This is similar to The Jesus Storybook Bible, but aimed at readers just a bit younger. The illustrations are excellent and the writing is equally good. Excellent all the way around! ( )

From publisher's notes: "No child is too young to begin learning about the greatest love story of all—God’s love for his people, as portrayed in the Bible. David Helm and Gail Schoonmaker have together created a colorful book of Bible stories written especially for children ages 2–7. Rather than simply retelling portions of the Bible, this book presents the big picture—the unified story running through the Old and New Testaments. Twenty-six stories together form parts of this big picture."

What differentiates this Childrens Bible from others is that it seeks to understand the Bible from a historical-redemptive perspective. Rather than looking at individual stories, this book seeks to connect all these stories together pointing ultimately to Christ. This is welcomed in an age were people are now more and more unfamiliar with how the Bible fits together. How much more helpful since this is for children. They ought to learn to read their Bibles with the Bigger Picture in mind!!! ( )

Grasping the continuity of the Bible is difficult, even for adults. It's easy to read it as many separate stories, each one written to reveal something about God but not necessarily connected to one another. But to view the Bible like this is to miss the "big picture," the story line that is hidden in the pages, waiting to be discovered. That story line is the Christ-centered story of redemption.

In The Big Picture Story Bible, David Helm and Gail Schoonmaker simply yet superbly tie together the major stories of the Bible and show how each of these stories continually point to the fulfillment of God's promise of redemption. The book begins with creation and the Fall, showing how Adam and Eve, who were once joyful in the fellowship of God, disobeyed. But, even from the very beginning, "God gave Adam and Eve a hint that he would not always be angry with them. God promised that one day someone would come and crush Satan's power over people. But that day was a long way off." (pp.48-49) Through the stories of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, the prophets and other, we continually read the reminders of God's promise. By the time you get to the New Testament, there's a great expectation that surely something is going to happen and soon! "What a very big day! What God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David had arrived in the birth of Jesus!" (p.256-257). The book tells of Jesus' ministry, his death, burial and resurrection. It closes with another promise that Jesus would return again and that "God's forever people will one day live in God's forever place under God's forever rule." (p.450)

David Helm and Gail Schoonmaker take what is often simply told as individual Sunday School stories and writes the story of the Bible in such a way as to make it accessible to children. Each page is filled with colorful drawings that beautifully, yet simply illustrate what is happening. The book does take a few liberties in describing some situations, like giving the background for why Caesar decided to count all the people in his kingdom. Additionally, many details about Biblical events or stories are not covered, but are briefly mentioned, if at all. But keep in mind that the purpose of this story Bible is to look at the big picture and, as a result, many smaller details or stories may not be mentioned.

Every family with young children should have a copy of this story Bible. It certainly gave me a great reminder of how the Bible all fits together. The Big Picture Story Bible is an excellent way to teach how the whole Bible is about God, how each story builds to the coming of Jesus and how even today, we wait for the final chapter to be written in the story of redemption.

(A huge "Thank you" to Crossway for providing a copy of this book for review.) ( )

Our family loves picture Bibles, and in a home filled with children ranging from one to six years old, it’s pretty easy to see why. The Big Picture Story Bible is both one of the more substantial picture Bible’s we own while also somewhat paradoxically being one of the shortest in length. With 453 hardcover bound pages and measuring around 9 x 9 inches, The Big Picture Bible is big.

Not only is this popular children’s Bible filled with big pictures, but it also focuses on the big picture of God’s over-arching plan for redemption through His Son that is present from beginning to end of the Bible. Focusing on the themes of Jesus’ Kingship, God’s holy book, and God’s special place, young children are given a fly-by voyage through the sections of scripture that best illuminate these themes.

Retold in author David Helm’s words in an easy-to-read font and vocabulary at a grade 2/3 level, this Bible is easy for the two-and-three-year-old crowd to understand and dig into when read aloud, as well as being simple for early readers to move through under their own steam.

One of my favorite aspects about this Bible is that Helm skillfully depicts the endless disobedience of God’s people, his loving discipline, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit to finally change the hearts of God’s chosen people. Scripture references aren’t provided for the 26 parts of this title, which is likely because of the huge sweep across time

The Big Picture Story Bible is easy to read through quickly to provide small children with some ‘hooks’ for future biblical knowledge. Whenever I came to the end of a section, my little ones asked for another, and another; each part can be read aloud in approximately 15-20 minutes. Helm integrates questions into the text that ask children what they think is going to happen next, and prompt them to remember events that have already occurred. My daughter’s love contributing their thoughts, so this was one of their favorite parts of our daily readings.

My oldest daughter is more familiar with the full body of Bible stories and the details associated with them, so she was disappointed when her favorite details and stories were skipped over in this overview. She’d suddenly announce, “Hey, that’s not fair! They just skipped the part about the golden calf!” as we read about Moses and the Ten Commandments. Helm does write in broad sweeps and leaves much uncovered – if your children are really into detail, this likely isn’t the best choice for you, but for preschoolers unfamiliar with the larger plan and scope of salvation, this is a friendly, engaging option.

Illustrator Gail Shoonmaker’s brings the text to life with large, loose watercolors with clearly delineated pencil borders. They created a lot of interest for my younger children, who were always asking what was going on in the pictures. The jewel-toned paintings feature some great points-of-view, showing worshippers looking up to heaven as though from God’s perspective looking down, of those surrounding the cross as though from the perspective of Christ, and so on. The characters are depicted in mainly Caucasian skin tones (always a annoyance), and the highly stylized hair on some people was a bit distracting. Those two points aside, we all greatly enjoyed Shoonmaker’s work that so enlivens the simple text.

The Big Picture Story Bible is a great choice for parents of children with short attention spans who are just cutting their teeth on picture Bibles. With an average of four sentences on each page, and lots to look at visually, there’s no way little ones will lose interest as the story proceeds. My children always scamper over to the couch when I open its pages, and I’m sure yours will too.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com ( )