My First Story Bible

My First Story Bible shares short stories ideal for the early reader wanting to become more familiar with the Bible. Some of the stories included by author Tim Dowley are:

• The Beginning
• Adam and Eve
• Noah
• A Great Tower
• Abraham
• The Twin Boys
• Joseph the Dreamer
• Moses Escapes from Egypt
• Gideon
• King Saul
• King David
• King Solomon
• The People Disobey God (about the prophet Elijah)
• Daniel and the Lions
• Jonah and the Huge Fish
• A Special Promise
• An Angel Visits Mary
• Mary and Joseph Travel to Bethlehem
• Jesus is Born
• Wise Men Bring Gifts to Jesus
• Jesus in the Temple
• John Baptizes Jesus (about when Jesus was left at the Temple)
• Jesus Calls His Disciples
• The Lost Sheep
• The Good Samaritan
• Jesus Heals a Sick Man
• Jesus Feeds a Crowd
• Jesus Helps a Little Girl
• Jesus Calms a Storm
• Jesus Rides into Jerusalem
• A Special Supper
• Jesus is Arrested
• Good News!
• Peter and John Help a Man
• A Man from Africa Hears about Jesus
• Saul Meets Jesus
• Paul and Barnabas Go on a Journey
• Paul Goes to Jail
• Paul is Shipwrecked

Roger Langton illustrates My First Story Bible.

What I Like: The illustrations by Mr. Langton are bright and do a good job of accompanying the stories. I also appreciate that the New Testament portion doesn't end with Jesus' resurrection, but has stories of the apostles from Acts.

What I Dislike: Some of the stories don't give an accurate representation of the full stories. For instance, in "A Great Tower" (about the Tower of Babel) the people are building the tower to reach Heaven and God becomes angry with them because of this. However, in the original Bible story (in Genesis 11), God becomes angry because the people are trying to make a name for themselves. "Daniel and the Lions" is another example; Daniel is quoted as praying, "God, please save me!" when the Bible (in Daniel 6) never mentions such a prayer.

I feel some stories should have received lengthier treatment, while others could have been cut down. Many of the stories feel unfinished, more for lack of details than anything else.

In addition, there are no biblical references given so you can easily read the stories in their entirety.

Overall Rating: With a myriad of other, better storybook Bibles out there, I have to give this one a Ho-Hum rating. It's decent, but not nearly as good as many others.

Age Appeal: 4 - 8

Publisher Info: Candle Books, 2009; ISBN: 978-1-85985-774-8; Hardback $12.99

Buy it Now at Christianbook.com for $9.99
OR Buy it at Amazon.com for $11.04.

Special Info: This book is by a British publisher, so some of the spellings aren't what we'd expect. For instance, the word "learnt" is used instead of "learned." For early readers, this may be confusing.