Book Review – The Jesus Storybook Bible

By Daniel Darling

THE JESUS STORYBOOK BIBLE: every story whispers his name, ILLUSTRATED BY JAGOIt used to be that finding the best children’s Bible was hard, because there are so many wonderful and good ones on the market. But that’s no longer the case, since Sally Lloyd Jones released, The Jesus Storybook Bible.

This book has been highly recommended. I first heard of it on Josh Harris’ blog. So a few months ago, my wife and I bought a copy for our children. Immediately I realized why many pastors and theologians recommended it. It’s simply brilliant.

What I love about The Jesus Storybook Bible is how Sally Lloyd Jones weaves the message of Jesus in every big story. This is where it is a wonderful resource, even for adults. With few notable exceptions, we typically read the Bible narratives as isolated stories with real-life applicable truth. That’s good, but Sally rightly points to Jesus with every story. And this makes this book a very valuable resource. It trains our children, from an early age, to see the Bible not as a collection of differing books, but as one unified whole, with the thread of redemption coursing through its pages.

And beyond the redemptive value, Sally Lloyd Jones is a writer of immense talent. She takes the stories of the Bible and brings them to life with perfect prose. She elevates each character so that reading one story before bedtime becomes an escape into the world of the Bible, rich with dialogue, intrigue, and color. And yet, she stays remarkably faithful to the orthodoxy of the Word.

I’m not sure there is another resource out there like this on the market. The Jesus Storybook Bible should be on the bookshelves of every parent. I’m excited to see the impact of this book on the next generation of children.

In preparation for a future interview, the author, Sally Lloyd Jones has sent me a copy of the Deluxe Edition of the Jesus Storybook Bible. This is a beautifully illustrated hardback with an audio version, narrated by the wonderful voice of David Suchet, who plays Hercule Poirot in the incredible British film adaptation of Agathe Christie’s series of novels. My wife and I have personally enjoyed this series so when we listened to the narration of The Jesus Bible Storybook by Suchet, it added an even greater dimension to Sally’s masterful writing.

Helpful Links for this book:

http://www.sallylloyd-jones.com/welcome.html

http://www.jesusstorybookbible.com/index.php