The Barnabas Children's Bible - Hardcover

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. From Lincoln Diocesan Young People's Service - December 2009 This is a re-telling of the Bible narrative rather than a children's translation, and covers Genesis (The Story of Creation) to the beginning of Acts (The Power of the Holy Spirit). The Chapters are short and the whole book is very well illustrated with obvious thought having been given to chapter titles (for instance; Ten Thirsty Camels - Abraham's servant praying to God and finding Rebekah to be Isaac's wife; The Contest on the Mountain - the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, but stopping just before the fatal consequences for the false prophets ..). When I was a child, I was given a similar book to this (less colourful - this was a long time ago - and as my reading improved I went back to it time and time again, getting an understanding that rather than being a collection of unrelated stories, there was an integrated biblical narrative. A nice book to give a KS2 child for Christmas, or to use as a Sunday School present. Reviewed by Dave Rose, Diocesan Children and Youth officer, Lincoln Diocese

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.