The New Life Bible for Boys/Girls

When your child is old enough to read a simple translation of the Bible, but still enjoys some of the illustrations a Bible storybook has to offer, The New Life Bible for Boys or The New Life Bible for Girls may be just the thing.

Both are Bibles in the New Life Version, which is designed for simplicity and widely considered the most understandable Bible translations. The boy's version features a great illustration of David and Goliath on the cover. The inside includes 12 colorful and stylized cartoonish images of various Bible heroes, including Moses, Joseph, and Paul. Alongside these images are colorful pages offering trivia, "Did You Know?" sidebars, and short explanations of heroes like Joshua, Elijah, David, Daniel, and Peter. There is also a presentation page at the beginning of the Bible.

The girl's version features a modest pink princess (not Disney-fied, thankfully) and the same inner layout, but featuring Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Ruth, Esther, Mary Magdalene, Lydia, and others.

What I Like: Visually, these are very attractive books. The illustrations are stunning in some cases, and certainly eye-catching. I like the trivia and other added features, and the text of the Bible itself is of a reasonable size and not printed on flimsy paper.

What I Dislike: Nothing, really, although I admit to not being a huge fan of the whole princess thing. That said, this Bible handles it very well, focusing on inner qualities, not beauty and romance.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: I'd say 7 - 11 or so.

Publishing Info: Barbour Books; 2012; ISBN (boy's) 978-1616265243, (girl's) 978-1616265151; hardback, 944 pgs., $19.99.

Buy The New Life Bible for Boys at Amazon for $15.59
or The New Life Bible for Girls at Amazon for $14.99

OR

Buy The New Life Bible for Boys at ChristianBook.com for $13.99 (hardback) or $9.99 (paperback)
or The New Life Bible for Girls at ChristianBook.com for $13.99 (hardback) or $9.99 (paperback)

You Can Be a Friend

Being a good friend takes thought...it’s not automatic. In Tony and Lauren Dungy’s book You Can Be a Friend, a young girl learns that friendships are as varied as the people you meet.

The story opens on a hot day—“The kind of day when you’ve got to eat your ice-cream cone fast before it melts down onto your fingers.” Three siblings are playing Freeze Tag in their yard when they spy a moving truck stop at a nearby house. One of the siblings (Jade, who appears to be around 9 years old) wonders if the new family has a girl just her age that she can play with. And sure enough, they do!

Jade and her family bake a batch of cookies and rush over to greet the new arrivals, including just-her-age Hannah. Jade is thrilled to meet Hannah… until she learns that Hannah is in a wheelchair. After bidding the family goodbye, Jade is quiet. She tells her parents she doesn’t want to be Hannah’s friend because (she assumes that) Hannah “can’t do any of the things that my friends and I do.”

Dad tells Jade, “You should be friends with someone because of the kind of person they are.” Mom adds, “God made everyone, and we are all special in His eyes. Sometimes we might have to look a little harder to see that.”

Jade still worries, but her family encourages her to at least give Hannah a chance. With their support, Jade decides to invite Hannah to go bowling. Much to Jade’s surprise, she has a great time. After that, the girls spend loads of time together giggling and playing. However, a tough test on their relationship soon surfaces. Jade’s birthday is coming up, and she had her heart set on going to the water park for her party… an activity that would leave Hannah on the sidelines. Knowing Hannah’s limitations, Jade wonders if she should even invite Hannah to the party.

While she’s deciding, Jade’s brother gives her something to think about: Would she rather have fun (implying with a few friends) or be with her friends (implying ALL her friends, Hannah too.) I won’t tell you what Jade does, but in the end she does learn a valuable life lesson.

The book ends with a note from Tony and Lauren, which encourages the reader to “be friendly to everyone”. They remind readers that people may look different from you on the outside, but God loves them just the same.

Ron Mazellan created the illustrations for the book. The realistic acrylic pictures are absolutely beautiful. They contain a lot of detail and capture facial expressions quite well. The book features an African American family—I suspect modeled after Tony and Lauren Dungy’s own family.

What I Like: This book has a great stated message for kids (be friendly to everyone) and a great unstated message (don’t judge others by their appearances, judge them by their hearts). I loved the artwork.

What I Dislike: There are large chunks of text on each spread, making this a lengthy picture book. And, while the story was sweet and well written, it was fairly predictable.

Overall Rating: Very Good

Age Appeal: Ages 4 and up (although I believe it might be a little long for age 4)

Publisher Info: Little Simon Inspirations, 2011; ISBN: 978-1416997719; Hardcover, 32 pgs., $16.99

Buy it Now at Christianbook.com for $12.99
OR Buy the e-book version for $12.99
OR Buy it at Amazon.com for $14.52.

Special Info: Tony Dungy is the former football coach of NFL Champions Indianapolis Colts. You can read a CCBR review of another book by Dungy called You Can Do It!