The Parables of Jesus: Short Stories, Timeless Truths

by Tyler Van Halteren

From the author and illustrator of The Kingdom of God Bible Storybook, comes a fully illustrated and faithful retelling of 26 parables of Jesus in a beautiful cloth-bound hardcover book. Written with ages 4 to 12 in mind, The Parables of Jesus aims to lead families deeper into the heart of Jesus' teaching. Covering well-known parables like the Good Samaritan, and lesser-known tales like the Dishonest Manager, these short stories provide an engaging way for children to learn surprising truths about Jesus and his coming kingdom.

Genres: Childrens

180 pages, Hardcover

Published September 15, 2023

About the author

Tyler holds a M.div from the Master's Seminary and has spent most of his life seeking to inspire children and youth to follow Christ and know God's Word.

After seeing 20 minute bedtime stories change his son's life, Tyler decided to take up the challenge of changing the world through biblically faithful and beautifully illustrated books.

Reviews

[Blessing Bloodworth (naptimereaders) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read-aloud with 6yo girl, 3yo girl, 2yo boy.

I love resources that support the parenting work of planting seeds of faith in children and helping them become acquainted with the life-giving power of the Scriptures. This is a book that does just that.
As I share this beautiful hardcovered book with my children, together we have the opportunity to engage with 26 parables of Jesus, faithfully retold to convey the original meaning in a brief and engaging way. I love that the original Scripture reference is provided for each story, so that we can easily open up our Bibles and look at the original teaching of Jesus as we continue to have devotional conversations as a family.

The parables are organized thematically into chapters and each chapter concludes with a very helpful summary page. The way the parables were categorized into either window, door, or mirror parables was such a helpful aid for my children’s understanding, and also for myself! As I read the short stories aloud to my children and we discussed the provided questions, I felt my own heart convicted and stirred by the timeless truths of Jesus’s teachings.
Whether you open this book up during breakfast devotions, pair it alongside your Family Bible Reading each night, or reference it as your studying the parables yourself, you’ll find an impactful resource for engaging with these earthly stories that hold important heavenly meanings.

May our children, and we ourselves, have ear to hear.

I’m so thankful to lithoskids for a complimentary book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

[Shannon Evanko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great devo! Evelyn was about as young as she could be to fully understand/answer the discussion questions. Great for the 7-9 year old age range, I’d say. We love Lithos Kids and all they do!

[Jordan Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great resource! It’s basically the parables of Jesus grouped together by topic. You read each parable along with a short explanation. There are comprehension and application questions at the end of each chapter. I read this with my 8 year old and we both enjoyed it.

[Kevin Halloran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spurgeon once said, “Give yourself to reading.’…Renounce as much as you will all light literature, but study as much as possible sound theological works... and expositions of the Bible.”

This children's book on the Parables falls in the last category, and I'm so glad the Lithos Kids team put it together. I read and re-read it with my five-year-old and loved the clear explanation of Jesus' parables and the compelling images. So did my daughter.

This book has a premium price, but considering you can spend $15 on a book with 1/10 of the pages, the value this book delivers is unmatched (except by other Lithos Kids titles!). If you want to follow Spurgeon's advice and give yourself to reading expositions of the Bible with your kids, The Parables of Jesus is a great place to start.

[Claire Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read aloud with 6yo boy. I would say he was at the younger end of appreciating/understanding, but we both enjoyed this book/devotional. Could definitely read with older kiddos.

I loved that it’s basically just scripture repackaged with beautiful illustrations and helpful questions. The grouping of parables kept our focus on themes and we ended up having good discussions from the questions at the end of each section. All in all, I would recommend and I may look into the other books in this series. Glad I impulse-purchased this based solely on the gorgeous cover. 😆

[Simon Field · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is brilliant. An exposition of Jesus' parables for kids. Perfect for mine- ages 6 and 4. The graphics are vivid, the teaching is helpfully applied and there are discussion questions at the end of each major section. Jesus death and resurrection features as the epilogue. I can't think of a way for this to be improved!

[Andy Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The parables are retold faithfully and in a way that helped me to understand some of them better than before. This book led to a lot of good discussions with my kids. I really appreciated the idea of seeing parables as doors, windows, or mirrors.

[Carol Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book. The illustrations are stunning, and the text is easy to read. I like the discussion questions at the end of each chapter. The grandkids love listening to this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful presentation of timeless truths!

[Andrew Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Family worship read. Everything Lithos Kids puts out is gold.

[Kelsey Shenk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book for all ages! I appreciated that he used real text from the Bible and also all the questions and applications after each lesson. Highly recommend for family devotions!

[Sarah Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really well done and produced such great conversation with my little boys.

[Shelly Patularu · Rating 5 out of 5]

My children & I loved this storybook biblical resource that explored different parables.