Tomie DePaola’s Book of Bible Stories
Name of Book: Tomie DePaola’s Book of Bible Stories
Author: Tomie DePaola
Illustrator: Tomie DePaola
Publisher: The Trumpet Club
ISBN: 0-440-84712-5
Audience: Elementary children. While the text has been pulled directly from the N.I.V. Bible, some verses have been shortened in order to make it simple and understandable to children.
Summary: A collection of 37 Bible stories and prayers from the Old and New Testament. Delightful and informative illustrations are most helpful in bringing the stories to life.
Literary elements at work in the story: Historical, Biblical. This book can be enjoyed independently or in a group with someone reading out loud and showing the illustrations. The classic storybook layout with bold titles per story is without book names, chapters, and verses. These relaxing short stories may not be as intimidating as the “document” style that is found in the Bible.
As a tool to encourage further exploration, this Book of Bible Stories along with the N.I.V. Bible could be used as a parallel to demonstrate how readable and inviting scripture is. For Bible studies and lessons or to make a biblical point, the stories will complement scripture from any version of the Old and New Testament.
Theme: Informative and spiritual, as each story captures the drama found in the actual N.I.V. Bible.
Perspective: Spiritually encouraging for all levels of Christian belief.
Theology: This book provides an excellent biblical foundation for Christians of all ages, as the classical Bible stories can be referred to over and over again. The colorful illustrations bring the details of scripture to life, making the stories easy to remember and recall.
Scripture: Various stories from the Old and New Testament. Prayers from scripture may inspire spiritual growth.
Faith Talk Questions:
- Why do you think God made this story part of the Bible? What’s the point?
- If the point of this story is __________, what changes do you think God would want you to make in the way you behave, think, or speak?
- In view of this story, can you make any connections between what happened thousands of years ago and how it is similar to the world today?
This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Gina Craft.
Tomie DePaola’s Book of Bible Stories by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
