The Random House Book of Bible Stories retold by Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce; illustrated by Michael Welply
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (September 22, 2009)
ISBN-13: 978-0375822810
Back-of-the-book blurb: More than 50 stories from the Old and New Testaments come to vivid life, ready to captivate readers and listeners of all ages. Each story is crafted for reading aloud, so the whole family can share the experience.
She is Too Fond of Books’ review: I haven’t yet posted one of those “25 Things About Me” (or 50, or 75 … how many can you stand?!), but I think you could cobble together an impressive dossier by combing my blog. Here’s one fact you might not know … I teach Sunday School … to Kindergartners. Talk about pressure! It’s tough enough to instill a sense of faith in my own children; to teach and lead a group of 5-year-olds is a big responsibility, really!
It has been a pleasure to have this book at Sunday School and at home this fall. We used it in church during our lesson on “The Parting of the Red Sea.” After telling the story verbally, then making props and acting it out (I wish I had pictures to post – stellar cotton ball clouds and construction paper columns of fire; the Red Sea was made of two blue tablecloths that parted easily – and closed before the Egyptian army could cross), we settled in to a quiet circle time so I could read the story from The Random House Book of Bible Stories.
Reading from the book was a nice way to reinforce the lesson. Like all the “retellings” in this volume, it is short, just two pages. One full-page illustrations of the Israelites crossing the parted Sea spills over onto a second page. The realistic watercolor shows the size and power of the Sea in relation to the 600,000 people. I intentionally held off reading until the end of the lesson, so the children would first have to opportunity to conjure up their own imagined images.
Our Red Sea story is a retelling of Genesis 1-2; the text is easy to understand for even this young age group. I did need to define a few words that were an integral part of the story; aside from names and places, pillar and chariot stand out.
At home, we call this simply “the book of Bible Stories.“ My 7-year-old (who is a voracious reader and enjoys making connections between her world and the books she reads), leafs through it each week to see if the lesson from her second-grade Sunday School class is retold here. The vocabulary and font size are appropriate for her to read alone, but I like to sit and listen to her read it aloud. The publisher cites the reading level at 9-12, but I would place it lower, both for read-aloud and read-alone.
The Random House Book of Bible Stories is a comprehensive collection of all the “biggies” – those impactful stories from the Old and New Testaments that we learn as children. The length of each story, ease of retelling, and vivid realistic illustrations combine to make this an appealing collection for home or church school.
About the authors: Mary Pope Osborne is the author of the bestselling Magic Tree House series. Co-author Natalie Pope Boyce is also co-author of the non-fiction Magic Treehouse Research Guides. Michael Welply has illustrated over seventy books in Europe and the United States.
FTC disclosure: review copy provided by the publisher.
I haven yet to review this one, but my family has certainly enjoyed this beautiful book!
I’ll have to mention this to the librarian at the kids’ school. And I am sure that the fact that Mary Pope Osborne even makes the stories more special in some way…she is such a beloved author. I don’t think I knew you taught Sunday School. You are a hero!
Julie – it is beautiful. Stories are easy to read and understand (well, theortically … miracles are tough to grasp!), and the illustrations are gorgeous!
Sandy – I forgot my “about the author” paragraph, thanks for the reminder! Oh, and I’m NOT as good as I make myself sound … I avoided teaching for years (but found I really like it, this age group is fun!), and I don’t teach in my kids’ classes (my younger two would cling and it wouldn’t be an effective class). Yes, do let your kids’ librarian know about the book!
Our two favorite story Bibles are The Rhyme Bible (beautiful, joyful illustrations with stories that flow) and The Jesus Storybook Bible (rich, deep, and lovely).
Thanks for the post! It brought back memories of a treasured “Bible Stories for Kids” book that I had growing up!
When I was younger I loved my little comic book style version of Bible stories. (And I wish I knew what happened to it!) I remember how nice I thought it was that I had my own little version of these stories to which I could relate and which I could understand.
Thanks for the review. I’m now fondly remembering my yellow and red My Book of Bible Stories. We moved around so much as a kid that it got lost in the shuffle and I have wanted something similar for my son. I think this may be the one for us.
Caroline – we have a few single Bible story books for younger children – very simple prose that contain only one lesson. I really like this collection; thanks for the other recommendations!
Amy – I can picture the book we had, it stayed on the hall bookcase, not mixed in with my books. I wonder if my parents still have it …
rhapsody – I think it’s easier for the kids to grasp and accept these stories than adults (i.e., ME!)
Ryan – I’d love to hear what you and your son think of it!
Very cool to find out you are a Sunday school teacher! I teach the 3 and 4 year olds at my church, and have been looking for something like this. I really loved this review and think this is something I am going to pick up right away. We are just finishing our lessons on The Fruit of the Spirit, and I have been looking for some teaching tools for new lessons. This is a really great find for me, so I owe you a huge thanks!
Firstly, I do not think anybody can be too fond of books.
Your article appeal to my in two ways. Educating my kids in the ways of the Bible is close to my hart and I have been in the book selling business for a while.
I know how difficult it could be to find a suitable bible book even if you have access to hundreds of books. It is an impossible feat to go through all of the books and then to sellect one. Your review of the Random House Book of Bible Stories is great and is obviousely supported by the comments you received.
This must be great book. Thanks for the post.
I would love to win this book to share with my preschool bible class!