The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name

Features

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 352 pages
• Published by: ZonderKidz March 1, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0310708257
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0310708254
• Book Dimensions: 7.6 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Weighs: 1.5 pounds

Dr Tim Keller, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, NYC, Feb 2007
"I would urge not just families with young children to get this book, but every Christian"

Product Review
The Jesus Storybook Bible is unlike any other storybook. True, thats to be expected when you combine the mesmerizing illustrations of Jago and the award-winning writing of Sally Lloyd-Jones, a Brit with an uncanny knack for storytelling. Not only is each story as vividly illustrated as it is portrayed, but also each tale is telling one Big Storythe Story of Jesus. Even the Old Testament stories of The young hero and the horrible giant and Daniel and the scary sleepover come full circle to Jesus, the greatest Hero, King, Lover and Rescuer the world has ever known. — More to Life Magazine

(More to Life Magazine )

"'The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name' disproves the adage that you can't judge a book by its cover. Jago's award-winning cover art is a foretaste of the whimsically insightful and richly colored drawings that await you on every one of the book's 351 pages. The illustrations alone are worth the price of the book.Jago the illustrator, and Sally Lloyd-Jones the author, are a good pair. She brings the same creativity and sense of humor to her telling of the Bible's stories.But Lloyd-Jones's writing isn't cutesy. She has a grasp of the profound. How does one explain to a child the agony of Jesus in Gethsemane, and his prayer of surrender to his Father? Lloyd-Jones does it as well as any biblical commentator.The title and subtitle are even better than the book's delightful illustrations and narrative -- because they provide, in one deft stroke, the interpretive key that unlocks the meaning of the whole Bible. 'The Jesus Storybook Bible' says it all: The Scriptures are not merely a collection of stories designed to teach moral lessons. As Jesus explained to the men walking the road to Emmaus on Resurrection Sunday, the whole Bible is about Jesus. In the words of the subtitle, every story whispers his name.Lloyd-Jones manages to show again and again the presence of Christ in all the Old Testament Scriptures, and the presence of the Old Testament Scriptures in the life of Christ." — Christianity Today

(Christianity Today )

Reader Reviews
As I pastor I've just finished preaching an overview of the bible - I'm passionate about gettting people to see the big picture. So I was really excited to see this for children. The idea is superb, the tying every story to Jesus is magnificent. Our 4 year old daughter has started seeing the connections already. And that excites me. I love how it fits every story in with the plot-line of the bible. However I have a couple of caveats. Since children get so much from imagery I was really disappointed with the artwork. The quality is great, but the content very poor, and underscores misconceptions of the bible, actually making the bible look less believable. Noah's ark is shown balancing precariously on the pinnacle of the mountain, as well as being that silly shape that it is often drawn - nothing like the proportions given in the bible. Jericho is a five house town - not much of a conquest there. Goliath is make to look like a gruesome ogre of fairytale proportions. The people of Israel coming to the Red Sea look like a small Sunday school outing rather than 1.5 million people making the exodus. I could go on. For me, the pictures undermine the very thing the words are seeking to do - they push the stories into the realm of fairy tales. (A far better set of illustrations are by Gail Schoonmaker in the The Big Picture Story Bible written by David Helm.) The other caveat is that sometimes Lloyd-Jones is a little loose to the story, making up things that aren't in the passage. For example - Jesus being bathed in a golden light at his baptism, there being three wise men, Jesus winking at the boy who brought the 5 loaves and saying "watch this" and others. It's little things like she says Jacob had to wait 7 years to marry Rachel instead of just a week, like God creating by saying "Hello Light", like using "Papa" for Father - a word which doesn't carry the same connotations as Abba. Like the feeding of the '5000 people', rather than 5000 men, plus a lot more women and children. Like Jesus playing games with children. Like Zacchaeus being so small that he had to take a flying leap to get up into his chair for breakfast. In one sense they're small things, and it is in the style of other children's books. And therein lies the problem - the bible isn't another children's book. It's true in every detail - so when it comes to a Children's version of the Bible, it should be true in every detail. We owe that to our kids. I'd prefer not to have to edit the story as I tell it. Growing up, we had the Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos read to us. Time and time again when we thought she was stretching the text, when we looked up our bibles we found she was exactly right. Since we read it so many times, a vast quantity of accurate bible knowledge was imbibed. That's what I look for in a children's bible. Having said all that - the links to Jesus often make you stop and praise God for Jesus. We've read it following on from the aforementioned Big Picture Story Bible - which I would heartily recommend. And that's probably the best way - read it along with other children's bibles and correct it as you go. Looking forward to the revised edition of this potentially tremendous asset. Comments (4) | | (Report this)