I Love My Bible!
(Crossway, 2005), hardback, 32 pp.
This is a new book for us and just this week I read it to my three year old (Benjamin) with my other boys (9, 8 and 6 years old) listening in. Benjamin usually gets to listen in as I read things more geared to the older ones so this was a welcome change of pace for him. The older boys enjoyed listening in and commenting, and Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed the book.
The title adequately summarizes the content of the book. In a very kid-friendly manner, each page mentions a reason for loving the bible and includes an appropriate Scripture reference. The book highlights that the Bible gives us strength, is true, tells us about Jesus and God’s love, and will not fade away. It touches on how God used different people to write the Bible while also ensuring that what was written was exactly what He intended. Scripture memory is encouraged with pictures of sample homemade memory cards. It also mentions how people in some areas do not have access to the Bible or have to obtain the Bible secretly. Having spoken to the value of the Bible and how some do not have it, the author in a very appropriate way encourages the children to do what they can to learn the Bible and also to help others get to know the Scriptures.
Listing all this content might obscure the fact that all of this is accomplished in a very succinct easy to follow manner- usually a sentence or two per page. This is a very child-friendly book. In fact, my three year old has enjoyed it so much that he has slept with it and taken it with him everywhere wanting to tell people about his “Bible book.”
A note should also be made on the illustrations. They are nicely done in a fairly typical children’s book style. They nicely further the discussion by giving specific examples of what is said briefly in words. It is also nice to see that the children in the pictures come from a variety of races. Lastly the picture of Jesus is well done. He is probably more fair skinned than he should be, but he looks like a strong king. I would not have guessed that it was a picture of Jesus if not for the words on the page. In fact my boys at first assumed that it was King David (what I was thinking as well). This not only nicely captured the reality of the incarnation but also led to my oldest saying, “Well, David is supposed to point us to Jesus.” Yes! He has been learning from the sermon series on 1-2 Samuel!
In closing, I think it is apparent that we have liked this book. It is a really good one for the little ones. The back cover says it is for ages 4-7. My six year old would not consider it a book for him though he enjoyed it. It was more like a book for my three year old. I would think of the target age range as 2-4, with others being able to enjoy alongside.