The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones

About:

The Moonbeam Award Gold Medal Winner in the religion category, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible. At the center of the Story is a baby, the child upon whom everything will depend. Every story whispers his name. From Noah to Moses to the great King David---every story points to him. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle---the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will pick up the clues and piece together the puzzle. A Bible like no other, The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to join in the greatest of all adventures, to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God's great story of salvation---and at the center of their Story too.

Reviews:

“I would urge not just families with young children to get this book, but every Christian–from pew warmers, to ministry leaders, seminarians and even theologians! Sally Lloyd-Jones has captured the heart of what it means to find Christ in all the scriptures, and has made clear even to little children that all God’s revelation has been about Jesus from the beginning–a truth not all that commonly recognized even among the very learned.” – Dr. Timothy Keller, NYC (Dr. Timothy Keller)

In the interests of full disclosure, let me reveal that I had the privilege of reading the manuscript of this book several years ago as a theological consultant to Zondervan, the publisher. I did not know, however, of the fulsome thanks to my husband Tim in the acknowledgments until I received my review copy a few days ago. Sally Lloyd-Jones, a Redeemer member for many years, has done a wondrous thing. She has captured the plot line of redemption in a children's story Bible that sings the praise of Jesus and his saving grace on every page, in every story. Most children's books of Bible stories are little more than a Christianized version of Aesop's fables, or at best, a Christian adventure cartoon. But Sally goes out of her way in the first pages of the book to reclaim the true story of the Bible: not a book of rules, nor a book of heroes, but: “The Bible is most of all a Story…It's like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life! You see, the best thing about this Story is--it's true! There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.” This is heady theology, often missed in adult preaching and teaching, but fully realized in an age appropriate and attractive form that will delight children and often (at least for me) leave the grown up reader in tears. More wondrously, she has avoided the moralism and legalism that so often characterizes Christian educational materials for children. For five years I worked as an editor of children's curriculum, requiring me to review, edit, and sometimes write Sunday school material for children. It is very hard to find (or even produce) material for children that doesn't essentially contain the message “Be good, so that God, your heavenly Father, will love you, and your earthly parents will be happy with you, too.” To discover The Jesus Storybook Bible is to have a unique resource for communicating the gospel to children in all it's fullness. I hope that every family, and even people without young children, would get a copy of this book just to remind them of what the Real Story of the Bible is all about. -- Kathy Keller

Author:

Sally Lloyd-Jones is a leading writer of inspirational books for children. She is the author of three bestselling children’s Bibles, including the Moonbeam Award winner and ALA notable The Jesus Storybook Bible, as well as Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing, winner of the ECPA Inspirational Book award. She has written many picture books for children, such as the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller How to Be a Baby: By Me, the Big Sister and Song of the Stars. Sally was born and raised in Africa, was schooled in England, and now lives in New York City. She can be found at http://www.sallylloyd-jones.com.