Children's Bibles

Lately, my child and I have been reading sections of different children’s Bibles based on a season or particular questions he has like “Why does the priest say, ‘This is my blood’ during Eucharist?” Right now, we are focusing on Advent themes, especially Mary and Elizabeth’s story.

All children’s Bibles are paraphrases, meaning they are not direct translations of original texts. Instead, they are interpretations of those sacred stories. Also, because of the length of the Bible, all children’s Bibles choose some stories and omit others. My family finds it helpful to have several versions because the story we want is not included in one version or we want to explore different retellings. For Advent this year we are reading sections from:

 “The Spy on Noah’s Ark: And Other Bible Stories from the Inside Out” by The Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman

“The Book of Belonging” by Mariko Clark and Rachel Eleanor

“God’s Stories as Told by God’s People” brought to you by The Bible for Normal People

I hesitated to write this entry because I have only finished reading Freeman’s book. Yet I’m guessing many families are in the same position of wanting to explore a Bible story and valuing different voices around it.

“God’s Stories” offers the gift of being told from different scholars and different illustrators, creating a diversity of voices similar to our Bible. This Advent, we are reading the beautiful version of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth called “Mary’s Song.”

In “The Spy on Noah’s Ark,” I appreciate most how the stories were meant to be read aloud. The author originally told them to her now adult children. (In the past I have also used them for Vacation Bible School.) We are reading “Gabrielle and the Great Message.”

In “The Book of Belonging” I value what is emphasized in the title, belonging. We are reading “A Momentous Mission” based on Luke 1.