I have five kids ranging in age from thirteen to one. Needless to say, family worship can be a little challenging. How do you engage children in that range all at the same time, taking into account that some have professed faith in Christ and others have not; that some can sit and listen for ten to fifteen minutes without issue while others are in a perpetual state of motion?
One of the best tools in our toolbox for spanning this divide is a good children’s story Bible. Our go-to for a long time has been the Jesus StoryBook Bible, with several other really good ones coming alongside. A good story Bible gives us a chance to cover the major themes of Scripture at a level that fits my younger kids but gives us content to start discussions with our older ones as well.
One of the best tools in our toolbox for spanning this divide is a good children’s story Bible.
One of the newest additions to the world of Bible storybooks is The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung. The book is heftier than many story Bibles, with 529 pages divided into 104 chapters. The book is full of beautiful artwork by Don Clark and is targeted at ages six to twelve. Each chapter seems perfectly balanced between artwork and words so that the truths of Scripture are read and seen together.
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook is put together well, and the quality is excellent. These are all definite benefits to the book but are only part of what makes the book one of the top two to three children’s storybook Bibles on the market. Kevin DeYoung has ambitiously and successfully incorporated parts of every section of the Bible
into his book. Most children’s story Bibles focus almost exclusively on narrative. This is understandable.
Stories are what speak to children, and much of the Bible is written in narrative form. But if you are trying
to weave a consistent redemptive theme from Scripture into a storybook, you need to do something about
the other elements of Scripture.
DeYoung does this well. He breaks the book down into seven parts: Pentateuch, History, Poetry, Prophets, Gospels, Acts and Epistles, and Revelation. Each part begins with a brief overview of the significance of that section of Scripture. Each chapter covers a text within that section. This is another strength of the book. DeYoung tackles sections of Scripture that many other storybook Bibles leave out. He deals with the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), the daughters of Zelophehad (Numbers 27 and 36), a Psalm (23), and a Proverb (1). He gives glimpses into the major and minor prophets and spends some time in the epistles.
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook is not just another children’s Bible. It’s a wonderful tool for
families to use in digging into the richness of the biblical text together.
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook is comprehensive and written in a way that will appeal to
the young. It is put together with DeYoung’s trademark wit and humor along with his ability to take deep
theological concepts and explain them in ways that children can understand. I’d go so far as to say that
Kevin DeYoung may have been the ideal person to write this particular type of Bible Storybook.
The Biggest Story Bible Storybook is not just another children’s Bible. It’s a wonderful tool for
families to use in digging into the richness of the biblical text together. It is well-written, beautifully
illustrated, and an excellent resource for young readers. I would highly recommend it.
I received a free copy of this book from Crossway in exchange for an honest review.