Bible Stories for Little Ones -- My First Handy Bible

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Cecilie Olesen

and illustrated by:

Gustavo Mazali

and the book:

My First Handy Bible

Hendrickson Publishers (January 31, 2012)

***Special thanks to Rick Roberson for sending me a review copy.***

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

My First Handy Bible aims to communicate God's character and His love to the youngest of children, ages one to three. Beautifully illustrated in bright full color, My First Handy Bible has a cheerful padded hardcover with 61 child-friendly hardback pages and a handle and clasp that make it easy for small hands to tote and manipulate. The timeless stories are retold in simple sentences by author and artist Cecilie Olesen, illustrated by author and illustrator Gustavo Mazali and designed by Ben Alex, a C. S. Lewis Gold Medal winner author and designer.

Website for Book

Product Details:

List Price: $12.95
Hardcover: 61 pages
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers (January 31, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 8772473045
ISBN-13: 978-8772473048

AND NOW...SOME SAMPLE PAGES (Click on images to enlarge):

MY THOUGHTS:

This is a nice little Bible story book for toddlers.  The bright, colorful illustrations should catch the attention of children, and the stories are short enough for their brief attention spans.  The "board" format makes the book sturdy enough for the expected rough handling by little ones.

There are a couple of concerns I have about the book.  The plastic handle and latch are good ideas, but I am concerned that the latch might not hold up to much opening and closing without breaking.  Also, in the story of David as a shepherd boy, there is an awkward sentence:  "He took well care of his sheep."  I'm not sure if the story was written in some language other than English and then suffered a mistake in translation, or if this was the result of some other type of editing error.

Neither of these problems, though, is serious, and I look forward to sharing My First Handy Bible with my young grandson.