Deep Blue Bible

Who knew that you could review something like the Bible?  Not me.

But, it has been fun.

We have quite a few Bibles already floating around our house.  But, it was nice to get a Bible designed for kids.  And, I really liked that it was in Common English....so much easier to understand...even easier than my New International Version.



The Bible is published by Abingdon Press and is called the Deep Blue Bible.

I made L-girl and A-man share the Bible (since it has a target audience of about age 7-12)....but though they both wanted it all to themselves.  The campaigning started out quite civil with both sides presenting their case as to why they should be the one that got the new Bible.  I am sad to say that the fighting ending in a very "non-Christian" way.

So, now they have shared custody of it....although I think L-girl came out on top in the amount of usage.  A-man is easily distracted. 



The Bible we got has a flexible cover....not a paperback cover, which I like....hard cover books and Bibles always seem to fall apart at our house and paperback covers get ripped off, never to be found again.  This one has held up well.

So, onto the actual book.

Amazingly, I didn't have any trouble with the content of this book, AND, I actually agreed with everything the authors had to say!    Ha!

Obviously, the basic content of the Bible is the same....although the Common English is really a great, easy to understand version.

The ways that this Bible is set apart from other kids Bibles is the little thingies scattered throughout.

Like the "Did You Know?" trivia tidbits.

They also have little.....hmmmm.....personal challenges....or thinking assignments throughout....I mean other than the personal challenges that the Bible assigns to us anyway.

There are the Umbrellas.....

Lighthouses....

Life Preservers.....

And, there are sailboats......

 
So, what do all those "nautical/don't get wet" metaphors mean?

I asked L-girl to clarify them for me, and here are her responses:

The Umbrellas are notes that give help for different times and that explain that unhappy emotions aren't good for us. 

The Lighthouses are notes that help us grow into a rock solid faith with God right there in our lives.

The Life Preservers are notes that give us answers to tough questions and things that may be hard to understand in the Bible.

The Sailboats are notes to help us grow strong with God by pointing out good traits in our lives.

My personal favorite part of this particular Bible is the "I Wonder What To Do When...." section at the back.

See?  You can look up verses and passages that will help you when you are afraid, or depressed, or feeling guilty.  There are different sections for the Umbrellas, Lighthouses, Sailboats, and Life Preservers too.

The other thing that this Bible has is "I Bet You Can..."  reading challenges. 

 

This particular one is Ezekiel 43: 1-27 and the "bet" is that you can read it in 8 minutes.  L-girl is very competitive...even with herself.  She has done some of them already, but, I can see her going through the back of the book where all of these challenges are listed, getting the timer and just checking them off as she beats the clock.

One of the last unique parts of this Bible are the "Gods Thoughts....My Thoughts" sections.

These require some thinking, and are really what I would call devotionals.  Like the one called, "How Do We Follow God Today? which is based on Numbers 9:15-23.  There are a few paragraphs about the story from the Bible, ans then little examples of where the Bible has given us clear examples of what we should do....don't lie....don't steal...be kind and compassionate.  Then, it goes on to tell them that each specific situation they may face won't be talked about in the Bible, but that we can still use it to guide and direct us.  Each one of these Gods Thoughts My Thoughts sections ends with some questions to think about and answer honestly. 

Again, all of these sections (Gods Thoughts....Umbrellas, etc.) have a portion in the back of the book, so they are easy to find....especially if you are struggling with a specific issue in your childs life.  Are they feeling harassed at school?  There is a section for that.  Are they wondering why animals were sacrificed?  There is a section to help answer that question.  Are they stressed out?  There is a section of Bible verses for that.  (Honestly....I could see myself using this Bible sometimes just for those easy to find things.)

This Bible would be a great gift to give to a child and just let them explore on their own.  My church gives away Bibles once the kids hit 3rd grade....this would be the perfect Bible for that....because it isn't a babyish kids Bible.

This Bible would also be an awesome one for you to explore with your children.  Like I said, I really liked the Common English and I loved the reference area at the end that was in wording that I get...."stressed out"...."feeling harassed"...."feeling ungrateful".  I get those.  I can relate to those.  I need encouragement about those things.

This would even be a good gift for someone who already has a Bible.  I mean it when I say this Bible is really easy to understand...and, I would consider buying it for the reference section at the back alone.

You can get a copy of the Deep Blue Kids Bible from a couple of places. But, the cheapest places I found were Cokesbury who has it for $17.00 right now (as I write this) and at Amazon for $17.91. 

See what others on the TOS Review Crew thought about Abingdon Press' Deep Blue Kids Bible.



Disclaimer:  We received a copy of the Deep Blue Kids Bible for free, in exchange for an honest review.