For kids
Baby Bible. Retold by Sarah Toulmin, illustrations by Kristina Stephenson. Good Books, 2007. 160 pages.
Baby Bible is a wonderful introduction to the Bible for toddlers, with 20 stories from creation to the resurrection told simply yet with real charm (and occasional sound words like scritch, scratch, gulp, etc.). The illustrations are bright and appealing. I love Toulmin’s summary of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances, the Great Commission, and the history of the church:
Then the friends saw Jesus.
“God can put everything right,” said Jesus.
“Go and tell everyone in the world.”
So they did.
Blossom: The Complete New Testament for Girls (New Century Version). Nelson Bibles, 2006.
This Bible doesn’t look like a Bible but like a magazine – a colourful, fat magazine. Besides the full text of the New Testament, every page contains something interesting, such as stories, study questions, quizzes, Bible bios, and so on. Stephanie, the 12-year-old reviewer to whom we gave it, called it “awesome” and said she likes the way it “digs deeper into some of the verses and explains them.” Her only criticism was that it doesn’t include the Old Testament! Blossom is designed for girls in the “tween” age, but there are also BibleZines for boys and other ages by the same publisher.
Sing, Little Children, Sing. Performed by Becky Degan. Herald Press, 2006.
Nursery Songbook. Compiled by Katherine Royer. Herald Press, 1957, 1985 (fifth printing).
All 25 songs from Nursery Songbook, a compilation of songs and pictures for three-year-olds, plus two more, are sung in joyful style by Becky Degan, worship and music director at Forest Hills Mennonite Church, Leola, Pa. The songbook was first published in 1957 so the illustrations seem quaint, but songs like “Jesus Loves Me,” “Praise Him, Praise Him,” and many more are timelessly true and worth teaching to children.
Devotional
Consider Jesus: Daily Reflections on the Book of Hebrews. Donald R. Jacobs. Herald Press, 2006. 365 pages.
Want to spend a year ruminating on the book of Hebrews? Long-time missionary to Africa and former director of the Mennonite Christian Leadership Foundation, Donald R. Jacobs offers his services as companion in this series of reflections, one for each day, through the biblical text. The readings are warmly personal and full of fresh insights, especially from Jacobs’ experiences in Africa. Above all, they steadily draw attention, as Hebrews does, to Jesus, “the apostle and high priest whom we confess” (3:1).
—Dora Dueck
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