Our family has a ‘thing’ for Bible storybooks.  With four children in the family eight and under, we have collected a number of Bible storybooks over the years as we seek to teach our children the major landmarks and meanings of God’s Word.   In the youngest years it has proven most fruitful to focus on people, places, and events – the typical fare found in Bible storybooks.  Children of the youngest ages – toddlers through preschool – need concrete facts to remember and latch onto as mental pegs for adding more detailed information and doctrine to in their later years.

The Read and Share Bible from Thomas Nelson includes more than two hundred simple, two-page, brightly illustrated stories that have been simply retold by Gwen Ellis for little ones.   Many of them are the common stories that you would expect to find included – creation, the exodus from Egypt, Daniel and the lion’s den, Jonah, Samson, many stories from the life of Christ, and many more.  There are also quite a few unusual stories included – losing the Ark of the Covenant, Gideon, Solomon judging between the two women and the baby, and more.

All of the stories are presented in chronological order, and with Bible references and discussion questions included.  The Table of Contents is excellent, with the stories listed by name, with the verse reference, and the page number.  This is really great, particularly if you want to find an illustrated story to go along with your family’s devotional readings from God’s Word Itself.  Sometimes the discussion questions go too deep for the intended age group – asking ‘why’ questions better left for older children with higher levels of thinking abilities.  I skipped and modified quite a few of these as appropriate for my children and to avoid frustration.

My three-year-old particularly loved this story Bible, and my five-year-old has also really enjoyed it.  We read through it in its entirety together at bedtimes and they were always eager to hear more than one story.  The Read and Share Bible is very gentle throughout and respectful of the deep emotional sensibilities of preschoolers.  Jesus’ death – for instance – is dealt with gently for small children – the three crosses are shown at a distance.

Though I’m not too keen on Steve Smallman’s illustrations (everyone has such big noses!) but I do appreciate that they are bright and kept my children fully engaged.  This is a very solid first book of Bible stories for two through five-year-olds (I even had my eight-year-old asking to see pictures and joining in the discussions at bedtime).  We have all enjoyed reading this Bible together!

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