The Jesus Storybook Bible is a beautifully illustrated book for kids that poetically retells 44 Old Testament and New Testament bible stories, showing how each one points to Jesus.
It’s a great read, I don’t care how old you are. (It’s also available as a curriculum.)
As a church we’re going through The Jesus Storybook Bible together this Summer. The book has been made available to every family along with daily reading assignments, and questions for us to talk about with our kids all week long.
And then on Sundays our pastor takes one story from the book and teaches it on a more adult level, showing us in greater detail how it’s ultimately a story about Jesus.
Yesterday, I was the substitue preacher. Knowing that there were probably guests with us, or people who have been in and out of church all Summer vacationing, I started with a brief introduction to this whole concept: That every story in the bible is about Jesus.
Then I taught for half an hour. And you know what? It was that short introduction that people remembered and commented on most.
So maybe it’s worth sharing with you as well. This is an easy to remember guide to Jesus’s role in every phase of scripture.
Purchase your own copy of The Jesus Storybook Bible here or the curriculum here.
Got a great book to recommend? Hit me.
shayne says:
I don’t have a great curriculum book to recommend.
But I do have a good book that I just finished reading for the dozenth time. It’s called “Quaker Summer” by Lisa Sams.
Her writing is a little weird, but the story is great.
If you don’t like it…don’t tell me because then I’ll get some sort of complex about recommending stuff. Also…it’s a chick book so for you male mom bloggers out there, don’t say I didn’t warn you about that.
Jessica says:
We used to have one of these and I did think it was pretty well done.
For the past couple of years my husband has been bible-storying with the kids every night on the fly. They just start at the beginning and work their way through and he paraphrases on their level and they discuss whatever pops up. It’s something that I’m really proud of him for sticking with and the kids have learned a ton that’s on a real and applicable level that’s so often lost in “sunday school” type setting, despite the best efforts of the teachers.
Kaye says:
Okay, I don’t have a book to recommend, but I wanted to comment on that one.
We discovered this Bible for our son about 3 years ago (when he was three) and in my opinion, it is simply AMAZING!
I wish someone had taught me the Bible the way that book does! It just makes perfect sense the way it is laid out and told. (and the illustrations are beautiful as well!).
It was years before I realized how it all fit together and I’m so glad our kids won’t have the problem of putting those pieces together!
jessica c says:
Hey Shaun,
I seriously love the JSB so very much! I can not get enough of it. I so wish that I had heard the Gospel this way as a child. I think I choke up every other night reading it. Completely changed my view of what it means to be “gospel centered”. Thanks for posting this!
By the way, Travis and I are really looking forward to Together for Adoption. We have listened to your CD almost daily and it is in our car always. It has truly become our family’s anthem this year. Hope we can catch you for coffee or a chat at T4A!
Shaun Groves says:
Absolutely! Looking forward to hearing about your year. Wait a minute, you’re buying the coffee right? ; )
jessica c says:
Yes! Um, actually, it’ll be Dan’s Brother’s coffee! We are getting close to a referral. Of course, I know how that went for y’all; but we are actually waiting now and bringing maybe a dozen people with us from our adoption community!
Karen says:
I was introduced to this about a year ago and LOVE IT! It is my standard baby shower gift. I use it in my women’s bible study and have found it to be an awesome tool for sharing the gospel with adults who have no concept of what it all means!
Thanks also for sharing the intro….great summary!
Jill Foley says:
Our family loves this book, too. My kids don’t want me to stop reading it and I think that’s kind of cool.
We are currently going through Telling God’s Story (Year 1 now and Year 2 is waiting patiently on our bookshelf) by Peter Enns.
Year 1 is called Meeting Jesus and the concept is to start with the story of Jesus when introducing kids to the Bible. There is much about the OT that is difficult to explain to kids and by focusing on Jesus, we can then help them see the larger picture of the Bible.
I’ve really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.
Melissa Jones says:
I don’t have a book to recommend, but the DVD series “What’s in the Bible? with Buck Denver” is AWESOME! It will be a 13-DVD series covering the whole Bible from start to finish. #8 just came out with one more to go (in August) to finish up the Old Testament. My kids (5, 3, and 1) love it and have learned a lot from it, and my husband and I love it too! We give it away at all birthday parties and I could talk your ear off about how great it is. As a pretty jaded, know-it-all pastor’s kid, this series is a remarkable breath of fresh air that has taught even me a thing or two. It breaks the ideas of sin, redemption, and grace (among others) down into words and concepts that my little ones can understand. It doesn’t go into the details of the individual stories, but rather looks at the Bible as a whole, showing how it all is about “God’s rescue plan.” I can’t recommend this enough. Seriously. Check it out: http://www.whatsinthebible.com. (and no, I don’t work for them or anything…just love the series).
Also, this idea is what I’ve always envisioned the “Jesse Tree” version of the Advent calendar to be, but have yet to find one at a preschool level that really shows this. So I’m writing one for our family for this next year.
Shana Farmer says:
We love the Jesus Story Book Bible as well. And both of my kids (7 & 9) also love the Whats in the Bible Series… Two really great resouces!
Didn’t know about the curriculum, will have to check that out.
Shaun Groves says:
I need to check out those DVDs. Lots of people have recommended them to me. None of them were astronauts though and, well, your recommendation just pushed me over the edge ; )
Melissa Jones says:
Well…I’m not an astronaut _yet_… ;p
Zoรซ says:
I might look at getting this for our family. As for books to recommend, last year I read a book called Streams of Living Water by Richard Foster. It was great (especially as I read it straight after One Thousand Gifts – for me the one seemed to flow into the other). I have also long been a fan of Adrian Plass, an English author who writes both humorous Christian fiction and non-fiction Christian books. During my darkest hours, The Sacred Diary of Adrian Plass aged 37 3/4 has kept me sane. I even have it as an audiobook ๐
Melissa Cable says:
Have you listened to the audio version. We have that too, and it is amazing. The actor/voice of it is incredible and brings so much life to it, we love it on car rides. Would the questions your church is going through be available anywhere. We wanted to get the curriculum for our church but I read mixed reviews.
Shaun Groves says:
I saw that on Amazon as I was readying this post. I need to get that for sure. Thanks for the recommendation.
Christine says:
My children, ages 3, 5, 8, and 10, all love the JSB! My husband and I love it too…but the illustrations? Not so much. I hate to hurt any illustrator’s feelings, but I just don’t understand why these illustrations were chosen for a children’s Bible.
Wish we could have been at your sermon…thanks for sharing part of it here.
Trisha says:
More Than Meets The Eye: Fascinating Glimpses of God’s Power and Design by Richard Swenson.
Shaun Groves says:
Is this a book on Intelligent Design? Or does it just sound that way?
Julie says:
I carried three copies of The Jesus Storybook across the ocean with me to my Compassion sponsored children in Kenya. I love to imagine them turning the pages of that book, sharing it with little friends and their siblings as well.
Kris says:
We love the JSB bible here too! It’s amazing to me how much I get out of it when I read it to my kids. As for great book recommendations- hmmmm, I’m winding my way through The Spirit Of Food, which is a collection of essays on fasting and feasting towards God– (which sweet Ann Voskamp has an essay included there) and I really enjoy the perspectives presented- my one disclaimer is that for some, their faith seems more abstract, but still, there’s plenty of rich material in there, loads of beautiful imagery and good recipes too.
Anyway. Thanks for this review of the curriculum, and is that a printable?! I may have to hang that in our school room here at home ๐
Shaun Groves says:
I didn’t make it as a printable but I suppose it could be.
I haven’t heard of the Spirit of Food book. Sounds mystical ; )
Thanks for the recommendation.
Kris says:
Yes, mystical would be a good word for it. ๐
Kelli says:
I’ve never heard of that Bible, but it sounds wonderful! I recently got The Action Bible for Sloan and he loves it! It’s the Bible in Comic Book form and the illustrations are spectacular. He reads it late into the night and comes out in the morning telling us all about the stories and pictures. It’s GREAT for little boys. ๐
Shaun Groves says:
Wow, that would be great for Gresham! By the way, he’s asked me a couple times since you all left town if Sloan is going to visit on his way back home. I think they bonded.
Kelli says:
My kids have pretty much talked non-stop about yours since we left. “Coolest kids in Nashville,” they say. ๐
katie says:
We love the Jesus Storybook Bible…and there are printables available for almost every page on Jago’s (the illustrator’s) website…the curriculum is okay…i wish it could have been used for the preschool set, which is the set our church uses the bible for, but you have to be able to read and write to use it…
so, our daughter has the JSB basically memorized and we were looking for the next step up, age-wise and i looked forever and settled on The Gospel Story Bible. It also has two family devotionals (awesome) called Long Story Short and Old Story New… and a whole sunday school curriculum…and it explains very very well that each story of the bible is about Jesus…and there are an incredible number of stories included…and a whole slew of other bible passages included that you would never expect to see in a kids’ bible…our daughter loves it and it helps her connect the whole bible together in a very solid framework and shows that Jesus really is all in all… you can see the stuff at http://www.gospelstoryforkids.com
I had an Action Bible when i was little and it was truly spectacular…especially the vengeful mad faces, for some reason…and the beautiful princesses…and the plagues etc…
katie says:
oh, you have to buy them from him as artwork–not free downloads…
Matthew (FzxGkJssFrk) says:
Funny you should mention this book – I just heard about it literally for the first time on Sunday – our pastor is encouraging all the parents in our church to use it.
Two data points make a trend, right? ๐ Guess I have to check it out now.
Mary Jo Smith says:
We love this Bible in our family…our 4-year-old son eats it up. I’d love to know if there are links to the messages your pastor preached for the adults…what a great idea!