With its animated artwork, clear language, and quotes from the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), One
Big Story: Epic will draw children and pre-teens into a deeper
understanding of God’s Word.
Published by B&H Publishing for BHKids and
distributed by Lifeway, who kindly sent me a copy to review, this well-done
edition features thick pages, colorful illustrations, and a hardback cover that
ensure the kind of sturdiness meant to last throughout childhood and beyond.
The disadvantage to all this care is the weight of the
book might be a bit much for, say, a 7-year-old. However, the sewn-in pages
allow the large volume to stay open if kids sit at their desks or, more likely,
flop on a bed or floor to read.
Since “epic” is a popular word, even the
title has children in mind. As the Introduction says: “We often use it to say something or someone is awesome or spectacular.
Whether it’s epic fails, epic movies, or epic cookies, people use this word all
the time.”
However, that opening page goes on to explain the true
meaning by saying, “Epic is traditionally defined as a special kind of story that
shares the deeds of a great hero or tells the history of a special people,”
making the Bible “the greatest epic ever
written.”
To encourage young readers to make the same discovery,
six colorful pages of “Contents” present
lively titles and relevant drawings for each of 40 sections in the book.
In addition to the Bible stories themselves, pertinent
questions have been scattered in sidebars to help children apply what they’ve
learned. For instance, the story of Jonah includes these words: “God wants us to show mercy to others, even
our enemies. How can we show this mercy to others today?”
And, inserted
into the story of Daniel, we find the question: “Where or when is it most difficult for you to obey God?”
In
the New Testament account of the betrayal of Jesus, we read: “God uses all things for His glory and our
good, even acts as terrible as Judas planning to betray Jesus. How does knowing
this help us trust God during difficult times in our lives?”
This may be an excellent choice for acquainting
children with God’s Word, but, with questions like those, adults just might find the book speaks to them
too!
Mary Sayler,
poet-writer, reviewer
To order, click onto One
Big Story: Epic, hardback, graphic Bible.
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