The Barnabas Children's Bible (Pack of 25)

The Barnabas Children's Bible presents a continuous thread from Genesis to Revelation in chronological rather than biblical, order.

With stylish illustrations, here there are retellings of familiar and less well-known Bible passages. The 365 stories could be used as daily readings or as a dip-in read, providing an ideal transition from a book of Bible stories to the text and layout of an adult Bible.

Each story has a Bible quotation from the CEV, encapsulating a truth from the story. Children can familiarize themselves with the wealth of literature in the Bible using the full contents of stories or the useful indexes of people and famous passages.

There is also a fascinating encyclopedia of background information on topics including civilisations, food, towns religious practices, and daily life.

The contents of the stories featured in this Bible can be viewed online:
Old Testament stories
New Testament stories

Rhona Davies is a trained teacher actively involved in her local church and writes for children. She has a keen desire to stay faithful to the spirit of the biblical text. She is married with teenage sons and is passionate about reading, gardening and genealogy. Rhona lives in England with her roots in South Wales.

Marcin Piwowarski worked as a freelance illustrator for more than ten years before managing a graphic studio. He is a successful illustrator with more than 100 children's books published worldwide. Marcin lives with his wife and two young children in the centre of Poland.

From: The Church Times - 23 November 2007

Reviewed by Rachel Boulding (parent).

This is a large format Bible, with a picture on every spread, containing 365 numbered stories, most covering about half a page. In the margins are short quotations from the CEV. The main text by Rhona Davies is written in direct, unadorned style, without the emotive elaboration to which some children's Bibles are prone. Thus, in Gethsemane, '...He was very sad. "My Father," Jesus said, "Don't make me go through all the pain and suffering ahead of me! Take it away if that's possible. But let me do what you want me to - not what I want.""

The illustrations have a similarly uncluttered contemporary feel, which grows on you.

At the end, a 30-page 'encyclopedia' offers a couple of sentences on various aspects of biblical background ('Women: A woman was owned by her husband... Their work was hard and home-based, caring for the family.)' At GBP12.99 It looks excellent value (it could easily be GBP20. There is also a school edition.

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