The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories

Fun way for children to learn about the Bible. Makes a great baby gift.

My son is 3 and he received this bible for his Dedication when he was 18 months old. We started reading it together about 8 months ago and it is fantastic. He loved the pictures and the stories and it is worded perfectly and is wonderful!!!!

The problem with this beginners Bible is how it represents God. Imagine, the story of Noah begins with God being "sad" because people didn't think of him (and so consequently flooding the earth). This makes God seem like a tyrant to a small child (imagine creating fear in a child re: thinking of God). The actual scripture says "the thoughts of man were only evil all of the time." This could be better put into child language such as God felt upset because the people he made kept hurting each other and doing mean things to each other (so SOMETHING closer to the idea in scripture). A kind of lazy thinking dominates both the text and illustrations (which lack any depth or expression besides googley eyes). Imagine my dismay when I received three for my sons first birthday. As someone who does not like to take God's name in vain, I feel this thoughtless representation does just that.

As a 3 & 4 year old Christian Preschool teacher, I absolutely love this little book! What is even better is that my students love it too! :o) I can never get away with reading just one story from this book because the kids always ask for more! I first saw an older version of this book when I was talking with our Kindergarten teacher in her classroom. She told me that she loved it too because it covered some stories that our normal Bible curriculum didn't cover. So, about a two months ago, I purchased one to use in my own classroom. I was so impressed with the reactions of my students in the classroom, that I have decided to give these great little books to all of my students who move up to Kindergarten at the end of the year as a "graduation" gift. It was such a blessing to see the looks on their little faces when received their books. Thank you for having such a wonderful starting point for young hearts who are on their way to a lifetime of serving our Lord and Savior.

My kids - ages 5, 7 & 9 - devoured this book. They each read it cover to cover in the first few days. Its been 6 months since I bought it for them, and they are still reading it.