Read and Share Toddler Bible

Read and Share Toddler Bible
By Gwen Ellis
Published at Thomas Nelson

About the book
This new addition to the Read and ShareTM brand contains 40 stories plus a 60 minute DVD including bonus features just for toddlers.

The Read and Share Toddler Bible is a delightful way to introduce little ones ages one to four to God’s Word. Gwen Ellis’s engaging retelling of Bible stories along with Steve Smallman’s colorful art communicate God’s Word clearly to small tots with short attention spans. Stories from both the Old and New Testaments include all-time favorites ranging from Creation, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, David, to Jesus’ birth, miracles, death, and resurrection.

Bonus DVD includes stories and bonus features from the popular Read and ShareTM DVD Bible series. Each story is three minutes long to keep toddlers attention span engaged.

Who is Gwen Ellis?
Gwen Ellis is a writer, editor, speaker, and consultant who established her own company, Seaside Creative Services, Inc., five years ago in Southern California. Gwen has been a professional in the publishing industry for 27 years.

Some people say Gwen has experienced just about everything that can happen in a woman’s life. She battled ovarian cancer, lost premature twin daughters at birth, lived as a single-again for many years, and she also knows the pain of losing one parent to cancer and the other to Alzheimer’s Disease.

But life hasn’t all been tough stuff. In fact, Gwen sees life as an awesome adventure!
http://www.gwenellis.com/

My thoughts
This little gem is wonderful. The stories are short and vary colorful to catch the eyes of a young child. This toddler bible is accompanied by the 60 minutes DVD that contains animated stories from the bible to reinforce the stories.

We all know that the attention span of a toddler is very short. The author of this little Bible took the time to insure that the stories are short enough for the little ones. No need to go in complete details on many of the stories but the big idea is there. I was surprised though to find the story of the talking donkey in it. Often, toddler or young children bibles do not contain this story. It was good to see that it was included.

I sat down one day with the three youngest kids in my family – ages ranging from 19 months to 5 years old. I really enjoyed watching the DVD with them. And to see the story of the talking donkey was refreshing. I had a nice chat with my 5 and 3 years old about God using anyone or anything for His purpose. I asked them if God could use children and they said YES! You bet I said, if He can use a donkey, He could certainly use a child.

This toddler bible is a smaller version of the Read and Share Bible already published at Thomas Nelson. The publisher had a great idea to create the same kind of Bible geared to younger children. This toddler Bible will help you to establish a pattern for the kids to spend time in God’s Word. This can easily be used as a devotional for homeschooling families who have little ones with them. The younger kids will have their own devotional while the older ones work on theirs. This and seeing mom and dad spending their own time with God will strengthen this discipline for the children.

My only negative points I have concern the DVD. Unfortunately not all the story in the book are found in the DVD. Also, when you are at the main menu of the DVD, if you decide to go to the other options, the cursor do not go from one to the other as it is shown but rather randomly on the screen. For me, it bothers me that someone had not been careful in programming the order. For someone else, it might not matter. But usually the cursor should go from one to the other as presented on the screen…

In summary, the DVD and the Toddler Bible would be a nice addition in your house if you have little ones. It could also be a wonderful gift for a dedication or a baptismal. I pray that this Toddler Bible will touch my 3 year old as well as his little sister (who really enjoyed watching the DVD by the way!).

The toddler Bible is available everywhere you can find Christian products, even on amazon.ca and indigo.ca.