100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs

Another book review blog for Thomas Nelson...

Summary

This time around I've been reviewing 100 Bible Stories, 100 Bible Songs by Stephen Elkins. It's a collection of Bible stories (Old and New Testament) for children. The book also came with 2 CDs of songs related to the Bible stories.

My Reactions

This is another children's book that has been a hit with my children. It's definitely intended for a younger audience, as all the illustrations are brightly colored and a little cartoon-like. I'd guess up to about age 8 or 9.

I think the author did a great job of writing the Bible stories in language that is understandable for little kids, without sounding like it's talking down to them. Each story is condensed and simplified so that it is a single page. But if you were to want to get more detail on the story, the scriptural reference is always provided. Then on the facing page, there are three sentences that lay out the "moral of the story" and a little life lesson that applies to the reader. (Example, "God created everything. God made Adam and Eve. God made me too!")

My kids love the book. Every night at bedtime they want to hear some stories from the book. We read through the stories once in order, and now they just open the book at random to pick a story to hear again. Since they're all Bible stories, any page they pick is a good one.

The CDs are good, too. There's a song that accompanies each story in the book. Some are hymns, some are songs you'd sing at camp. My kids like to listen to the CDs as they fall asleep after storytime.

Overall, another nice selection from Thomas Nelson!