The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories

by Kelly Pulley

The Beginner’s Bible® has been a favorite with young children and their parents since its release in 1989 with over 25 million products sold. Now it’s redesigned with fresh new art that will excite children for many more years to come.

Full of faith and fun, The Beginner’s Bible is a wonderful gift for any child. The easy-to-read text and bright, full-color illustrations on every page make it a perfect way to introduce young children to the stories and characters of the Bible. With new vibrant three-dimensional art and compelling text, more than 90 Bible stories come to life. Kids ages 6 and under will enjoy the fun illustrations of Noah helping the elephant onto the ark, Jonah praying inside the fish, and more, as they discover The Beginner's Bible just like millions of children before. The Beginner's Bible was named the 2006 Retailers Choice Award winner in Children's Nonfiction.

Genres: Christian, Childrens, Religion, Picture Books, Nonfiction, Faith, Christianity

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

When Kelly Pulley was very young he dreamed of being a cowboy, unfortunately he didn’t have a horse, a hat or a rope, so his range riding dreams were temporarily corralled. He did have a Deluxe 64-count box of Crayola Crayons with a built-in sharpener — so instead of cow poking, he became an artist.
Now Kelly is a full-time writer and illustrator of children’s picture books. He teaches and entertains kids with his humorous books and inspires them to discover their own creative voices through his YouTube videos. He has illustrated numerous children’s books including many in the Best-selling Beginner’s Bible and Veggie Tales series.

He has authored and illustrated several picture books, including the outlandish and wacky Ten Unusual Features of Lulu McDunn (Gauthier Publishing), and the humorous, Bicycle-themed Bicycling Rules of the Road, and The Cycling Wangdoos, (Schiffer Publishing).

Kelly is also the author of the inspirational Magnificent Tales series, Food for a Fish — The Whopping Story of Jonah and the Whale, Good News of Great Joy — The Amazing Story of Jesus’ Birth, The Biggest and Toughest — The Short Story of David’s Big Faith, Daniel for Lunch — The Tasty Tale of Daniel in the Lion’s Den and Treasury of Bible Stories — Rhythmical Rhymes of Biblical Times (David C. Cook).

Kelly writes, illustrates, films, directs and edits, original stories and poems weekly for his YouTube channel, Kelly Pulley’s Storybook Studio.


His illustrating clients include: Zonderkidz, Worthy-Ideals, David C. Cook, Lifeway, Wiley Publications, United Methodist Publishing House, The Clever Factory, Studio Fun International.

Reviews

[Vera Godley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bible story books are such a wonderful tool to have on hand to introduce the young child to the Bible and the bare-bones of the Word of God. You can choose to have one or you can choose to have a variety so that your child can experience the many "tellings" and "illustrative styles" of authors and artists as they bring to life what God reveals to mankind in his word.

Now a Bible storybook is not nor should be considered to be the actual Word of God. It is an introduction to and base of study for beginners. Hence the writers, illustrators, and publishers have labored diligently to bring to your home a book worthy of it's title - The Beginner's Bible from ZonderKidz an imprint of Zondervan.


This new edition of the originally published in 1989 Beginner's Bible just exudes life and brilliance in the attention-grabbing, child centric illustrations rendered in a virtual 3-D effect in stong, bright colors.

This will become a well-loved book by your child and you will delight that your child loves hearing about the many wonderful men and women from the Bible. A great preparation for the years when the real Bible will become an integral part of their own life.

I receieved a complimentary copy to facilitate a review of my honest opinions without compensation. Opinions are solely my own.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is just what the title says; it’s a beginners’s Bible that tells ninety-four well known stories that children will often hear in Sunday School. I would recommend this for toddlers through first grade. The stories and brightly colored illustrations are simple and fun for the young ones, and when your child ages, the simpler words and short sentences makes for a great beginner reader! My kindergartener was so happy to be able to read this Bible on her own.

[Lena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great brief paraphrase of the Bible for little ones (probably ages 0-5). It’s my second time reading through it with my toddler, and he enjoyed it both times and was around ages 2 and 3 when we finished through it each time. This time we often read it alongside the actual Bible passages (which are listed with each story).

Overall, it’s faithful to the text minus maybe a couple of debatable interpretations. It’s a great starter Bible to help babies and toddlers get the overarching story of Scripture while still highlighting major Bible stories and concepts.

[Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

October 2019:

My 5-year old son has wanted some of these stories read to him in the past, but he became very interested in them about a week ago. He had some very insightful questions about the bible, which was neat to see at such a young age. I even learned some Old Testament history by reading this to him!

[Elwood Christen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it might be a little childish but it is 500 something pages long but it is pretty good

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah

[LUCY · Rating 5 out of 5]

❤️ bibles tbh

[Grace Batterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a nice narrative of pretty much all the stories in the Bible. I like that it gave some actual quotes from the Bible and “vocab” terms that were italicized. For example “anointed,” “priests,” “psalms,” “tabernacle,” “sabbath,” “Golgotha,” and “alter” just to name a few. I didn’t love the pictures because it gives the perception of a made up story instead of instilling in children the reality of these events, plus many of the pictures are not even close to being historically accurate.

[lookleahreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

We slowly worked our way through this with our two kids (3 and 5) and will go through it many times again and again. It’s a nice refresher to read the stories in a simple way as an adult, in a way that’s meant for a child. And to see my children hear The Word in a way they can understand is something that makes my heart happy. My son was so happy to say we read the whole Bible when we read the last story tonight. He asked if we could read it again & obviously the answer was yes.

[Pamela Small · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bible stories are accurately based on The Holy Scriptures, simplified for young children. The illustrations are excellent and engaging for children. I’ve used this particular Bible story book for my four children and grandson.

[Joshua Betts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book. I think kids will like this book

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

After enjoying the Animal Adventures Collection board books set so much I knew I needed to check out the actual The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories. I have to tell you I am very pleased. Oh, now that I remember we also have an eBook Very First Easter and while in those pages Jesus is the only person with a pointed nose and everyone else is very rounded... I wondered at the time if that was meant to make him visually stand out, but after reading the full Bible version I see he is not alone in that anatomical feature.

The illustrations are vibrant with color and friendly faces all prepared to help children learn the full Gospel message from Creation to John's Revelation. The text is great too. Using full fun descriptive words, kids and parents alike can get excited about reading this one aloud. There is a reason why over five million copies have sold. From the great, and now familiar, images and a good size font I am very excited to use this to read to and teach my daughter to read. Each story has a title and scripture reference which I think helps to guide the child and will allow for further depth into a story as she grows. As for me, definitely on the keeper shelf.

They also have a very neat website with interesting things for parents and teachers. I just might have to spend some time there. Oh, and while my edition is a great size hardcover, the Bible is now available in eBook format - so no excuses on shelf space or portability!

*Thanks to Zondervan for providing a copy for review.*

Scheduled post: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2...

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my book when I was little. Now Gabriel reads it and LOVES it. He begs to read his Bible. His favorite stories are David and Goliath (he can recite the story word for word) and he gets a kick out of the story of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary :) Really easy for children to understand, even for my two year old. It has stories that I was a little unfamiliar with!

[Victoria Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 5 year old and I read this together and we both really enjoyed it. It's my favorite children's Bible I've found for her age. She's asked for multiple stories from it each night since we got it.

[Alyssa Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

boring and predictable tbh 🙄

[Silas Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

rating this from the perspective of my 7-8 yr old self.

[ab ! · Rating 1 out of 5]

watched good omens and now i’m back in my christianity arc (i’m agnostic)

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the books we have, my son wants to read "the Bible book" for his bedtime story. We started around the time he was ~2.5, reading three stories each night. There's enough content that I don't get bored having to repeat the book once we get to the end. I think he likes the pictures and the characters, particularly Jesus. I think the illustrations are fine, thought I must note that some of the pictures are borderline inappropriate, with about half of the women depicted with very form-fitting clothes. The worst culprit is one where the disciples are baptizing people, and the book depicts a woman with skin-tight clothing, with big blue water droplets on her clothes where her nipples would be. I thought, hey, maybe it's just me noticing that, but my wife was the first one to vocalize it. :-P

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

It good for kids

[Poppy · Rating 5 out of 5]

great read not even religious but 5 ⭐️- pictures really add sm fun yk

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good for toddlers and young children. The illustrations are far from accurate, but the girls didn't mind.

[Ro · Rating 4 out of 5]

it left out some stories, but...😃😃😃

[Chloe Cervetto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know this is a children’s book but as a person who is fairly new to Christianity and did not grow up knowing the stories this was SO helpful! I recommend to anyone interested in Christianity to start with a kids bible to get the basics

[lee! · Rating 4 out of 5]

thought this would be an easy way to get a better grasp of biblical themes and allusions and it definitely was! i did realize that i have been thinking jonah and joan of arc were the same person my whole life. also judas and brutus. they just have similar names and lived experiences! well im not sure if joan of arc ever lived inside a whale but i think because her name has arc in it i also confused her with noah and therefor the ocean. also, i really wanted to hear the story about the prodigal son because i thought the frasier pilot was titled that, and then when i heard it i was like wow that makes so much sense for frasier! but then i googled it and the pilot isnt even called that so i dont know why i thought that. i get really confused sometimes but this kept things very simple and i liked that!

[Amanda Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Introducing my children to Jesus is our greatest privilege that we never take for granted. We want to give them the best tools to show who Jesus is and what He did for them. That's why we like The Beginner's Bible.

For babies and toddlers, the colorful pictures captivate them and hold their attention. Preschoolers and early readers will enjoy the short paragraphs which make reading along with us easy to follow along. For older siblings, they have a wonderful opportunity to be the teachers and read it aloud or simply sit back and listen and correct when necessary.

Each story is easily marked by a title and Scripture reference making marking your spot in between readings easy to do! Another plus is the dictionary in the back clarifying any new words to your young children.

Finding a great storybook Bible is a precious way to introduce your child to the Lord. From color to content, The Beginner's Bible is perfect for feeding a child's faith. I highly recommend it for families of young children.

I was given two copies of this Bible in exchange for my honest opinion. No compensation was received and this review is solely my personal opinion. You can read the full review at farmwyfe.com.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this to my 5 year old. She likes it "because it's about Jesus." Her favorite stories in it are Paul seeing the light, Jesus dying on the cross, Adam and Eve, Jonah and the Whale, and the very last one about heaven. I have also read this Bible to my older children at about this age. This version of the children's Bible is my youngest's favorite because of the pictures.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good resource but not my favorite storybook Bible because it lacks any theological context. In an effort to simplify for little ears, the plot is retained but the larger meaning is often lost. I appreciate the simplicity, the fun cartoony drawings (which are diverse without feeling forced), and that it includes several often overlooked biblical figures. However, if read word for word without any discussion after each story, it would not paint an accurate picture of God’s character.

[Helena#bookdreamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately i could not get into this historical romance. While there was plenty of passion between protagonists, they moved too fast. Sophia is so bent on being seen as a rebel that she places herself in the hands of the earl who I believe is in lust rather than love. This novel lacks depth and originality.

[Torey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The stories were geared towards the young reader, but often felt too short and superficial. Most of the stories I added more details to from my memory of the real stories. My kids enjoyed the pictures, but overall I wouldn't recommend this pediatric version of scripture.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nathan has finished reading this .