Although I read an ESV Bible to my children, I love reading bible story books with them too. I like them each to have something that represents most of the bible, at their level that they can call theirs. I look for resources that are biblically accurate, that don’t add to the text. And I look for books that are clear to them and engaging.

Here are a few of our favourite children’s bibles …

The Kingdom of God Boxset by Tyler Van Halteren

The Kingdom of God Boxset contains a volume for the Old Testament and a volume for the New Testament. I am reading this to my four-year-old and think it’s a great resource for four – six year olds. With beautiful, full-page illustrations and only a small amount of text on each page, it keeps young children engaged. Each chapter (around twelve pages) is named according to what is happening in God’s Kingdom. ‘The Second-Chance Kingdom’ tells the story of Noah, and ‘A Kingdom of Faith’ tells the story of Abraham, for example. I like this focus on the over-arching story of scripture, rather than the individuals.

Before each chapter you can see where you are in the Bible Timeline which is helpful for those who like context. And I Iove that these books include portions of the bible that are often left out of kids bibles. Chapter 13, for example, shows what the tabernacle looked like in the wilderness, and what sacrifices were offered and why. You will find a comment on the themes, a few discussion questions, a glimpse into the gospel and a prayer at the end of each chapter.

The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski

I went through this with my daughter when she was around six – eight. It is similar to the Kingdom of God Boxset as it retells scripture from the Old and New Testament. Again, there are full-page illustrations but there is much more text on each page. We would read one double spread each day, as that is one story.

I love how this book uses the last paragraph of each story to point to Jesus. It explains where we see pictures of Jesus in stories such as Noah’s Ark and the life of Joseph. This helps children see Jesus all through scripture. There are also three questions after each story, which helped me see to check that my child had followed everything.

Read Kaleidoscope Books

Kaleidoscope believe that, “Biblical content for middle to late elementary children is severely lacking for families who long to enrich and deepen their children’s faith”. I agree! They’ve “reimagined” kids bibles by retelling the bible in chapter book form. Each Kaleidoscope book retells a book (or two) from the bible. Every so often there is a page, called a “Kaleidoscope Corner” which answers a question that may have arose in the story, such as “What is an apostle?” or “What is grace?”.

I love this format because children say age seven – eleven are regularly reading chapter books and this format is comfortable for them to hold and familiar to them. They can clearly see which book (and chapter) of the bible they are in, and this bridges the gap between heavily illustrated bible story books and full length bible translations.

The books are brightly illustrated and written in a conversational, accessible way for young people. My ten-year-old whizzes through these books in her free time and is happy to re-read them. They have also begun releasing Yoto cards, so you can listen to an audiobook version. I love that these books lead to great discussions because they dig into biblical truths at a child’s level.

Children’s Bible

My ten-year-old has had an NIrV (New International Reader’s Version) Adventure Bible for a couple of years now. It is a full-length bible translation, similar to the NIV but for young readers. This is the bible that she reads independently and takes with her to church.

This bible isn’t illustrated, and the text is presented in columns, so it largely resembles other translations. It does however have fun covers, a larger font and colourful titles. Most pages also have a colourful feature box which highlights a verse to memorise, an interesting fact, a close-up look of a person, a place, life in biblical times, or biblical application.

I expect this bible will suit my daughter for another few years, and I will then look for a new one for teens.

I hope these reviews are helpful to you! Which bible story books do you love to share with your children? Can you recommend a teen bible?

If you’re looking to share God’s Word with your children through these beautiful bibles, I think you would also love Grasping His Love, a family devotional. Help your kids grasp the enormity of God’s love for them, as you walk through six bible verses together! It includes a simple devotional and engaging activities, such as art, music and colouring pages.

You may also like to read about how to create a prayer bible, to pray over your children.