My mother told me that whatever story you can’t find in any reading material, you will certainly find it in the Bible. Growing up, having Bible stories in our home was a common sight and sound. For me and my three younger siblings, it was a staple source of stories covering different genres and reaching various ages. It was ideal to have a lot of books in fun, engaging, creative format back then. We didn’t have a lot of Bible-stories-in board-books format but my Mom made sure that she bought some books that we can read and enjoy. Again and again.
Now with a family of my own, my husband and I are raising a God-centered, Christian family with emphasis on the importance of faith and (hard) work and the relevance of prayers and reflection in our daily lives. It’s still a challenge to have the twins close their eyes and pray with us without them screaming for that first bite of deep-dish lasagna; but we try to set an example by showing them that we bow our heads, fold our arms, and say our prayer of thanks and gratitude especially before meals.
The Bible can be an intimidating piece of book given its appearance: thick, heavy text, small font size. On face value, it can be a difficult material to introduce to your children. But thanks to publishing houses, whose staff of writers and illustrators took considerable amount of time and effort to “dissect” the Bible and transformed otherwise serious chronicles to child-friendly stories making it possible for parents to hold their attention in a five to 10-minute story time.
Enter Read and Share: 5-Minute Bible Stories, an example of those books that successfully tells and illustrates the Story of Creation, David and Goliath, Noah and his big boat, and Jonah and the whale in a manner that made my twins stay put in their seats with their eyes round with excitement as they urged me to flip from one page to the other.
The stories are cut into bite-size lengths that do not overwhelm even your toddlers with very short attention span. In fact, the way the stories are paced is exactly intended for five-minute sessions. You can go on read another story if your child(ren) wants more. Read and Share: 5-Minute Bible Stories is a great read-aloud material. At the end of each story, a question is asked so your children can be active participants of the entire reading process. For instance, in “Inside the Boat” (Genesis 7:16-24), the question, “How many days do you think it rained?” was asked before the story of “The Dove” was told. With questions as conversation/discussion prompts, you can then solicit answers from your children and then continue reading more stories.
It is essential for good stories to be accompanied by engaging illustrations and this book offers that clean, concise, creative line-up of graphics and drawings which are more than enough to keep children interested. The layout is not cluttered; there is enough white space for the eyes to rest in between reading.
There are 90 stories in this book making it an almost unlimited source of daytime, midday, and bedtime stories. You can read these stories again and again until such time your children are familiar with them. That’s how my Mom cultivated a culture of loving Bible stories with me and my siblings although back then, there were not much pictures in our books so Mom had to vividly describe in her mind’s eye what was happening when Jonah was swallowed by the whale and ended up in Nineveh.
Modern parents have it so easy these days because everything can be ordered online. Bookstores, supermarkets, and grocery stories make it convenient for many materials to be available on the aisle next to noodles and Italian sausages. That’s why there is no excuse for us NOT to expose our children to the wonderful world of literature.
My husband and I belong to different religions; he’s Mormon, I’m Catholic. But we read the same Bible and we both agree that reading Bible stories to our children is one step to help them become good Christians and better citizens of the countries they belong to. Read and Share: 5-Minute Bible Stories will now be a staple source of stories in our home just like how it was when I was a little girl in our modest house in the Philippines sharing board books of David and Goliath with my siblings and having my Mom read it to us with colorful and lively gestures as part of her storytelling strategy.
I recommend this book to any family who are looking for a creative format in introducing Bible stories to their children. I promise this one won’t bore you and them with lengthy narration. Read this day and night to your children – and together, let’s reap the benefits in the near future.
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Book Look Bloggers in exchange for an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Also, some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
