I recently had the chance to review a childrens' story book Bible. Its called "My Bedtime Story Bible" from Zondervan Publishing. With a toddler who is always curious and loves to hear new BIble stories, I am always on the lookout for the best toddler-geared book of Bible stories. Sadly, this book is not going to be making my list of must-reads for young kids. The summary from the publisher says,
However, this book does not live up to that summary. In my opinion, it doesn't even come close. Each short two-page story is beautifully illustrated, I will give it that due credit. But as for telling the Biblical stories or addressing the truths of the scripture, that just is not in this book. I understand the angle of a "nighttime" book where the story focuses on fictional evening events of Biblical characters, but it should not be presented as a "Bible." Very few of the short stories in this book have any Biblical basis beyond the basic setting. For instance, the writers simply talk about Noah saying good-night to all the animals aboard the ark, and falling asleep to the gentle rocking of the boat. I had a myriad of issues with this fabricated story, the greatest of which is that it misses a prime opportunity to talk about God and his loving mercy. Too much of this book is a figment of the writers' imagination, which ordinarily would be ok, if it were not marketed under the guise of a "Bible" for kids. All that being said, I did take the opportunity to further flesh out each Bible story with my toddler, talking about God and where Jesus fits into all of it. Each story has a suggested "tuck in" activity or prayer that I thought was cute. But overall, if you are looking for a Bible for your young children that will bring them the truth of the Gospel, sadly this one is not it.
was given a copy of this book by BookLook Bloggers in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
