One Hundred Bible Stories (Hb)

Every children's bible or book of Bible stories is a compromise. This book has the best of all elements. The stories are 50 Old Testament and 50 New Testament and their coverage is very good. Some omissions have to be made. For instance, the plagues in Egypt are mentioned but not listed or described; Esther's story is missing; the later rebuilding of Jerusalem is absent. Still, the key participants are given thorough treatment, for example, several stories about David, many key parables of Christ and enough about the Apostle Paul to introduce his ministry. Each story is given two pages. The actual text is never longer than one page; the text is the actual biblical text, New International Version; it is edited for the brevity of the story. The Bible chapters which contain the story are listed for further reference. Each story has explanatory notes, too, whether it is a summary of where the story fits into salvation history or the explanation of unclear terms. On the facing page from the story is a picture; they are vividly illustrated, accurate and offer a good image for a child's lasting imagination. No cartoon characters here! Each picture is captioned with a memorable phrase form the story. Also included are a Bible verse for memory as well as a few discussion questions to review and apply the story.The brevity of the stories, the biblical text, the coverage of the biblical highlights and the vivid pictures all combine to make this a very fine book for family devotions or teaching the key stories of the Christian faith.