The 365-Day Storybook Bible

The 365-Day Storybook Bible from B&H Publishing is a padded hardcover Bible story book of substantial length. It does not adhere to any particular version of the Bible (KJV, NIV, etc...) Rather, it is written to summarize the Bible story in words easily understood by children. Many Bible stories are covered in this book, including much of the book of Acts. However, Revelation is not included.

So, as soon as I opened the package containing The 365-Day Storybook Bible, my five year old grabbed it and proceeded to look through it for an extended time. She was able to identify certain Bible stories simply by the illustrations and asked about others. Over the past week, she's picked it up almost every day to look at the pictures. She likes it a lot, probably more than I do.

And speaking of the illustrations, The 365-Day Storybook Bible is good at engaging through colorful, mostly well-done illustrations. However, some of the illustrations are unpleasant – particularily page 206 where it shows Saul committing suicide by stabbing himself with his sword.... I kinda wish they had left that particular story out. Granted, I know it is part of the Bible, but not necessarily appropriate for young children... Also, I never pictured King David with blonde hair...

My daughter and I have enjoyed reading these stories so far. The story and illustrations are interesting to her. If you want the storytime to last the five minutes that the cover advertises, you'll have to come up with some questions and discussion topics on your own because the narrative provided takes two minutes or less to read. The “parent connection” is one page in the back of the book, not something integrated with each story.

I recommend The 365-Day Storybook Bible to parents of children between 5-9 years of age. Its' a sturdy, colorful book that teaches stories from the Bible. However, I don't think it's appropriate for younger children. The illustrations can be bit graphic and some of the more gritty Bible stories are included: Joseph & Potiphar's Wife, David & Bathsheba, Saul's suicide, (Abraham, Hagar, and Ishmael are noticeable absent.) My two year would listen and not ask questions about how Bathsheba had David's baby, but my five year old is inquisitive and these stories have enough detail to prompt further questions. If you aren't comfortable with that, you'd have to somehow skip the pages.

Overall, this is not the best book of Bible stories I've seen, nor is it the worst. Seems to fall somewhere in the middle, but my five year old does really like it and that counts for something.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."