1. If I retell a Bible story in my own words, is it still the Bible?
This is the question that often comes to my mind when I consider the issue of children’s Bibles. Most children’s Bibles and “Story Bibles" for children involve some level of paraphrasing of the original text. Usually, this paraphrasing is loose enough to be called more appropriately, “retelling." What are we to think of this? Is it good? Is it dangerous? The answer to both of those questions is, “Yes." The “retelling" of a Bible story is, at best, a sincere attempt to communicate the Bible’s message to minds less-developed in language. Not to bring the Bible to children in language they can understand is, arguably, not to bring the Bible to them at all. But this means that children’s Bibles that retell the stories do more than just bring the text to children – they teach the story. They interpret; they theologize (whether self-consciously or not); they apply.
The best retelling of a Biblical story is not unlike a good sermon. It correctly understands the part of Scripture it is teaching. It correctly places the message of that story in the whole message and theology of the Bible. It leads children to Him to whom all the Scriptures testify – it points to Jesus. Unfortunately, many children’s Bibles have tended to show little effort to hear what a given text is actually teaching, little attention to how that text contributes to the Bible’s great redemption story, little attention to how it shows us Christ. It is much easier, and much more common, to simply draw moral lessons from good and bad examples in the behavior of Bible characters.
As with sermons, there are other factors that contribute to quality; for a sermon, factors such as style of delivery, communication techniques, etc.; for children’s Bible stories, out-loud readability, quality of illustrations, etc. But we encourage you to consider first how faithful a children’s Bible story is to the message of the Bible. The way young children are taught the Bible will train them, correctly or incorrectly, how to read and understand the Bible when they are older.
- Jim Weidenaar, Westminster Bookstore
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2. Why do some children's books have the disclaimer, "This book contains cartoon or artistic images of Jesus."
There are many people in our constituency who, in a sincere effort to honor the second commandment, refrain from the use of any kind of drawings or pictures of Jesus, even if not intended for a worship context (cf. Westminster Larger Catechism Q. and A. 109). Out of respect for those who take this position, we have sought to add a note to books in our children's category which have drawings or depictions of Jesus so that they can factor that into their internet buying decisions, as they would if they could inspect the books physically.
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3. How do you choose what children’s books to carry?
We take our choice of children’s books very seriously. There are many more children’s books we consider and reject than there are ones we actually decide to carry in our store. This is partly a function of who we are personally; collectively, we as staff of wtsbooks are parents, educators, systematic theologians, and exegetes. These various interests and roles have all contributed to a desire to find children’s books that are a “cut above" the rest. Here are some of the beliefs and values that guide our choices of children’s books:
We believe that books play a significant role in children’s most important relationships, with . . .
1) . . . God. We have God’s saving revelation of himself in a written form. The highest purpose for reading is to know God through the Scriptures.
Browse children’s Bibles and Bible stories →
2) . . . Their parents. The Bible makes clear that the parent-child relationship is one of the most significant in this created order, and one of the primary means God uses to produce “Godly offspring" (Mal. 2:15). Children’s books can be a tremendous help to parents in their responsibility to “bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4).
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We want children to read about . . .
1) . . . God’s saving revelation. This includes the Bible, Bible paraphrases for children (i.e. “Children’s Bibles"), books that summarize the gospel, and books that tell individual stories from the Bible.
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2) . . . Stories of God’s people. This includes church history and biographies.
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2) . . . Life in God’s world. This includes every other topic you can imagine for children’s books, from learning colors and animal names to fiction and novels. The key is that we look for books that help children think rightly about all things as being part of God’s world, as only truly known as part of a Christian worldview.
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We value children’s books that . . .
1) . . . Are exegetically and theologically faithful. Just because a book is directed to a child’s mind does not mean sound principles for the interpretation and exposition of God’s Word do not apply. For instance, it is rare to find Christian children’s literature that does not treat Bible stories like isolated moral lessons. Such an approach does worse than just fail to make explicit the gospel significance of every part of God’s Word, it in fact teaches children a false gospel that is no gospel at all, making this “religion" look like any religious system dominated by its lists of good and bad behaviors. We look for children’s books that interpret Scripture faithfully to Scripture’s own unifying and consistent message – the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have learned to describe this as redemptive-historical, Christ-centered interpretation.
2) . . . Done well. We look for books that are written and illustrated well.
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- Jim Weidenaar, Westminster Bookstore
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4. Music
One of the most effective ways for children to memorize anything is to sing it. Most parents delight in hearing their young children sing, and they know how quickly children learn songs.
We remember this in making our children’s music selections; we listen for lyrics which rehearse actual Scripture verses, or more general truths from God’s Word. We look for music that is theologically self-conscious – in other words, the musicians understand their role as teachers, not just entertainers, and are intentional about the theological truths they express in their songs. We expect parents and/or teachers will play music for children in the car, around the house or at down times in the classroom. This time can be both productive and enjoyable as children learn God’s truth.
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5. Explanation of our "Books by Age" categories.
We strongly encourage parents or other adults to continue to read aloud to their children even after they can read independently. We have categorized these titles (through Middle Elementary) under the assumption that adults will be reading these books to or with their children. While advanced readers may be able to read titles from the corresponding category independently, some concepts may be difficult for them to understand without an adult’s help. For example, a child may be able to read the words in the Narnia series books before he or she is capable of comprehending the underlying meaning, and so would benefit most from these books if read alongside a parent.
Infants and Toddlers (birth-2) Very young children enjoy read-aloud stories that are short and have colorful illustrations.
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Preschoolers (3) Most three-year-olds are able to sit and listen to longer stories. They can start to memorize children’s catechism questions and answers, and they will be growing in their ability to answer questions about what is read to them.
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Emergent Readers (4-5) Most four-and-five year-olds are able to memorize short picture books and “read" them aloud. (This is an appropriate developmental stage for emergent readers!) Some are learning to match sounds to letter symbols and are beginning to read. Some books in this category are appropriate for children this age to memorize, or even read independently.
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Early Elementary (6-7) Six and seven-year-olds are learning to read longer and more complex text independently. They still enjoy read-aloud stories, and their lengthening attention spans may respond positively to hearing chapter books read aloud.
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Middle Elementary (8-9) Children in the middle elementary years often enjoy reading chapter books on their own, but may still appreciate hearing longer picture books or novels read aloud.
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Upper Elementary (10-12) Most older children can read completely independently. We expect the books in this category to be interesting and understandable to these readers. However, children this age still benefit greatly from discussing their reading with parents.
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Teens (13-16) Younger teens may be ready to read adult material, yet we have selected books for this category which we hope will appeal especially to readers this age, and which will avoid topics parents may want to wait until the later teen years to raise in depth, like dating.
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- Janice Mason, Westminster Bookstore (M.A. in Biblical Counseling (WTS), Ed.M. in Human Development & Psychology (Harvard), B.Ed. in Elementary Education, B.A.Sc. in Child Studies)
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4. Why do we carry classic children's literature?
When we sought recommendations from our faculty for their favorite Christian children's books, the list we ended up with surprised us with its breadth. The list spanned all the way from books based on the Westminster Catechism to classic children's literature. On the basis of these recommendations, we decided to start a "Classic Children's Literature" section. With many of their recommendations, our professors often made reference to the ways that many of these titles, though not "Christian," powerfully depict some aspect of the Christian worldview. This, of course, assumes well-informed and careful parental participation.
All of these books, of course, show an excellence in their use of language and art. To reflect their classic nature, we have tried to select editions that are "gift quality."
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