What is the Bible?

What Is the Bible?
Written by Kathleen Bostrom Illustrated by Elena Kucharik
Published at Tyndale

About the book
Little Blessings question books help young children understand basic truths about the Christian life. Perfect for ages 3-6, What Is the Bible asks and answers questions about the Bible, such as: Who wrote the Bible, who is the Bible about, how do you read the Bible? Parents can use this book as a fun tool to answer questions their little ones may have about God’s Word.

Who are Kathleen Bostrom and Elena Kucharik?
Kathleen Bostrom is the author of more than a dozen children’s books, including many of the Little Blessings question books. She and her husband, Greg, have served as co-pastors of the Wildwood Presbyterian Church in Wildwood, Illinois. Kathy often draws from the curiosity of kids in her congregation to write her books. Kathy’s books have sold well over one million copies and have been published in several languages. Kathy and Greg have three adult children and live in Wildwood, Illinois.

Elena Kucharik is an accomplished artist and illustrator who created the highly successful Care Bears characters in the 1980s. She illustrates all the Little Blessings books. She and her husband have two grown daughters and three grandchildren. They live in Madison, Connecticut.

My thoughts
Here’s another fine book from the Little Blessings series. This time it is all about the Bible – where it came from, who wrote it, what it says, is there one for boys and one for girls and so on. All questions coming from the heart of children. Sometimes kids do say the funniest things but you have to be attentive when they have questions because our answers will make them grow.

Once again Kathleen Bostrom has written wonderful little rhymes to explain what the Bible is for little ones. Her answers to the questions at the beginning of the book are short and easy to understand for little ones. And I agree with her when she says “the Bible’s a book you will never outgrow”. Indeed, it is a book where we can go in and never outgrow it. We learn things from it no matter the age we are. And somehow we never stop going back to it over and over again. The kids will discover that before we had a paper copy the stories of the Bible were kept alive by remembering them in your heart. There are indeed lots to explore and discover in a Bible and I pray that my kids will embrace this book as their life saver device while they grow.

The illustrator had done a beautiful job at illustrating the rhymes and bringing it to life. For example, when you read the outgrow comments, you see a little child who is trying to put on some clothes which he indeed outgrown. So cute to see the button popping out and flying through the room! It brought a smile on my face. Exploration is illustrated with binoculars and a spy glass. Sometimes I do feel like that when I read the Bible. Elena really brought to life the rhymes of Kathleen.

One of the questions at the beginning is about what if there are some for boys and some for girls. And the answer says it doesn’t matter what color you choose since its God’s Word after all (well not in these terms but you got the picture). I was at the Christian bookstore in town the other day and I was looking at children’s bible and I saw that cute very colorful bible with various sections being a different color. One bible had a cover blue with a little boy on it and the other one was pink with a little girl on it. I immediately thought about the Little Blessings book when I saw these.

The Bible indeed is a wonderful book and this little book will introduce it to the young children you might have at home. One tradition we have in our house is that as soon as the child is able to read fluently, my husband will take that child to the Christian bookstore in town and will show him the various version of the Bible there is. He will explain to the child to reason behind this and sit down with him/her and crack open some of them to show the differences. Then he will show the child which version he wants to buy him/her and let him/her choose the Bible within this version. Then it will be a trip to the restaurant to discuss the importance of reading it. So far, we did this with one child and I sense that maybe by the end of the coming school year we might go through this tradition once again. You see I have a child who is eager to know how to read. In the mean time, I will practice with him by reading What is the Bible?.

What is the Bible? can also be a wonderful gift for a dedication or a baptism. It is also easy to carry around in a bag for the child to look at while you are driving or when you are waiting for an appointment.

What is the Bible? can be found at any bookstore even on amazon.ca and indigo.ca.