Title: The Good News Bible Family Edition
Created by: YFC and The Bible Society
Published by: The Bible Society
Price: £27.99 here
Useful for: families with children aged 5+ years old
Best bit: It’s BIG! Seriously, a large book with TONNES of stuff inside, large text plus space to write and draw in it, extra info and QR codes linking to extra resources – it’s HUGE! See more below.
Worst bit: As always, as a visual person, I’d like more pictures! It would be fab to have a few more illustrations like the ones I enjoyed in my Good News Bible growing up but at least there’s space for me to add my own! Also, the paper is still a bit thin and so let’s the text show through from the other side, which makes it slightly harder to read. However, the font is large and easy on the eye.
More:
This Bible is a game changer in the world of family Bibles. At £34.99 it’s an investment, but it’s a big hardback Bible with there’s SO MUCH inside, you’ll not be disappointed!
When I opened it, my 8yo immediately wanted to colour in the ‘colour and wipe’ cover. I wondered if it really would work, but does – you can write and draw and colour on it, lets the pens dry and it doesn’t smudge until it’s wiped with a wet cloth. I know this sounds trivial compared to the content of a Bible, but if it says you can colour and wipe, a) it needs to work (and it does) b) it’s a brilliant way of giving everyone ownership of the Bible straight away, whether you can read or write or not. This is such a vital thing for a family Bible – it needs to feel like it’s Ours.
Inside this Bible feels light and contemporary, with matt paper, a large, readable font and loads of space to write and draw (yippee!).
The first 24 pages have some really useful and well presented info, including:
- What is the Bible?
- How did the Bible get to be the Bible?
- Timeline of the Bible story
- How do we get started
- How do we use this Bible? – this page is particularly helpful!
- Make your own Bible journey and so on.
This section will be really helpful for many families tackling the Bible for the first time, as well as for children who are expanding their Bible literacy.
There are also pages which give options for different ways to explore the Bible, including a really nice: Weird and Wonderful, a list of stories like The Human Salt Cellar and Eating Poo Bread. I can see this page appealing to certain members of my family!
Interestingly, the actual Bible text is printed in landscape instead of portrait, which gives more space on the page and less line breaks in sentences, making for an easier read once you’ve got the hang of turning the book sideways! It also means one person can be reading while another is doodling on the page opposite.
Almost one third of each page is blank or contains a short piece of text giving you a suggested for how you might like to interact with that part of the text. There’s five types of activity:
- Think
- Chat
- Do
- Create
- Watch – with links to videos to watch together – amazing!
I think this is really helpful as it gives us all permission to interact with the Bible in a way which works for us and our family, while giving alternatives to keep us trying new things.
There’s also a nice intro to each Bible book, giving helpful information and a timeline as well as a family blessing to pray together linked with that book!
All in all, I am impressed (and I am hard to impress). If you’ve not bought a family Bible, it is definitely time you did, and this one should be on your list to check out. If you already have one, but aren’t using it much, it would be worth looking at this Bible to see if it would help your family explore the Bible together in new ways.