mentioned above, and a summary of the meaning of the color code used to highlight scriptures. Note, the essays are aimed at the older elementary school or middle school child - do not expect to find complex, scholarly, responses to the questions asked. This leathersoft edition would make a great reward Bible for kids reaching some milestone in Sunday School, Awana, etc,

This would make a good first Study Bible for the fourth grade student through the first year of middle school. On the same note, it is too simplistic for the typical high school student. For the right student, it would make the perfect birthday or Christmas gift. I will be passing my copy onto a multicultural ministry associated with my church to be provided to a student as a gift or to be added to that ministry's library.

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

NIV Color Code Bible - A Review

NIV Color Code Bible

A Review

This volume is a kids Bible that has much in common with the widely available Rainbow Bible. The major difference is that not every verse is marked with a highlight color, but only a limited number of verses focused on ten sub-topics:

Animals Family Love God Sin

Jesus Praise/Prayer Washed Clean Growth Heaven

A Scripture Index (located near the front of the book, allows the reader to locate each verse assigned to the various categories. The marked verses will make the make the Bible attractive to the young person.

A number of other essays/features will make this Bible increasingly valuable as a child uses it. Brief, but helpful, articles are included on a number of topics:

• What Is the Bible?
• Who Wrote The Bible?
• Why Should You Read the Bible?
• Why Did God Send Us the Bible?

Mixed in with the essays are several daily Bible reading plans, the Scripture Index mentioned above, and a summary of the meaning of the color code used to highlight scriptures. Note, the essays are aimed at the older elementary school or middle school child - do not expect to find complex, scholarly, responses to the questions asked.

This would make a good first Study Bible for the fourth grade student through the first year of middle school. On the same note, it is too simplistic for the typical high school student. For the right student, it would make the perfect birthday or Christmas gift. I will be passing my copy onto a multicultural ministry associated with my church to be provided to a student as a gift or to be added to that ministry's library.

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

5-Minute Bible - A Review

5-Minute Bible

100 Stories and 100 Song

By

Stephen Elkins

A Review

A children’s Bible story book that is nicely conceived, but poorly executed. Stephen Elkins is known for producing colorful and entertaining books for children - he has attempted to add a bit of his creative genius to his newest work.

Each of the 100 two page stories consists of four parts. The first three parts are attractive and well-done. The colorful artwork will hold the reader’s attention and be inviting for parents to share with their children. The Bible stories themselves are written to be understood by the preschool child and read by the first and second grader. The colorful artwork will draw the child's (and parent?) attention to the story. Accompanying each story is a brief 10-20 word lesson summary of what the child might remember from the story. Also accompanying each story is a short children’s song.

And that is where this reviewer finds fault with the book. Some of the songs are well-known, such “The B-I-B-L-E, Yes That’s The Book For Me.” Others are lyrics are set to familiar hymns - except that, for this non-musician, it was often difficult to force the provided lyrics to fit the suggested tune. Finally, there are unfamiliar songs for which there is no suggested tune - suggesting that the songs should be familiar, even though they are not. All of these concerns could be address by including a CD (or 2) with the music for parents and children to sing along with. Similarly, a set of MP3 files could be made available on the book’s web page.

Which leads to this reviewer’s final concern - the web page given in the book’s introduction leads to a page saying that some page (not the book’s page) is under development. Yes, this new page is under development, but there is no indication that it is related to this book and, in fact, has no content at all. According to the book introduction, the page will present the full lyrics (alas, no music) for all the songs in the book; but not even the lyrics are present. (Note this review is being written one week after the publication date, and these problems could be addressed in the near future).

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review. The opinions are mine alone.

NIV Kids Visual Study Bible - A Review

NIV Kids Visual Study Bible

A Review

Zondervan has created one of the most useful Study Bibles aimed at a young audience. Loads of visuals (the cover says over 700) and notes are what give this Bible significant value. The text is set against the center column; notes occupy the inch-and-a-half of the outside edges of the page. Though I did not do a thorough search, I could not find a page without at least one note, most had two. Some notes are longer - occupying an entire page. These pages tend to give extended details on places or individuals.

Additional helps include an index (not extensive, but better than that found in most children’s Bibles), a 12-page Bible atlas (indexed), and book introductions.

The Bible would attract children of all ages, though the text would seem to be better suited to older elementary or middle school students. The title might discourage its use by the middle school child, but it the contents would make it a perfect fit. I suppose parents will need to evaluate how their own children will respond to the title if they are thinking of buying this for a middle school child.

This book would make a perfect gift for a child entering fourth, fifth or sixth grade - they would then have the Bible and be accustomed to using it as they age. The book would also have a place in the church library where it could be used by a number of children for reading and personal study.

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

The Big Picture Interactive Bible: CSB - A Review

The Big Picture
Interactive Bible
Christian Standard Bible

featuring

The Gospel Project for Kids

A Review

Holman Bibles has presented an attractive children’s Bible which has some difficulties in the presentation. The Christian Standard Bible hardback version, which I reviewed, is attractively designed to draw children of various ages to the scriptures. Each book contains a brief, “Kid-Friendly”, introduction including details helping the reader know to whom the book is written for, when it was written, why it was written, and a brief (a sentence or two) statement on the book’s key message. Also included in this introductory page is a list of the Bible Stories covered by the interactive features of this Bible. The body of the text includes six different types of sidebars focusing on additional key concepts:

1. Definitions of “Big Words” or ideas found in many of the passages.
2. Answers to “Big Questions” answered in the pages of the Bible
3. “Christ Connections” help the reader see the role Jesus plays throughout the scriptures
4. “Suggested Memory” highlight 100 verses that will help the reader apply the scriptures to their lives.
5. Another section entitled “See the Big Picture” does for individual periscopes or sections what the Book Introductions do for the individual Bible Books.
6. “Parent Connection”s is designed to help parents to “be empowered to use [the publishers] titles to engage deeper in the story with their kids. (Please note, I spent several minutes looking for an example of this kind of entry - I had a difficult time finding an example.)

These add significant value to this children’s Bible. I was disappointed however that I found no index to these features in the hardback version I was provided. A searchable e-book may overcome this limitation.

However, the very feature which is designed to make this edition stand out is poorly executed. After downloading an accompanying app from either the Apple or Android app stores, the reader can scan images within the book and have a Bible story read to them. The catch is that the reader must hold their phone or tablet camera over the picture for the entire story. Once the camera wanders away from the scanned picture, the story stops and must be restarted from the beginning. For older kids, the effort will not be difficult, but they may quickly get bored. Younger kids may have a difficult time leaving the phone focused on the picture long enough to hear the entire story. A couple of comments might be in order:

1. If a written version of the story were included in the text, an adult or older sibling could read the story from where the automated story left off.
2. This may only be a problem with a paper copy of this Bible - I expect that the e-book version of this Bible may not experience this handicap.

I will be giving two stars to this hardback version. I would give 2-½ stars if I could. My guess that the e-book would get a significant higher (4 stars?) rating provided it addresses the two issues mentioned above. I would hope that a future edition of the software or the printed book might address these issues. A parallel web page might also assist the parent and child to address these limitations as well.

The book’s best use for the hardback or paperback version might be in a church or public library, where the parent could borrow the Bible for a couple of weeks to see how well they and their kids can adapt to its use. A pre-school or Kindergarten Sunday School class might also find the book of value as it provides new methods for telling the Bible stories to a tech aware generation of young kids.

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

My Jesus Bible - A Review

My Jesus Bible

by

Text by Michael Berghof

Illustrated by Gill Guile

A Review

“My Jesus Bible” is a colorful, attractive children's Bible. The book consists of 20 stories pulled from Jesus’ life that would appeal to preschool children to 3rd or 4th graders. Given that information, this reviewer would recommend the book for children and their parents or Sunday School teachers.

I have two problems with the book. First, there seems to be some question as to what age group the book is actually designed for. Its physical design as a board book with a plastic handle would make it appear to be designed for the preschool child. The detail of the artwork would seem to appeal to the kindergartner or 1st grader. The size of the print and the writing itself would suggest that the book belongs in the hands of the older elementary school child. This final obstacle could be overcome by an older sibling or adult reading the material to a younger child or the availability of a recording to accompany the book (at this point this does not exist, as best I can tell). Though it can be said of any book, the purchaser will need to be aware of who will be using the book and how it will be used.

The second difficulty I see is a lack of Biblical references. These would be useful for both the older child and for the parents or Sunday School teachers working with child readers. It would allow the adult to familiarize himself or herself with the Biblical material from which 20 stories are drawn which becomes important because the stories are drawn from all four gospels - sometimes combining the events described by multiple authors. Having access to the underlying scriptures would prepare the adult reader to answer children’s questions and to familiarize themselves with Scripture’s content.

Do I recommend this book? YES. But only if the purchaser is aware of its limitations and willing to work with those limitations and child for whom the book is purchased.

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

NIV Investigator’s Holy Bible - A Review

NIV Investigator’s Holy Bible

A Review

Designed for children 6-10 years old, this Bible uses two curious kids and their dog to dig through the scriptures. The text is printed in a dark blue color with orange headings. Each book has a short introduction (“The Evidence”) and summary (“Case Closed”). An occasional quiz question (“Check the Facts”) prompts the child to dig for themselves. Geography is covered (“The Scene”), as well as character studies (“The Witnesses”). There are also sections which provide a bit deeper insight into various scripture passages (“Breakthrough”).  These notes are found on about ⅓ to ½ the pages. Like the Bible, these helps will require that they be read to the younger child - though an older child will find them comprehensible.

Additional features include:

• A Table of Weights and Measures
• A nice index of the various features listed above in the order presented in the book
• A 100-page concordance covering most of the keywords found in the Bible text
• A small set of Bible maps - not in full-colored, but printed in “black and white” using blue ink

This Bible would serve well in a lower elementary Sunday School class or church library. As we approach the end of the church year, this Bible might make a worthwhile gift for kids moving up from Kindergarten or the primary class. I will be providing my copy to a Nepalese ministry sponsored by my local church where both the children and the adults are new readers.

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

The Beginner's Bible (NiRV) - Review

The Beginner's Bible

New International Reader’s Version

A Review

This is a colorful Bible that will appeal to young children. The text is an easy to read version of the scriptures designed for early readers - either adult or children. Along with the scripture text are a set of 20 full-page colored images highlighting various well-known Bible stories. Along with this is a child-sized dictionary to provide some guidance to the reader and a list of “150 Famous Bible Stories” along with checkboxes allowing the reader to track his or her movement through the stories.

The Bible will make a nice gift Bible or an addition to a children’s Sunday School classroom  

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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.

Kids' Quest Study Bible

Kids’ Quest Study Bible

New International Reader’s Version

A Review

Originally published in 2005, The Kids’ Quest Study Bible remains one of the better choices for 3rd through 8th graders wanting a deeper understanding of scripture than given by the standard “children’s Bible”.  The Bible text is in blue type; notes and sidebars are presented in various shades of blue and orange. The translation used is an easy reader version of the NIV called the New International Reader’s Version (NIrV). This translation is suitable for both young readers and for any person learning English (e.g. students of English as a Second Language).

Notes are presented as questions (see the attached sample).  Brief answers are given, including suggested Bible references for further study. Though designed for children, the questions and answers may be of help to new believers of all ages.

A variety of additional helps are also included. Each book opens with a series of questions introduce the book. For example, Obadiah opens with the following four questions:

1. Who wrote this book?
2. Why was this book written?
3. What do we learn about God in this book?
4. When was this book written?

Each book ends with a “Quest Clue” or a “Quest Challenge” to encourage the reader to study or think deeper about the book. These will be particularly helpful for the older child or reader.

I will be pleased to donate my review copy to the Nepalese ministry associated with my local church. I expect that  it will be given to a child associated with that ministry, but could just as well be used by an adult or family that is unfamiliar with all of the nuances of the English language.
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This review is based on a free copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.