Christmas books for children
Three things made me walk into the bookshop at Moore Theological College in the last few days and emerge with an armful of kids' books. One: the first kids' Bible we ever owned is wearing out (our three girls are 4, 6, and 8, and it has done great service over the years). Two: the principal at Moore, Dr John Woodhouse, had mentioned some books that he thought I ought to be reviewing, and top of the list was David Helm's The Big Picture Story Bible. The third reason is that it is not far from Christmas, and now is the time to start stocking up on stocking fillers that may actually help my girls spiritually, not just feed their materialism.
At any rate, hopefully CHN readers who are into this sort of thing will also benefit from my armload of books since this is the first in a series of maybe half a dozen reviews of Christian children's books that I plan to post on the Couldn't Help Noticing blog in the next few weeks.
Top of the list is the one I just mentioned: David Helm's Big Picture Story Bible. And yep, the pictures are big, and the book is too, though not too big for manhandling at the dinner table. The parental reader will appreciate the size of both book and illustrations when faced with the regular complaint “I can't see!” because, with this one, you can see (so sit quietly!).
But the real reason this particular Big Picture Story Bible is so well-named is that it actually does provide, in the course of 26 parts, the Big Bible Picture. It begins with an explanation of Adam and Eve as made in the image of God, ruling over the world (and, incidentally, features one of the few illustrations I have seen where there is more than one lousy tree in the garden during the conversation with the snake, who is clearly identified as Satan). The promises to Abraham are explained clearly and referred to in the rest of the Story Bible. David receives the promise that a son of his will be the “forever King”, and once again, the story, from this point on, reminds the children hearing the story that we are looking forward to the one who will fulfil these promises. The Passover and temple sacrifices are explained, and provide the groundwork for understanding that the Lord Jesus, who is the promised “forever King”, is also the one who offers a sacrifice for sin and dies in our place. His bodily resurrection is taught clearly, along with his divinity and the power of the (divine) Holy Spirit.
Nor does this Bible shy away from the notion of divine judgement as God's kingly rule, which is taught and anticipated from the very beginning of the Bible and is established through the preaching of the disciples. In this version of Revelation, John “saw the holy room of God and the throne where Jesus sits. He saw the place of hell for everyone who rejects Jesus as God's king. He even saw Satan crushed forever.”
Most kids' Bibles line up one story after another like pearls on a string. These stories are great treasures, but, really, their order could be rearranged with no great harm to the final necklace. But this is not true of the Bible read by grown-ups, where the story of God's promises unfold until they are fulfilled in Christ. The great strength of this children's Bible is that, unlike most children's Bibles, the big picture of the Bible is taught clearly.
For the Cheng family, at least, we have found another Bible for our children to wear out.