This blog post has been in the works for months.
When I decided to conduct a Children’s Bible Round-Up, I thought about how helpful this project would be, both to me and to other Catholic parents.
There are so many Children’s Bibles out there. Some of them are great. Some of them look great at first (wonderful pictures!) but turn out to be terrible (anything from poor grammar to poor theology). I wanted to use both my parenting and theological skills to separate the wheat from the chaff. And so I set out to find the Best Children’s Bibles.
Well guess what.
If you search “Children’s Bible” on Amazon you will get over 20,000 results.
My local public library system has over 400.
How is a parent supposed to find a really good Bible for her children? A Bible that is beautifully illustrated, engagingly written, and theologically sound? A Bible that is Catholic in its presentation of Scripture, or at the very least not anti-Catholic?
Well, I’ll be honest with you. I have not read all 20,000 children’s Bibles held by Amazon. But I did look through about 500 different children’s Bibles. I took lots of notes. I made charts. I conducted some analyses. And here, after all of that, are the results: Dr. Siobhan’s Top Three Children’s Bibles & Three to Avoid.
Dr. Siobhan’s Top Three Children’s Bibles
1. The Action Bible by David Cook (author) and Sergio Cariello (illustrator)
https://www.theactionbible.com/products/
Age Recommendation: 5-13
Translation / Retelling: Retelling.
Illustrations: Sergio Cariello, who has illustrated comics for both Marvel and DC Comics, fills the pages of The Action Bible with epic, dramatic, engaging comic-book style graphic art. Every page consists of full-color, bright, dynamic illustrations. All characters are portrayed with intentional ethnic historicity, i.e., Jesus looks like an ancient Middle Eastern Jew.
Other Comments: This Bible feels cool. My oldest son has read it all the way through four times (and counting!) and it is the go-to in my home for daily Bible read-aloud. Selected stories span from Genesis to Revelation. The text and artwork together to create crisp, understandable stories true to the plotlines of Scripture while remaining child-friendly in content. A helpful index allows children and their parents to find particular Scripture passages.
2. The Family Story Bible by Ralph Milton (author) and Margaret Kyle (illustrator) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/215701.The_Family_Story_Bible
Age Recommendation: 0-100
Translation / Retelling: Retelling.
Milton joyfully writes in the introduction, “Always remember that the stories in this book come from the Bible, but via my imagination. At times you may wonder, where is this guy coming from? So check the original story in the Bible.” Milton also has a wonderful 1-page “How the Bible Came to Be” note, which is a simple but accurate description of oral tradition turning into written tradition. Perfect for curious minds and consistent with Catholic understanding of Scripture.
Illustrations: Bright, friendly watercolors. The people (including Jesus) are mostly pictured as Middle Eastern Jews.
Other Comments: This is not a Bible. It is a story book filled with joy and love of God.
Reading these stories is like watching The Prince of Egypt: it is inspiring and beautiful and fun and communicates God’s love. It is not Scripture but it is about Scripture. This book makes wonderful bedtime reading, encourages holy curiosity and imagination, and would be useful in a homeschooling setting where the parent wishes to encourage theological imagination and an understanding of Scripture and Tradition.
Age range listed as 0-100 because this text will work well for whole-family reading and the notes to adults are truly enriching.
3. The Catholic Children’s Bible
https://www.smp.org/series/81/The-Catholic-Childrens-Bible/
Age Recommendation: 7-13
Translation / Retelling: Translation, The Good News Bible (GNB).
The GNB translation uses the translation principle of dynamic equivalency (if you know, you know). It is a plain-language translation, easy to read and understand. This is also actually Scripture, chapter and verse translated word for word rather than rewritten by an author putting his or her own “spin” on Scriptural stories.
Illustrations: Infrequently scattered throughout the 2000 page book, illustrations are bright, friendly, and reminiscent of the Sunday comics page. Color adorns every single page, though. Bright colors form borders and lines between columns of text, each book of the Bible is distinguished by brightly colored tabs. The general effect is one of friendliness and welcome. This is a book that invites readers to linger.
Other Comments: This is a real Bible, the actual Word of God as delivered to us human beings. Brightly colored with clear book, chapter, and verse divisions, a pronunciation guide to help with those tricky ancient names and places, and 125 “featured stories” which include vocabulary words, brief Biblical analyses, real-life applications, and a “Tell it!” storyboard section that encourages children to retell the Scripture passage in their own words. Perfect for independent readers, this Bible could function as a stepping stone to an adult study Bible. Honestly this Bible would serve anyone well, but I capped the age recommendation at 13 because some teenagers might find the bright illustrations a bit too childish and, therefore, prefer to switch over to a plain text.
Three Children's Bibles to AVOID
This list of dishonorable mentions is provided to impress upon parents and educators that not all children’s Bibles are theologically or ethically sound. While preparing this blog post, I came across some really lovely children’s Bibles, a great many mediocre Bibles, and, unfortunately, several books that are just bad. These three are representative of different ways in which a children’s Bible can be “bad.”
1. The Complete Brick Bible for Kids by Brendan Powell Smith
Age Recommendation: Not for believers.
Translation / Retelling: Retelling.
Illustrations: Vibrant, beautifully built and photographed Lego builds. Cruel, sexually or violently graphic, and theologically misleading or sarcastic.
Other Comments: This book, which seems like it should be fun, is a wolf in Lego clothing. Smith takes children’s favorite Bible stories (Noah’s Ark, David and Goliath, etc.) and highlights all that is frightening about them. God the Father is portrayed as angry and vengeful, stories are told with false-wisdom-sarcasm befitting a disillusioned teenager, and no love or joy fills these pages. I would never read Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” to my children as anything other than “wow, look at that amazing rhetoric–note that the theology is all wrong!” The only reason to look at the Brick Bible is to admire the Lego work–the theology is all wrong.
2. God’s Love for You: Bible Storybook by Rich & Renee Stearns, Carolyn Larsen, and Martina Peluso
Age Recommendation: 8-14
Translation / Retelling: Retelling + original non-fiction.
Illustrations: Soft, engaging whole-page illustrations fill the pages with Bible stories; large photographs decorate the accompanying missionary stories with people and places from around the world.
Other Comments: Created by and for the Protestant missionary business World Vision, this book is beautifully illustrated and strongly emphasizes that “All people are made in God’s image.” Each Bible story is accompanied by a short modern-day missionary story about God’s good work around the world. Theologically, this book is strongly Protestant.
If you’ve ever had trouble finding a Bible with illustrations that look like your child, you can find suitable illustrations here. However many illustrations and missionary stories are insidiously laced with references to white saviorism and American exceptionalism.
3. The Kingfisher Children’s Bible: Questions and Answers by Dennis Doyle
Age Recommendation: 6-9
Translation / Retelling: Catechism style question and answer (so neither a retelling nor a translation, despite the title).
Illustrations: Bright, realist drawings and paintings.
Other Comments: This is an Augsburg Confession-inspired question-and-answer illustrated catechism for children. It is not appropriate for Catholic children because its theology neglects historical and scientific realities and, therefore, fails to promote the unity of faith and reason.