Book Review: Adventure Bible Miracles of Jesus

We love the Adventure Bible in our house!  My daughter (8) uses it for our Bible Study time and we use the devotional during our Bible time in our homeschool.  With an easy reading level (I can read level 2) and beautiful illustrations, the Adventure Bible has brought the Miracles of Jesus to life for children.

Included in this ZonderKids book are the story of the following miracles of Jesus:  raising Jarius's daughter from the dead, healing the sick woman (It is the woman who bleeds, but that specific issue is not addressed), and feeding the 5,000.

My favorite part of this book are the amazing illustrations.  They are calm, yet colorful and more true to the context than some other children's Bible illustrations.  The writing was simple and clear, very easy for my 3rd grader to read and comprehend.  The only downside of the reader level is that some of the names are perhaps harder to pronounce and read independently (Galilee, Jarius).

The book tells the miracles in a wonderful way and clearly lay out the purpose and mission of Jesus.  It would be an excellent to any Sunday school room, library, or home book basket.

*I received a copy of this book in return for my unbiased review.

Book Review: The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag

I have been really pleased and excited about the rejuvenated classic of "The Berenstain Bears" to branch beyond character traits of their illustrious past, but to include the Biblical principles and Christ-like traits where they were all originate from.  It has given great storytelling an even greater purpose.

One of the latest additions to the series is The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag.  Brother and Sister are successful, talented, and and high achieving bear cubs.  However, they have let their strengths get to their head and it has now become a competition and story topping event that Ma and Pa are fed up with.  The arrogant bears finally reach a tipping point when trying to story top each other with coming up with the most interesting cloud formations when Grizzly Gramps sets them both straight with a verse and reminder that pride is not something we want in our lives.

Overall my family of three girls ages 2, 5, and 8 really enjoyed this book.  I love how the cubs' final argument was over something that was relatively benign but also simple that any child could connect to.  The story presents well the fact of how silly bragging can be to help discourage it.  Rather than being hurtful, bragging and pride was presented in a sweet way for children under the age of 10.  The illustrations are also fantastic and reminiscent of the classics.  There is also a great family discussion guide on the back cover.

My only criticism of the book is that I don't believe enough resolution really comes to brother and sister.  It would be nice to have a more well rounded ending where they cheer each other on and manage to rejoice in each other's successes.

This is a great little book to have in your library or to use in a Character trait study for kids ages 4-8 (It would be seen as too silly and not deep enough into the issue for the older kids)

*I received a copy of this book for free in return for my honest review.