Thursday, February 10, 2011

The Beginning Reader's Bible, a Review

Just by looking at The Beginning Reader's Bible I knew I had a real treasure on my hands.  The book is heavy and durable, enriched with a strong cover and crisp, glossy pages.  I requested the book because I thought it looked nice and that it would be perfect for little children.  After opening the package and seeing the actual book in front of me, I knew I was correct.

The Beginning Reader's Bible is aimed for young readers (as evidenced by the title) who still like a lot of pictures with their text.  The scripture all comes from the ICB (International Children's Bible translation), which simplifies the text so that a child can easily understand.  The entire bible is not included here, but a sampling of stories from both the Old Testament and the New.

The most astonishing thing about this book is how beautiful and rich the illustrations are.  Each page, each story, they've all been lavished with attention by Marijke ten Cate.  The characters look authentic and fitting.  The landscapes are breathtaking.  Even the animals are wonderfully drawn.  Yes, this bible's illustrations are sure to capture the young person's attention as they've captured mine.

To make the Word even more engaging, there are many extras to help drive home the point.  "Do God's Word" or "Pray God's Word."  Boxes like this pop up all over the place.  They're great to let little ones learn, memorize, and apply God's word.  There's also some supplemental resources at the back, listing the apostles, 10 commandments, and things like this.

Overall, it's really the illustrations that stand out with this book.  The scripture is great to instruct young ones, but I think they'll fall in love with the pictures and then listen to the Word.  This is a great little bible that I look forward to sharing with my children.

FTC Thingy: This book was given to me free of charge by Thomas Nelson & Booksneeze in exchange for an honest review.  No cookies were exchanged.  Honest.

(By the way, if you want to get an idea of what Cate's illustrations look like, check out this page.  These images aren't exactly in the Bible, but close enough.)

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