Treasury of Bible Stories

My 9 year old loves this book and didn't put it down for 2 days.

This beautifully illustrated book with stories from the bible depicts peoples from these lands in lovely shades of browns and geometric shapes that create a range of emotion and action. Some of the favorite heroes and heroines and their stories are shared in a shorter version for easy reading and understanding.In addition to these stories there are short snippets that explain the domestication of animals, rainbows, human languages, the meaning of names, heroes and more. The back pages share maps of the land during biblical times and a timeline of early civilizations. There are also biographies of the people of the bible for a closer look of the roles they played.Families can sit together and read these amazing stories that provide insight and hope. Young readers can flip through the pages to find their favorite characters and get to know them. This guide is a perfect way to introduce children and even adults to the bible and its stories.

Christina Balit is such a talented artist and I have purchased several books because of her stunning illustrations. All the humans in her illustration have beautiful faces. For this book, I am sure she was told how to portray Adam and Eve. Adam had a clueless expression on his face. Why are the first humans shown to be so unattractive and not very bright? They were in the presence of God daily and made in His image. In the effort to present first humans historically (based on what we currently know, Iraq and/or Africa), While I am of Mexican descent, I am insulted by the way first humans are illustrated. I would imagine African Americans would be more so. One reviewer stated this. I returned the book based on this and didn't bother reviewing the whole book because I don't believe it is even biblical. Just a money-maker topic. I don't blame Christina Balit for this.

These are retellings of Biblical stories from Genesis to Daniel as interpreted by the author, and reimagined with embellishments and dialogue. Starting with Creation, this book includes 28 Old Testament stories, ending with Daniel in the Lion's Den. Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Samson, Elijah, Job, Jonah, David, Solomon, Esther, and Ruth are all included with their struggles and failures, and the power of God in their lives.The writing can be flowery at times, and the author takes a few little liberties with the history. However, there are also some really wonderful cultural and historical additions that enhance the stories as the reader learns about ancient cultures. I wouldn't trust this as a source of my religious belief, but it is an enjoyable imagining of what Biblical times could have been like.Each story has a special section that gives factoids about ancient civilizations, findings from archaeological digs, old rivers and maps, flora and fauna from ancient times, and references to Biblical people in other contemporary writings.At the back of the book, there is a beautiful map of Palestine in ancient times, as well as a timeline of early civilizations, and a glossary of all the people mentioned in the Bible stories.The illustrations are gorgeous and colorful! There are people of many different ethnicities depicted as the main Bible characters. For instance, Adam and Eve have dark skin, but Noah's skin color is lighter, while Joseph has a brown skin color. This is consistent with the variety of appearance that would have been present in early peoples.I would recommend this to children and teens ages 10-16.Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.

Most of this book is written from a secular humanistic perspective. God is basically mythological and the book is essentially trying to explain the myth with modern techniques of liberal academies bent on distorting Biblical faith. Point is this is NOT a book that accurately portrays the Bible or the history written, but what some modern people think of the past.Also, the picture is of Adam and Eve??? I’m black, and that is a horrible portrayal of a black woman, it looks like two black men. I appreciate the push for cultural diversity here, but come on!

The book is BEAUTIFUL. I really love the pictures.The ways it’s written…I don’t love it. There are so many interpretations within the language that I had to keep stopping to explain to my children how we believe just a little differently (or a lot differently) in our religion. I’m pretty used to that, with most non-denominational children's bibles, but this one was almost constant.

Recently got this from the library and it is written by someone who clearly does not believe the biblical account of these stories. Got it for the nice illustrations but it includes elements of evolution and is not written for anyone who believes the Bible to be God’s revealed word. Unfortunately these type of books are the kind that libraries love to purchase but don’t wind up in Christian homes because of their anti-Christian underpinnings.

I like everything about this book. The writing is excellent. The illustrations are brilliant. I believe that every home should have this book--whether the home is a Christian home or not. I own all of the mythology books in this series, and I do not embrace any of the other of Napoli's books of myth, on the basis of a religious conviction. If you do not accept the tales in Napoli's Bible Stories, from a religious standpoint, feast on them as mythology. Much of the literature of the world stems from mythology, and at the very least Napoli's Bible Stories is a book of mythology, at its best.

Beautifully written and illustrations are truly magical .. painted by a very talented Lady .