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The Life of Jesus
Discover the events in the life of Jesus, and how his message reached so many people.
Discover facts and stories about Jesus of Nazareth, son of God, from his birth in the Bethlehem stable to his crucifixion, death, and miraculous resurrection. What was he like as a boy, how did he start to preach, and what are the meanings of his parables, such as the Good Samaritan? How did he feed five thousand and calm storms? All major events of his life are told in 26 stories, revealing how Jesus's message reached many people through his teaching, healing, forgiveness, and miracles. Using the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as reference, this is a child-friendly introduction to the message of the Bible's New Testament.
Engaging illustrations accompany each story, making it perfect for children to read and look at by themselves, or for reading aloud or together with parents or grandparents.
Discover facts and stories about Jesus of Nazareth, son of God, from his birth in the Bethlehem stable to his crucifixion, death, and miraculous resurrection. What was he like as a boy, how did he start to preach, and what are the meanings of his parables, such as the Good Samaritan? How did he feed five thousand and calm storms? All major events of his life are told in 26 stories, revealing how Jesus's message reached many people through his teaching, healing, forgiveness, and miracles. Using the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as reference, this is a child-friendly introduction to the message of the Bible's New Testament.
Engaging illustrations accompany each story, making it perfect for children to read and look at by themselves, or for reading aloud or together with parents or grandparents.
32 pages, Hardcover
First published April 26, 2022
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Sally Grindley
247 books50 followersI came into children's books originally as Editorial Director of a nationwide children's book club, though I had written and directed a children's play while a student at Sussex University, which was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. I wrote my first two children's picture books in 1984 and was lucky enough that Anthony Browne wanted to illustrate the second - Knock Knock Who's There? It was published in 1985, is still going strong today and is one of my most successful.
Shhh! was published in 1991 and has known great success in France/Belgium in particular (close on 300,000 copies sold). It's success in the UK - it won the Children's Book Award - was hampered by the liquidation of its original publisher.
I became a full-time author in 1995 and now have some 150+ titles published, the most recent being L'Histoire du Soir in France, Belgium and Italy.
Feather Wars, published in 2003, was my first sortie into young fiction and was followed by the very successful Spilled Water, which has been published in some ten different languages and is very popular in schools as a class reader. It won the Nestle Smarties Gold Award (and I wound up being a 'Pointless' answer on the back of it!) Broken Glass came next and was a Sunday Times Book of the Week.
I'm currently working on picture books again and have plans to illustrate one of my own in the not too distant future - watch this space!
Shhh! was published in 1991 and has known great success in France/Belgium in particular (close on 300,000 copies sold). It's success in the UK - it won the Children's Book Award - was hampered by the liquidation of its original publisher.
I became a full-time author in 1995 and now have some 150+ titles published, the most recent being L'Histoire du Soir in France, Belgium and Italy.
Feather Wars, published in 2003, was my first sortie into young fiction and was followed by the very successful Spilled Water, which has been published in some ten different languages and is very popular in schools as a class reader. It won the Nestle Smarties Gold Award (and I wound up being a 'Pointless' answer on the back of it!) Broken Glass came next and was a Sunday Times Book of the Week.
I'm currently working on picture books again and have plans to illustrate one of my own in the not too distant future - watch this space!
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2022
It's a DK book, so of course the design and illustrations are gorgeous. I also love the huge landscape size of this book. I could see myself as a child, lying on my stomach and perusing every detail of these giant pictures. It's so exciting to turn pages that are longer than your own forearm.
The text covers all the major points of Jesus' life, and even includes references to Bible chapters for each spread. I found it very comprehensive for a children's picture book. I think it covers more territory than the Who Was Jesus? early reader biography.
I missed the side bars and spot illustrations of historical stuff that are in most DK books. What was the Roman Empire? Why is Jesus sitting on the ground for a meal? How far did Jesus' family have to travel to Jerusalem? What was Passover? These fascinating details keep kids engaged. But space is limited, and I guess they wanted to stick to the story. At the back there is a helpful list of people in Jesus' life--great for all those repeated names.
I had to take off one star because these people don't look like they are from Judea of 30 CE. The art style is cleverly done so that you can't really tell what color anyone's skin is--they're all in shadow or strange lighting. But let's face it, everyone in these pictures has Caucasian features (except the wise men and Simon of Cyrene). There's no difference between the disciples and Pontius Pilate. These illustrations could have been taken from a book in the 1950s. It's 2022. I want to see Jesus and his followers as they really were--tan to brown-skinned Jewish people in Palestine. And the crowds of a city like Jerusalem should be incredibly diverse--just look at the list of people there at Pentecost in Acts 2.
Edited to add: Having looked at the list of Chris Molan's other works, I think DK may actually be re-using illustrations from the 1980s. So that explains it. Time to commission some new art!
Overall, it's a beautiful and informative book I would have loved as a kid.
The text covers all the major points of Jesus' life, and even includes references to Bible chapters for each spread. I found it very comprehensive for a children's picture book. I think it covers more territory than the Who Was Jesus? early reader biography.
I missed the side bars and spot illustrations of historical stuff that are in most DK books. What was the Roman Empire? Why is Jesus sitting on the ground for a meal? How far did Jesus' family have to travel to Jerusalem? What was Passover? These fascinating details keep kids engaged. But space is limited, and I guess they wanted to stick to the story. At the back there is a helpful list of people in Jesus' life--great for all those repeated names.
I had to take off one star because these people don't look like they are from Judea of 30 CE. The art style is cleverly done so that you can't really tell what color anyone's skin is--they're all in shadow or strange lighting. But let's face it, everyone in these pictures has Caucasian features (except the wise men and Simon of Cyrene). There's no difference between the disciples and Pontius Pilate. These illustrations could have been taken from a book in the 1950s. It's 2022. I want to see Jesus and his followers as they really were--tan to brown-skinned Jewish people in Palestine. And the crowds of a city like Jerusalem should be incredibly diverse--just look at the list of people there at Pentecost in Acts 2.
Edited to add: Having looked at the list of Chris Molan's other works, I think DK may actually be re-using illustrations from the 1980s. So that explains it. Time to commission some new art!
Overall, it's a beautiful and informative book I would have loved as a kid.
May 31, 2022
This DK book clearly, succinctly explains Jesus's life and influence to a general audience, faithfully representing the source material without any providing any commentary about whether or not the supernatural elements are true. Christian families will gravitate towards other books that openly express their religious views, but this is a solid introduction to Jesus for secular readers and people from different religions.
My main criticism is that the author glosses over some details that I think are essential to telling the story. The book covers a normal amount of information for a DK publication and certainly can't include everything, but I think the author should have included Jesus's famous "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" line during the crucifixion, and should have written about Jesus's miracle of bringing Lazarus back to life. That narrative provides key foreshadowing for Jesus's power over life and death, and also conveys his deep emotion and powerful love for other people. I think it's a must-have in a collection like this one, and wish that the author had included it.
My main criticism is that the author glosses over some details that I think are essential to telling the story. The book covers a normal amount of information for a DK publication and certainly can't include everything, but I think the author should have included Jesus's famous "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" line during the crucifixion, and should have written about Jesus's miracle of bringing Lazarus back to life. That narrative provides key foreshadowing for Jesus's power over life and death, and also conveys his deep emotion and powerful love for other people. I think it's a must-have in a collection like this one, and wish that the author had included it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews