The Story for Kids

The Story for Kids is a gentle introduction to familiar Bible stories for children ages 7 to 12.  The paperback is very simple to read and about an inch thick (264 pages), divided into chapters by story.  It makes a good reader for first- or second-grade homeschoolers, so guess what we're working on now?  Woodjie often has difficulty with reading fluently, but he's doing a pretty good job on this book.  Each chapter has a small introductory paragraph and a few questions to consider at the end.

Max Lucado and Randy Frazee simplified the text while preserving the gist of most of the stories.  If you have a child who's struggling through his King James Version, this would be a great book for him to read before tackling a passage.  I like how the explanation of the text is woven into the story itself.

A word of caution, however:  this is not the Bible.  Either for the sake of simplicity or sparing young viewers graphic detail, the stories leave out the more upsetting bits of Scripture.  Let's just say that David didn't just make "bad choices," ok?

And it's a real shame they didn't add colour to the illustrations of Fausto Bianchi.  Isn't the cover of the book gorgeous?  So much depth and feeling is missing from the black and white drawings inside the book.  I have a feeling the originals are stunning, however.

I think this is a nice supplemental book for your elementary schooler or for a preteen who has a bit of difficulty with the more advanced versions of the Bible.  

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”