So, You Want to Buy Your Kid Their First Bible...

A review of the Biggest Story Holy Bible for Kids

If you are a Christian parent (or grandparent!), that means you love God’s word. And it means you should want your children to love it, too. Maybe you’ve been reading them story Bibles up to this point, like Sally-Lloyd Jones’s wonderful (I would say “classic” at this point) The Jesus Storybook Bible (our family’s favorite). Or maybe Kevin DeYoung and Don Clark’s The Biggest Story Storybook Bible (which will factor heavily into this article as thou shalt soon see). But now, your kid is at an age that you want to help them transition from the “Story Bible” era of their Christian childhood to the “Bible Bible” era. So what kind of Bible would be good to get them?

Allow me to suggest the King James Bible from 1618.

Photo by Danika Perkinson on Unsplash

I joketh.

In all seriousness, the question of what Bible to get our kids is a question we faced a few years ago for the first time. When our oldest completed her reading curriculum, my wife and I decided that we would celebrate by giving her her first Bible (this is now a routine event in the Mellgren household). It felt appropriate, since reading God’s word is the foremost reason to learn how to read in the first place.^⁠¹

Here’s what we knew we wanted for her:

• We wanted the Bible to appear and feel inviting (something she would enjoy looking at and holding). We also didn’t want it to be overly…kiddish. A cartoony Noah’s ark with animals on the cover is fun when you’re 7, not when you’re 11.

• We wanted the teaching tools (footnotes, highlights of themes, individual book overviews, etc.) to engage our kids in fun ways and uphold our Reformed theological convictions

• We knew we wanted the ESV, since we use it in our family devotions, my wife and I use it in our personal devotions, and our church uses the ESV. Though we are not an ESV-only family (👀) we wanted our kids to have an ESV translation of the Bible to keep the language/phrasing consistent for them.

To be honest, at that time we didn’t feel like any of the ESV Kids Bibles Crossway offered fit what we were looking for, so we ended up stretching the age-appropriateness a bit and buying her the ESV Student Study Bible. We did the same for our next oldest, who is now 9. These looked nice and felt nice, but never quite met the kids where they were at.

This year, Crossway published The Biggest Story Holy Bible for Kids - and in doing so, they have provided a wonderful gift to parents wanting to bridge the gap from the Story Bible era to the “Bible Bible” era. It is anchored in Kevin DeYoung and Don Clark’s excellent The Biggest Story Storybook Bible material while moving in the direction of a study Bible. As a whole this is a wonderful first Bible for children that I wish I’d had in my hands a few years ago (but am so grateful it’s here now).

Let’s start by talking about…

The Look

If you’re familiar with any of The Biggest Story material, the aesthetic of the Biggest Story Bible will be familiar in the best of ways (to be clear, it’s called The Biggest Story Holy Bible for Kids, but that’s a lot to type and makes for an extended acronym. So I’m calling it the Biggest Story Bible from here on out). There is a hardback option, and three different TruTone options. I opted for the Dark Green Armor design since I felt both my girls and my boys would appreciate it.

I am a big fan of Don Clark’s illustrations, as are my kids, and these illustrations are all over the pages. Nearly all of these are pulled from The Biggest Story Storybook Bible. But good news: for the books of the Bible that don’t have a story included from The Biggest Story Storybook Bible, Don Clark crafted brand new illustrations to ensure that every book has at least one picture of Don Clark artistry (to which I say, huzzah).

The aesthetic of the book as a whole is just awesome. The ink colors are deep and rich with almost zero bleed-through onto the reverse page - impressive considering that most of the illustrations are full-page. Everything pops visually, and there so many nice little touches - the use of an off-white tan for the introduction pages, the purple headings, green diamond dividers at the start of each Story section, the pink word highlights for the footnotes, the purple text on the headings and chapter numbers…it’s God’s word beautifully adorned.

The TruTone edition feels wonderful, too. The pages are soft and easy to turn. It’s pretty hefty (Crossway says it weighs almost 3 lbs.), so if your child is younger it might be a bit much for them to carry around. But the whole thing looks and feels wonderful. Nobody does Bible craftsmanship like Crossway.

Not only does the Biggest Story Bible look and feel excellent, the structure/layout of the book is great, too. That brings us to…

The Format

Each book of the Biggest Story Bible begins with a colorful Introduction, featuring a timeline for when the book takes place relative to other major biblical events, who wrote it, the big theme of the book, and major characters. They also include a map where it’s appropriate to show where the events of the book take place. Lastly, the Book Introductions have a mini table of contents highlighting which Biggest Story Bible Storybook stories are featured in the book.

Which raises a question: how exactly are the Biggest Story Storybook Bible stories woven into the Biggest Story Bible?

Answer: All 104 “stories” are there, but you are not getting a full reprint of each Biggest Story Storybook Bible story. You get a one paragraph introduction that pulls the big ideas from Kevin DeYoung’s text, followed by the Scripture chapters. There’s always a couple of Don Clark illustrations from the Biggest Story Storybook Bible to accompany it. And once you’ve read the actual Bible passage the Story is based on, you get a full page Digging Deeper section, which is the major study tool of the book.

All of this works towards the purpose of bridging the gap for your kids from the Story Bible era to the “Bible Bible” era.

The Digging Deeper pages function as the “main course” of the key features. It begins with a “Learn” section that highlights the key ideas from the chapters just read; then a Gospel Connection, connecting the story to Christ and the gospel; a Discover section, sending your kids back to look for things (sometimes fun and sometimes serious); a Reflect section, which have questions to pause and consider (I personally found the questions helpful!). Finally, there is a Pray prompt, and then a QR code that if scanned will take you out to Crossway’s website for that story’s animated video embedded on YouTube (I have very mixed feelings about this, which I’ll get into more later).

“Okay,” you might be saying to yourself, “104 Digging Deeper sections is excellent, but the Bible is a big book. How do they help my kids engage with God’s word during the gaps between the stories?” Not to worry - you’re covered.

Throughout the Biggest Story Bible, there are little side dishes for your kids to enjoy:

• Did You Know? - points Bible truths out that your kids might not be aware of

• Applying God’s Truth to Your Life - helps the kids bring God’s truth into their everyday lives

• Seeing the Snake Crusher - points kids to Jesus as the fulfillment of what they’re currently reading

• Study Notes - explanations of highlighted words/phrases.

These are all very good, but my favorite is probably the Study Notes. Similar to how Study Bible footnotes work, Study Notes highlights a word or phrase in pink. When your kids see that, they can look down at the bottom of the page to see an explanation of that word. These are not just general explanations, but specific to what your child is reading at that moment.

For instance, when your child comes to Proverbs 23:23 (“Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.”), wisdom is the highlighted word, so they can look down at the bottom of the page and read this explanation: “Wisdom is the skill of knowing how to relate rightly to God, other people, yourself, and the world God has made. In Proverbs God tells us what this wisdom looks like, and it begins with fearing him (Prov. 9:10).” It’s a contextual definition.

But that isn’t the only time the Study Notes define wisdom. In Job 28:12 (“But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?”), the Study Notes address wisdom again with this explanation: “Wisdom is the skill of knowing how to relate rightly to God, other people, yourself, and the world God has made. The book of Job describes wisdom as impossible for humans to really have; only God is truly wise (Job 12:13).” The definition stays the same, but the Study Note specifically helps kids see how the idea of wisdom functions within the book of Job (just as it pointed to how it functions in Proverbs).

Throughout the Biggest Story Bible, kids will encounter multiple terms addressed multiple times, helping them expand their biblical understanding of big ideas like wisdom, righteousness, faith, etc. Though there are some significant stretches in between Stories/Digging Deeper sections, there are enough of these “side dishes” to help bridge the gaps between them.

This brings me to my final point, which is that

The Content

….of the Biggest Story Bible is exceptional. I believe every feature, from the Book Introductions to the Study Notes, will help kids better know God and the Bible. There’s no watering down the word. Some of the Discover and Reflect prompts/questions might be a bit involved for younger readers, but the study features as a whole wisely serve a range of ages. Both my 11 and 9 year old daughters have spent time in the Biggest Story Bible and told me they love it. It’s been particularly helpful for my 9 year old.

Here’s a little taste of the content kids will encounter in this Bible:

The Gospel Connection for 1 Samuel 1;3 - “God used to reveal himself through visions and reams. But now God reveals himself to us through Jesus. We know what God is like, what he has done for us, and how we are to respond to him by looking at Jesus. And the surest way we know about Jesus is by the word of God in the Bible. We read the Bible, learn about Jesus, and share the good news about Jesus with others. It is so important to listen to whatever the word of God tells us to be and to do–and then to share it with others.”

The Did You Know? from Job 15:14 - ““[Job] does fear God. He fears God not by being afraid of him but by trusting in him completely - with a bit of shaking in his boots. God is holy, awesome, powerful, and mysterious. He is to be feared like Job does.”

The Applying God’s Truth to Your Life in 2 Samuel 15 - “What I face hard situations, does God want me to trust him or try to figure out a solution? In 2 Samuel David’s son Absalom wants to take away the kingship from his father. David trusts God and knows that God is in control (2 Sam. 15:25-26). Yet David also takes action to protect himself and his people; he flees Jerusalem (15:14–17) and sends a spy to try to mss up Absalom’s plans (15:32–37; 17:1–14). David works, and God works. How do these two things fit together? The Bible says that God plans and uses David’s activity to accomplish his plans (17:14). When you face difficult situations, rely on the Lord and take wise steps toward a solution.”

The Reflect questions for Esther: “First, look at the pictures of Esther in your Bible. What do you like most about how the artist pictured her? Second and third, how did the Jews react when they found out they were saved? Turn to the final two verses of the book of Esther for the answer. How should you react to the good news that you are saved from death because Jesus died for you?”

Again, this is the solid, engaging teaching I expect and appreciate from the Biggest Story team. They are providing the kind of help I want my children to have when they read God’s word.

As much as I love and appreciate this Bible, I do have one…

Word of Caution

Most parents will not think twice about this, which is unfortunate. In the Digging Deeper sections, there are regular prompts for kids to go online and do research related to the Story they just read. Occasionally, these are wisely framed with a “ask your parents to help you” phrasing. Other times, they are not. Some of these prompts include image searches. In our home, our kids are not allowed to search the internet due to the extensively documented reality that the internet is not safe for children. What I don’t want for my kids as they read their Bible is to be consistently encouraged to go on the internet, even for the sake of studying God’s word.

Can we not?

As I mentioned above, every Digging Deeper includes a QR code that takes your child to an embedded YouTube video for that Story’s animated video. I have mixed feelings about this because the videos are incredibly well done. We’ve used them as a family in the past. But once again, the frequent appearance of a QR code is a subtle encouragement to our kids - “Hey, you could be online right now.” I wish Crossway had pulled the QR codes and been more consistent with the “ask your parents to help you” phrasing when encouraging online engagement, if not eliminating the online prompts altogether.

Though it’s not an insignificant frustration, this is my only real complaint with the Biggest Story Bible and it’s not enough to keep me from considering it the best ESV Kids Bible Crossway currently has available.

Conclusion

In the Introduction to the Biggest Story Holy Bible for Kids (there’s the full name again), the Biggest Story crew points to Christ’s words in Matthew 19:14 as one of their primary motivations for making this Bible - “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” They have succeeded in providing children with a Bible that will help them better understand God’s words and better treasure Jesus. I heartily recommend it to parents and grandparents looking to purchase a first Bible for their kids.

I’d like to thank Crossway, who provided me a free copy of this Bible in exchange for an honest review.

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1. Parent - if you have a child who is learning how to read, pray regularly that God’s words would become their greatest reading delight in their life.