Jesus Storybook Bible

Written for children ages four and up, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the one story underneath all the stories of the Bible and points to the birth of a child, the Rescuer, Jesus. Complete with 44 Bible stories, The Jesus Storybook Bible paints a beautiful portrait of Jesus and invites children to see that he is not only at the center of God’s great story of redemption—he is at the center of their story too. Children and adults alike will be captivated by the beautifully written narrative and the original and unique illustrations by accomplished artist Jago. Lloyd-Jones’ powerful gift of storytelling draws the reader into the greatest adventure of all time in an exciting page-turner that kids (and adults) find hard to put down.

Sally Lloyd-Jones is a leading writer of inspirational books for children and is an expert at conveying biblical truth to young children. She is the author of three bestselling children’s Bibles, including the Gold Book Award-winning Baby’s First Bible and, most recently, the Moonbeam Award Winner The Jesus Storybook Bible. She has written many picture books for children, including Handbag Friends, Time to Say Goodnight, and the critically acclaimed How to Be a Baby: By Me, the Big Sister. Sally in English and live in New York.

Jago is an accomplished illustrator with several prestigious awards to his credit, including a Macmillian "Highly Commended" Award for Children’s Illustration in 2003, an AOI Silver Award in 2004, and the National Literacy Association Wow! Award. Jago lives in Cornwall with his wife and daughter.

OLD TESTAMENT STORIES:

- The Story and the Song
- The beginning: a perfect home
- The terrible lie
- A new beginning
- A giant staircase to heaven
- Son of laughter
- The present
- The girl no one wanted
- The forgiving prince
- God to the rescue!
- God makes a way
- Ten ways to be perfect
- The warrior leader
- The teeny, weenie . . . true king
- The young hero and the horrible giant
- The Good Shepherd
- A little servant girl and the proud general
- Operation “No More Tears!”
- Daniel and the scary sleepover
- God’s messenger
- Get ready!

NEW TESTAMENT STORIES:

- He’s here!
- The Light of the whole world
- The King of all kings
- Heaven breaks through
- Let’s go!   
- A little girl and a poor frail lady
- How to pray
- The Singer
- The Captain of the storm
- Filled full!
- Treasure hunt!
- The Friend of little children
- The man who didn’t have any friends (none)
- Running away
- Washed with tears
- The Servant King
- A dark night in the garden
- The sun stops shining
- God’s wonderful surprise
- Going home
- God sends help
- A new way to see
- A dream of heaven

“Introducing the Anglicised Edition of the increasingly popular Children’s Bible – The Jesus Storybook Bible. Every story whispers his name ... all 44, which beautifully tell the entire story of the Bible. Suitable for any age, this Bible would be great for bedtime reading and a book confident young readers will cherish.”

“This masterpiece begins with a story called ‘The Story and the Song’. It puts the Bible into context for children so that each story becomes an adventure. Every story whispers the name of a baby who’s is the missing piece in the puzzle. This introduction makes each story come to life, in creative and imaginative ways. ”

“The Jesus Storybook Bible is much more than a Children’s Bible. It’s an imaginative children’s translation that is theologically rich and utterly breath-taking, for both children and parents.”

The key to introducing children to a life long faith is the same as the key that opens the door to a lifelong love of reading. And the key is called sharing. Of course you can’t make children find faith just as you can’t make them read something they don’t want too – well, not and expect them to love it.

But sharing a faith – showing how much it means to you, living it, spending time with it and spending time with your children opens a door and invites a child to enter and discover what you’ve already found. The same is true of reading. If you open the door, show the joys and adventures inside, children will be eager to enter and make new discoveries for themselves.

Some doors are easier to open than others. Sometimes it seems that the doors we’d most like to open to our to our children are the least accessible and most difficult to even unlock, let alone swing wide and set out the welcome mat. So when a book comes along that not only offers a wide open doorway to reading, but also an easy and attractive way in to sharing the wonders of faith, its time to get really excited about both.

The Jesus Storybook Bible – now with British (rather than US) English spellings and sentences, is just such a reason for anyone who cares about nurturing reading and faith in primary school age children to get excited. While children from about 6 and above will be able to read the short, thoughtfully laid out and easy to follow stories for themselves, even children as young as 4 will love to have the 44 Old and New Testament tales read to them at bedtime and story-time.

Rarely more than 100 lines (about 6-8 minutes) the stories of creation, Noah, Joseph, Moses, Daniel and all the best loved stories of Jesus sweep across breathtakingly bright and bold illustrations that reflect the beauty and wonder of the words themselves. The collective focus of the well known stories is centred on the person, life, works and meaning of the Bible’s central figure – the baby born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth who grew to be the friend and saviour of all children everywhere.

Quite literally at the centre, the birth of Jesus is story number 22 of the 44 collected into the strong, well made hard back covers. And it’s the quality of the words (by award winning British storywriter, Sally Lloyd-Jones), rich illustrations (by creative Cornish artist, Jago) matched with the excellence of the over all package that makes this edition a gift that any grown-up would love to give and any child delighted to receive.

Best of all, it’s not a book to stay on a child’s bookshelf. It’s a book children will give pride of place next best loved toys and treasures by their bedside; to be shared at bedtime and read with and for pleasure. It’s a book that points toward a fully grown-up Bible of their own, on the way to the faith you want them to know and love and last a lifetime. - Les Ellison

Sally has written over 17 picture books and story Bibles, won countless awards and sold hundreds of thousands of her books. She was described by Publisher’s Weekly as “stylish and witty”.

So, what makes this Christian children’s author tick?
 
THE ABSENT-MINDED DREAMER

When asked to describe her childhood in an interview with World Magazine, Sally said “I’m told I was always dreaming”. Having been brought up in the British church, Sally remembers standing at the front with the children’s group for a song. Her sister was the enthusiastic one, singing and doing all the actions, whilst she was staring into space. 

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Having always dreamt of adventure, Sally jumped at a job offer in New York in 1989. She told herself that it would just be for a few years, but she stayed ever since. Working in the publishing industry as a ‘packager’ was Sally’s full time job. When a publisher has an idea for a format – say a pop-up book – they hire a packager. The packager does pretty much everything short of publishing the book. Write the words, produce the pictures, research the types of paper, everything. It was here that she caught the bug for writing.

FROM PACKAGING TO WRITING

The company she worked for was sold to Readers Digest in 2000 and suffered a dramatic cut back of 40%. She would pray, “Lord, please don't let me be on that list. Please make the numbers look good so I can stay.”

Little did she know God had better things for her, to get her out of there and into writing children’s books. Although she continued to be a ‘self-employed packager’, she knew she had to give writing a shot and set to work on an idea sparked by her niece.

Sally asked her niece what she kept in her pink handbag which she carried with her everywhere she went and her child-like reply inspired her – “my friends”. She then opened the handbag and there was a purple troll, a green creature, a plastic carrot inside. Sally wrote her first board book called ‘Handbag Friends’ in 2006. It launched her writing career, earning her many wonderful endorsements like this:

“Buy this book INSTANTLY! It guarantees you a sweet, hilarious, musical time with your child ... bordering on picture book genius... a kiddie masterpiece.” - Stoo Hample, author of ‘The Silly Book’.

WHERE DOES HER INSPIRATION COME FROM?

Sally splits her writing time into two places – any coffee shop that will have and her study in her Manhattan apartment. She has no illusions as to who she must thank. She says it’s God that does the work, and all she does is shows up. In the ‘Jesus Storybook Bible’ she quotes:

“Tis not that I did choose Thee,
For Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse Thee,
Hadst Thou not chosen me...
My heart owns none before Thee,
For Thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love Thee,
Thou must have loved ne first.” – Josiah Conder, 1836.

If you were to walk into her study, you’d find a painting of two men who stopped working to pray over the ploughed field. She thinks of her work as farming, her board books and story Bibles as the seeds that will reach the hands of children everywhere. She is a worker, putting down her pen, kneeling over her work, praying over the seeds.

Now a new Anglicised edition, the Jesus Storybook Bible tells the story beneath all the stories the Bible. It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. At its centre there is a baby, the child upon whom everything would depend. From Noah to Moses to King David, every story whispers his name. Jesus is like the missing piece in a puzzle that makes all the others pieces fit together. Beautifully written and illustrated, The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to discover for themselves that Jesus us at the centre of God’s great story of salvation – and at the centre of their story too.