The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes

by Kenneth N. Taylor, Annabel Spenceley (Illustrator)

Here's the perfect first Bible for the very young children. It's a thrill for parents to buy their children their first Bible. How do you choose? The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes has been a favorite for over four decades, with short illustrated Bible stories written in simple language.

Now, The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes features entirely updated artwork. This easily portable edition is the perfect interactive way to share the truths of the Bible with the youngest ones in your life. Even little children can understand great truths when told to them in simple words. And when pictures are added, doubly indelible impressions are made that can last forever. This book can be read to children aged approximately 3 1/2 to 6 years with wonderful results!

Genres: Childrens, Christian

384 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Throughout his publishing career, Dr. Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor's dream was for all peoples of the world to read and understand God's Word and experience its power at work in their lives. From his earliest children's books to his generous support of Christian ministry, this vision was (and still is) reflected in his work. Ken Taylor, founder of Tyndale House Publishers, died in June 2005 at the age of 88. Early in his publishing career in the 1950s as director of Moody Press, Dr. Taylor wrote several children's books. Born out of experience with his own ten children, "Stories for the Children's Hour," "The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes," and others are now being enjoyed by a third generation of children. "My First Bible in Pictures" was included in "Publishers Weekly"'s list of "All-Time Best-Selling Children's Books" in 2001. His love for children (including his 28 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren) continues to inspire new titles. In fact, it was his children, in their confusion over the meaning of the King James Version, who prompted his mission to make the Bible understandable for everyone. Dr. Taylor's "Living Letters," a thought-for-thought translation of the New Testament Epistles, was published by the newly formed Tyndale House Publishers in 1962. The complete "Living Bible" followed in 1971 and has now sold over 40 million copies in its many editions. In 1996 Tyndale House introduced the "Holy Bible," New Living Translation. In keeping with Dr. Taylor's vision of Scriptures that everyone can read, the New Living Translation is a thought-for-thought translation that is exegetically accurate and idiomatically authoritative. Ninety of today's leading Bible scholars worked with Tyndale House to develop this easy-to-understand translation. Tyndale has become one of the top evangelical publishers in America and today publishes books, several Bible lines, periodicals, and videos. During the past 40 years, Tyndale House has distributed over 100 million Bibles, New Testaments, and Bible portions worldwide. Dr. Taylor used the success of "The Living Bible" to further his mission by distributing all its royalties to Christian ministries worldwide. He founded Living Bibles International (which merged in 1992 with the International Bible Society) for translating, publishing, and distributing modern-language versions of the Bible around the world. His life of service has been recognized with at least 30 honors and awards from different organizations, including four honorary doctorates. In October 2000, Dr. and Mrs. (Margaret) Taylor were awarded the Distinguished Service to Family Award by Wheaton College. A graduate of Wheaton College, with graduate studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Taylor held 15 directorships with Christian organizations at home and abroad.

Reviews

[Robert Luff · Rating 3 out of 5]

My family has read through this twice now as part of our family worship, and I am a bit disappointed in parts of it. Often the moral of the story is moralistic, and misses the grace of God and the bigger picture of Scripture at play in the Bible story of the day. I am grateful that it includes much material that a lot of children's Bible story compilations skip -- material from Judges and the books of Kings and Chronicles.

Any parent or grandparent (etc.) using this book with children needs to be ready to go off script in order to avoid a "See, Saul is bad, don't be bad" type of message and replace it with an "If only Saul would turn toward God, the Lord is eager to forgive him!" message.

[Becca Tillotson · Rating 4 out of 5]

We loved this version, the short daily readings were the perfect length for toddlers and preschoolers. The only drawback is we had to slightly reword a few of the author's paraphrases that were not quite theologically accurate. Also loved the questions on each page for comprehension!

[Keyon Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't worry I'm not interested in this book either way😈.Make this book better than before😇😇😇

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Christa and I didn’t love the writing, and at times it reduces Christianity to behavior. Lily loved the illustrations.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed going through this picture Bible with my kids as our morning breakfast Bible time and especially appreciated the range in stories/books of the Bible that were covered.

I agree with one review that said that it definitely requires some rephrasing and supplement material, as some of the questions and angles seem to miss the point and lean moralistic in perspective. Reading the actual Scripture passage with my kids first and having our own discussions really helped (and just skipping any off parts), but this book was a good launching pad for Bible learning and discussion.

[Rachel Powell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my favorite writing style and little gospel connection in the stories.

[Kristen Littleton · Rating 1 out of 5]

scary

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5-star rating? Not sure how to express my thoughts on this. Themes were heavy on God's anger and punishment of people. It didn't seem to have any messages of grace, nor did it really weave Jesus into the OT stories, though He belongs there.

We didn't do the questions because they felt twaddly. I appreciated that the Scripture references for each story were included, but was disappointed that none of the readings included any actual Scripture verses at all, though there was empty space on each page where it could have gone.

Also, the stories rarely, if ever, used Biblical language, but were simplified to the extent that many (most) of them felt dumbed-down (and I was reading this to a 3yo; it's supposed to be for ages 4-7). I firmly believe that little ones understand more than we give them credit for; also that they rise up to learn and comprehend good language as they are exposed to it repeatedly over time.

And then there's the selection of Biblical accounts: some stories/pictures may be too scary/intense for littles. For age 3 it felt necessary to skip over some of the accounts for now (for instance, Absalom caught by his hair in a tree, ripe for slaughter by his enemies. There's also the earth opening up to swallow the disobedient man (Achan? I forget) and his family; as well as others I can't remember at the moment).

The combination of potentially troubling stories, oversimplified wording and questions, and theme of punishment seems terribly incongruous, and I don't believe that combination fully fits any one of the intended ages in its advertised range.

Will probably start our old standby of Elsie Egermeier's soon, and age-appropriate selections from God's Word itself. I don't know if we'll do this particular volume again or not.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings on this one. On the one hand, I love how many Bible stories it has, and how it really covers the scope of the Bible. It's worded so that I can read it out loud to my toddler and she can understand it. But on the other hand, there are a lot of stories included - like disobedient Israelites being swallowed up by the earth - that I simply don't think a young child is ready for. My daughter really loved to read it, but I continually had to guard my words and often change the wording of some stories, or skip over them altogether. As much as I believe in teaching children Scripture, I don't think they are ready for the WHOLE of it at the age that this seems to be targeted toward.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read-aloud Bible with kid-friendly language, simple illustrations and easy discussion questions. My little one especially enjoyed flipping through the symmetric images in the left corner! I look forward to seeing what interests him the next times through.

[Alana Amunrud-Sharp · Rating 2 out of 5]

TLDR: If you are looking for a book for young children that has stories of consistent lengths, includes questions and prayers, and that introduces a broad swath of stories and characters, and you don't mind skipping the more violent ones or rewording some of the more moralistic teachings, this could work for you.

If you want a more in-depth review, here's a link to a video with more details.

[Rebekah Schrepfer · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are looking for a family devotional book for you and your young children, this is a great overview of the Bible. We have the old edition, and now there is this new one. It was recommended to me by a good friend, Martha Hartog, and it has been invaluable to our little ones! The book walks through most of the major events of the Old and New Testaments, 183 of them. Each story has a picture with it that is Biblically accurate. There are also suggested questions to discuss at the end. The book says it is for ages 3 through 6, and that’s about right…although my 2 year old was at least able to parrot back a lot of the lesson even if she didn’t fully comprehend everything. And these were great reminders for my husband and myself, of course. This was my kids’ first “formal” exposure to some of these Biblical concepts, and I appreciated how it handled negative concepts like death, sin, hell, and punishment without flinching. For example, in the story of Korah and his sin, it just plainly tells the story of the earth opening up to swallow those who “wouldn’t mind God” and there was no happy ending for them. The stories of the crucifixion, however, evoked the most curiosity and quiet thought. Of course, the favorite stories were of Easter when Jesus rose from the dead. Bible Time at our house was profitable and easy thanks to this book. I’m looking forward to working through it again!

I reviewed this book at MostlySensible.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

As another reader commented, I also had mixed feelings with The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. The number of stories is great and worded for younger children to understand and each story has a picture but I had to constantly leave out parts (and a couple pictures, i.e. the stoning) so as not to upset my young son. A lot of pages talked about how you deserve punishment because you are disobedient followed by a page describing how the people are always being punished… stoned to death, drowned, swallowed by the Earth; with some of those punished believers in God. I don’t like the message are we sending to our young ones when we tell them to believe in God and His son Jesus no matter what in one breath then with the next we tell them that it doesn’t matter because they are bad and deserve to be punished by God anyway, (which is in this book a lot), a bit scary for a young one who doesn’t really understand life, let alone death yet.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's fun when one of your child's favorite books is the Bible. My son loves to read this book and can identify numerous Bible characters. Sometimes he even remembers an element of the story- and he's only two! Great pictures and easy to understand- albeit still a little old for a two-year olds attention span.

This is one we read through over and over- one chapter a night

[Maria H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this for our boys as I tried to "introduce" religion to them. They loved it & took it to CCD class with them for quite some time. Very good book for kids with questions!

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of Johns favorite books. I enjoy it. It is one page each. Good for a quick bible read to John.

[Desiree · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good shortened version of stores for those three and under

[Samson]

kenneth N. Taylor