Review: God Helps Me Bible

   The God Helps Me Bible, written by Juliet David and illustrated by Clare Caddy, is designed in a sturdy format, similar to a board book, but with a covered spiral binding and heavy card stock pages.  It is geared toward very young kids-- they can flip through it over and over, and it will probably survive a good bit of handling. The stories are condensed and short, most taking less than ten sentences to tell.  Each story ends with "God helped..." and goes on to explain how God helped the person in the story. This repetition will appeal to young kids because they will begin to predict that this is coming at the end. My kids have all liked to read and re-read stories like these when they were younger, and they enjoyed being able to "outsmart" me by predicting the end. 

   This theme also opens the door for discussing how God helps us and can lead to a prayer-time, thanking God for all the ways He helps us and for the ways He helped the people in the story.  I like books that provide some "helps" for interactive activities, especially for the younger set.  You could simply discuss the story to reinforce the concepts, or you could have kids color a picture showing something from the story, such as Moses parting the waters of the Red Sea or the star the wise men followed.  It would be easy to extend the discussion starters to simple craft activities as well, such as talking about how Jesus helped feed the hungry crowd (John 6:1-13), then either stringing dry pasta onto yarn "necklaces" or painting a construction paper "basket" with glue and sticking dry rice to it.  If you have felt board Bible figures, you could "act" out the stories for your child, or have them use the figures to retell them.  Because the stories are told so simply, young children will find it easy to narrate them back to you.

   The more frightening stories from the Bible are retold in a more child-friendly way, leaving out many of the details, so parents won't have to "edit" for little ears: 

"A huge giant called Goliath was bullying God's people.  No one was brave enough to fight him.  Then David, the young shepherd boy said, 'I will fight the giant!'  How everyone laughed.  Little David had no sword and no spear.  He had just his shepherd's sling.  David chose a stone and --whizz--it flew through the air.  The stone hit the giant on the head and he fell to the ground.  God helped David beat the giant Goliath."

   Stories from both the Old and New Testaments are included, but no stories about the creation, the crucifixion or the resurrection, so I wish it was a little more complete.  The book begins with "Noah and His Great Ark," and hits on the most commonly told stories, such as Joseph's dream, Daniel and the lions, Jonah and the fish, Jesus feeding the hungry crowd, and more.  There are twenty-five short stories in all.  I would have liked to see it begin at the beginning, with Creation.

   I think this book would be nice for preschoolers, but because of the spiral binding, I wouldn't give it to a child under 2--(mine would have probably gotten their lips stuck in the coils, so no chewing! :)  The pictures are cute, colorful, and cartoonish, so this is not a realistic rendering, if that is what you're looking for.  It is, however, a sweet little book, and I think it is a nice way to introduce little ones to these stories.

 {The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.}