Caroline Haley reviews The Kingdom and the King Storybook Bible by Bob Hartman and illustrated by Catalina Echeverri.
This beautifully illustrated children’s story Bible includes 70 Bible stories, tracing the theme of God the King and His kingdom through the pages of Scripture.
Most stories are only two pages long, allowing for sufficient detail but short enough to be realistic to read in one sitting. It is encouraging that some stories are included which are often left out of other children’s Bibles, such as the judges, kings (other than David and Solomon), the exile and the early church in Acts.
Headings link to the King and kingdom theme and a Bible reference is included so the verses can be read from a Bible. The text seeks to summarise Bible passages and help the stories come alive, but without excessively elaborating on the Bible’s words.
The illustrations by Catalina Echeverri are clear, helping to show the text’s meaning, with more abstract portrayal when this may be helpful, for instance for John’s visions in Revelation.
The book says it is aimed at 4–8-year-olds but I would expect it would be more suited to the upper end of this age bracket, in part because of the complexity of language used, and further because of the balance of text to pictures on each page. Even if a child is able to read the book independently, it would be beneficial to read through it with them to ensure that they understand the application of the stories. On occasion, it may appear as though what is needed is obedience, rather than trust in the King, with our obedience flowing from this. It may have been helpful for some questions to be included for reflection, and to direct a child towards this.
The Good Book Company website includes some free resources to accompany the book. Perhaps most helpful of these are posters giving an overview of the Bible, around the theme of the King, with easily memorable summaries for a child to learn.
THE KINGDOM AND THE KING STORYBOOK BIBLE
By Bob Hartman
Illustrated by Catalina Echeverri
The Good Book Co. 176 pages. £17.99
ISBN 978 1 802 543 384
