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Bible for children

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"The Wise Men"; illustration from A Child's Story of the Bible, 1899

Children's Bibles, or Bibles for children, are often collections of Bible stories rather than actual translations of the Bible and are aimed at children.[1] These adaptations of the Bible are written to be more understandable and entertaining for younger audiences.[2]

There is a range of simplicity across various children's Bible publications. More image focused variations, often made for children aged 3-6, rely less on words to convey a message and prominently feature drawings and artistic interpretations of the Bible.[3] While some publications quote directly from the Bible, others paraphrase the text. All of these different publications are created to appeal to audiences of different ages and levels of comprehension.

History of Christian Children's Bibles

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As of 2024, the Bible has been written in 756 languages.[4] Within the English language alone, there are many different translations of the Bible, including the New Living Translation, King James Version, New International Version, and many more. These texts appeal to an older audience, most commonly from the 7-12th grade reading level.[5] There are certain versions of the Bible that have been released that present the content in a more digestible way, such as the ICB (International Children's Bible) version.[6] Children's Bibles, however, are set apart in that they are not direct translations of the Bible, but are rather simplistic and take more of a storytelling approach, most commonly alongside the use of images.

First printed in London in 1759, The Children's Bible was the earliest Bible for children printed in America.[7] While this may have been the first official text published in the US, the simple, narrative style seen in children's Bibles today dates back to the work of Peter Comestor in the late twelfth century: Historia Scholastica.[8] His work shows lots of similarities with Bibles for children today in that it presents the Bible through stories and also includes non-Biblical material.

There have been lots more publications of different Bibles for children since The Children's Bible was published in 1759.[7] In 1934 Lenore Cohen's work: Bible Tales for Very Young Children was published by the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.[8] This novel became a staple in the curriculum for different religious institutions internationally at the time.

Another notable author of early children's Bibles is Sebastian Castellio. When he was the headmaster of the Collége de Rive in Calvinist, Geneva, he wrote Dialogorum Sacrorum Libri Quatuor as a way to introduce the schoolboys at his institution to Biblical texts. This work was published in the 1540s and was widely distributed amongst Europe.[9]

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One of the more recent, popular publications of children's Bibles is The Beginner's Bible published in 1989 by Zonderkidz and written by Karyn Henley. Since its publication, 25 million copies have been sold.[10] This work features lots of illustrations as it retells over 90 Bible stories and is aimed for an audience of kids under the age of 6. It was awarded the 2006 Retailers Choice Award Winner in Children's Nonfiction.[10]

Illustration of Jesus talking with his disciples

In 1991, The Children's Bible Storybook was published, retelling around 300 Bible stories alongside different illustrations. It was written by Anne de Graaf and illustrated by José Pérez Montero.[11] Since its publication it has sold over 6 million copies and has been distributed in 93 languages.[12]

Another recent publication is the Adventure Bible Storybook written by Catherine DeVries and illustrated by Jim Madsen.[13] This work was published by Zonderkidz in 2009 and has sold over 9 million copies.[14]

One of the newer publications of children's Bibles is called The Action Bible and was first published in 2010.[15] This work features a retelling of hundreds of stories from the Bible, but in the form of a comic, with lots of graphics and Scripture retold in the form of thought bubbles for the different characters. The illustrator for this work is Sergio Cariello.[15] This children's Bible has been translated into 83 different languages, and over 3.5 million copies have been sold.[15]

Zonderkidz

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Zonderkidz is the children’s section of the publishing company Zondervan.[16] Zondervan was established by two brothers, Pat and Bernard Zondervan, in 1931 in Michigan. Since its establishment, Zondervan has published over 300 books and Bibles a year in over 100 countries and 65 languages.[17] Zondervan was acquired by HarperCollins in 1988.[18] Here is a list of some of the works produced by this publishing company:[19]

  • I Wonder: Exploring God’s Grand Story
  • God’s Little Lambs, My First Bible
  • Once Upon a Time Storybook Bible
  • Ready, Set, Find Bible Stories
  • Read and Play Baby Bible
  • Children of God Storybook Bible
  • Baby’s First Bible

Other Notable Christian Children's Bibles

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Jewish Children's Bibles

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Christian children’s Bibles were published long before Jewish children’s Bibles. One of the first Jewish children’s works was written by Moses Mordecai Budinger in 1823.[20] When introducing the Bible to children, Jewish authors departed from teaching directly from the full Bible text and chose stories that were digestible for children, but authors did not include additional stories. Rather than being retold in Hebrew, these stories were told in the vernacular. In comparison to the Christian children’s texts, these works historically did not have as many illustrations.[20]

The Children’s Illustrated Jewish Bible is written by Laaren Brown and Lenny Hort and illustrated by Eric Thomas.[21] Published in 2020 by DK Children, it details key characters and stories from the Hebrew Bible.[21]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Ruth B. Bottigheimer The Bible for Children: from the age of Gutenberg to the present - 1996 Yale; p. 39
  2. ^ Aadland, Ingunn (2023-01-02). "Casting Biblical narratives: Gendered power hierarchies and cultural imagination in scandinavian children's bibles". Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology. 77 (1): 40–61. doi:10.1080/0039338X.2022.2075461. ISSN 0039-338X.
  3. ^ Kreider, Glenn. "Dallas Theological Seminary". Encyclopedia of the Bible Online. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  4. ^ "2024 Global Scripture Access". Wycliffe Global Alliance. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  5. ^ "Bible Translation Reading Levels". Bible Gateway Blog. 2016-06-21. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  6. ^ "International Children's Bible (ICB) - Version Information - BibleGateway.com". www.biblegateway.com. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  7. ^ a b The Pictus Orbis Sambo Phyllis Settecase Barton, Pictus Orbus Press - 1998; p. 8 "In 1763, THE CHILDREN'S BIBLE, OR AN HISTORY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES, was printed and sold in Philadelphia by Andrew Steuart. First printed in London in 1759, this is the earliest Bible for children printed in America "
  8. ^ a b Gold, Penny Schine (2003-01-01). Making the Bible Modern: Children's Bibles and Jewish Education in Twentieth-Century America. Cornell University Press. doi:10.7591/9781501724985. ISBN 978-1-5017-2498-5.
  9. ^ Bottigheimer, Ruth B. "Sebastian Castellio and His Children's Bible Dialogi Sacri". Sebastian Castellio and His Children's Bible Dialogi Sacri.
  10. ^ a b "The Beginner's Bible". Zonderkidz. 2018-01-17. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  11. ^ "The Children's Bible". Goodreads. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  12. ^ "The Children's Bible". Sph.as. Retrieved 2024-11-05.
  13. ^ "Adventure Bible Storybook". Adventure Bible. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  14. ^ "Adventure Bible Storybook". ChurchSource. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  15. ^ a b c "The Action Bible". www.theactionbible.com. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  16. ^ "About". Zonderkidz. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  17. ^ "Company Profile". Zondervan. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  18. ^ "Zondervan". HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  19. ^ "Storybook Bibles Archives". Zonderkidz. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
  20. ^ a b Gold, Penny Schine (2003-01-01). Making the Bible Modern. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-2498-5.
  21. ^ a b "The Children's Illustrated Jewish Bible". dkbooks. Retrieved 2024-11-08.
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