The Beginner's Bible - Various

Published by Zondervan Kids: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2016 (2005).

Ezekiel has reached an age where he is asking for slightly longer stories, or stories from bigger books, and The Beginner's Bible - originally a gift from his Nana and Poppa - is one he has asked for often enough that we have now officially read the whole way through it.

Rather than a 'full' bible, this is stories from the bible arranged in order of appearance, told in a simplified version and with colourful and cartoony pictures accompanying each. The text never embellishes the story beyond what the original contains, but the pictures have a little more license to add in humour - with Noah spotted pushing an elephant aboard the ark in one image.

Generally, the stories that are selected are kid-friendly, with elements of death and killing minimised as much as possible. The exception, of course, is with Jesus, who does die on the cross - it would be foolish to try and either ignore or minimise that death! Simplifying the stories, though, doesn't mean that the lessons are removed - there is certainly a good balance here.

As a first exposure to bible stories, I think this is a good choice. It is not super-simplified to the point of losing the heart of the message, but each story is also only a few pages long, with images that can be explored by child and parent alike. The fact that Ezekiel has kept asking for stories from "his bible" is also a great vote of confidence - even if it has taken us a long time to get through the just over 500 pages within it!

Completed, with Ezekiel, 1 August 2026. 



(Ezekiel Books)

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