Wednesday, February 2, 2011

The Beginning Reader's Bible Tommy Nelson Publishers

The Beginning Reader's Bible created by Tommy Nelson Publishers (a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers) and illustrated by Marijke Ten Cate, is a brand new children's bible which tells bible stories using  actual bible excerpts, rather than summarized passages.  As with other childrens' bibles- this is more like a story book collection of the most poular and well known bible stories from the old and new testaments in chronological order.  Beautiful full color art accompanies each story. Yet unlike some of the more thorough bibles for children on the market, this seems more like a bible story sampler as it selects some of the more popular bible stories, while omitting others.

As with other bibles for young readers, this one can be read by a parent to a younger child, or by an older child. Popular stories included are: the story of creation, the tower of Babel, Noah's ark Daniel and the lions and many others.  New Testament stories include the birth of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, the story of Zacchaeus and more. What makes this bible unique is that each story is a word for word excerpt from the actual bible text, and references are provided.  The only problem  is that in the New Testament some important stories are simply not included.  The baptism of Jesus is left out and the preaching of the kingdom by John the Baptist is excluded.  There is no account of the temptation in the dessert by the devil either.  My first impression is that this book just seems incomplete- that it just seems to be missing some thing. The fact that these and other important biblical accounts is omitted makes this bible not the best choice if it is your only children's bible. 

Additional material is included at the end of this bible, inclusing the : ten commandments, the Lord's prayer, a reading chart for kids, memory verse chart and more! This is a perfect bridge from a kids' bible to an actual bible.  The illustrations by Marijke Ten Cate are cartoonish and simple.  Yet unlike other illustrated children's books/ bibles, there is very little "white" space as the author makes use of the entire page for the richly colored illustrations. Overall, this bible is a beautiful children's bible.  But because I feel it lacks some of the more important new testament stories, I feel that it can not serve as the primary children's bible in any household.  As a blogger for Thomas Nelson publishers, booksneeze blogger program I recieved this book for the purpose of writing this review and the opinions expressed are my own.

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