From: The Church Times - 23 November 2007 Reviewed by Rachel Boulding (parent). This is a large format Bible, with a picture on every spread, containing 365 numbered stories, most covering about half a page. In the margins are short quotations from the CEV. The main text by Rhona Davies is written in direct, unadorned style, without the emotive elaboration to which some children's Bibles are prone. Thus, in Gethsemane, '...He was very sad. "My Father," Jesus said, "Don't make me go through all the pain and suffering ahead of me! Take it away if that's possible. But let me do what you want me to - not what I want." The illustrations have a similarly uncluttered contemporary feel, which grows on you. At the end, a 30-page 'encyclopedia' offers a couple of sentences on various aspects of biblical background ('Women: A woman was owned by her husband... Their work was hard and home-based, caring for the family.)' At GBP12.99 It looks excellent value (it could easily be GBP20. There is also a school edition. From Lincoln Diocesan Young People's Service - December 2009 This is a re-telling of the Bible narrative rather than a children's translation, and covers Genesis (The Story of Creation) to the beginning of Acts (The Power of the Holy Spirit). The Chapters are short and the whole book is very well illustrated with obvious thought having been given to chapter titles (for instance; Ten Thirsty Camels - Abraham's servant praying to God and finding Rebekah to be Isaac's wife; The Contest on the Mountain - the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal, but stopping just before the fatal consequences for the false prophets ..). When I was a child, I was given a similar book to this (less colourful - this was a long time ago - and as my reading improved I went back to it time and time again, getting an understanding that rather than being a collection of unrelated stories, there was an integrated biblical narrative. A nice book to give a KS2 child for Christmas, or to use as a Sunday School present. Reviewed by Dave Rose, Diocesan Children and Youth officer, Lincoln Diocese
