Illustrated Jewish Bible For Children

Rating:
Summary: A good old testament bible story book for Christian families
Review: First off, there is nothing distinctively Jewish about this book
except 1) a six-pointed star on the cover and 2) a foreword by a Rabbi.
However, in looking for bible story books for my child, it is the
best collection of Old Testament bible stories that I have come
across. The stories stick close to the actual bible stories
with little interpretation or fictionalizing. And the photos showing the landscapes and archaological finds are nice. ...

Rating:
Summary: A good old testament bible story book for Christian families
Review: I agree with the other reviews that DK Publishing does deception by putting the Rabbi's name of the cover. On their web page they even go as far as to say that the Rabbi is the author. For this reason, I would NEVER purchase any books by DK Publishing. This is a great book for a Cristian child, but do not buy for a Jewish child.

Rating:
Summary: A worthwhile choice, but read the other reviews too
Review: I listed this as the best Bible for children in my Listmania, "Good Books About Jewish Life." I believe this is so, but I should explain, considering some of the other reviews. Yes, this book is a Christian production, and Jesus is mentioned. The illustrations and sidebars are highly accurate and instructional, and the translation of the Biblical text is technically correct, if not exactly poetic. When my children were little, I read the Biblical passages to them, and used the illustrations for teaching and discussion. Frankly, I just left the references to Jesus out.

When my children were a little older, they browsed the book by themselves and saw the references to Jesus. By then, they knew enough about Jewish-Christian connections to deal with it.

So I would say not to worry. But do preview the book, read the other reviews, and make your own decision. I must say, however, that I do not know of an adequate alternative that is a strictly Jewish production.

Rating:
Summary: Can we all relax a bit?
Review: I teach fifth-grade Sunday school at my (reform) synagogue. Every week I struggle to bring these stories alive. I have a shelf of books to help, but none does a better job of providing clear and beautiful illustrations, and organizing things so I can help the kids make sense of all this.

So, the book is repackaged. Who cares? It helps me do what I need to do: present the Bible to kids in a way that keeps them interested. I think it helps me as I try to launch them into a lifelong relationship with Tanakh.

So, the book mentions Jesus. Good. This way I get to explain Jesus, the historical and cultural phenomenon, to the kids. It makes no sense to try to ignore the dominant culture of the United States, even (and maybe especially) in temple. I think Jewish kids could use some perspective, and I welcome the chance to provide it.

Can we relax a bit? I appreciate the "heads up," but prefer to take a pass on the hysteria.

Rating:
Summary: Not for Jewish children!
Review: I thought about buying this book for my daughter until I read the introduction. The introduction is definitely written from a Christian perspective, and I don't feel that it is appropriate for teaching a Jewish child about the Tanach. Obviously, Jews don't recognize the New Testament, but the introduction states that the Bible is divided into the Old Testament and New Testament. As another reviewer noted, such references to Christian beliefs would be proper for a book on comparative religion, but not in a book purporting to teach the Hebrew Bible to Jewish children. My advice to Jewish parents: look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Not for Jewish children!
Review: The title is misleading. This is not a bible book for Jewish children. It is a book for use with children and retells and illustrates many Old Testament (the Jewish bible) stories. It includes some brief sentences, in the beginning, that distinguish the Old Testament from the New Testament. For a Jewish child, being raised in a Jewish home, I would look elsewhere. But for a child being raised in an interfaith home this book could be a very useful reference. It tells and illustrates Old Testament stories in a non-sectarian way, but could also be used to discuss Christianity when a child asks about the differences. In a Christian home the book presents a good children's reference to the old Testament stories, and a basis for discussion of where Christianity departs.

A number of the illustrations are reproductions of classic works of art, and some of them would not be the first, or even the last , choice in a Jewish home. There is a reproduction of a painting of the circumcision of the baby Jesus. Not clear why this actually needs to be illustrated at all, and certainly no Jewsih oriented reason to use Jesus as the example. But in an interfaith or Christian home it might be useful to point out that Jesus and his family were Jewish and followed Jewish teachings. There are some illustrations of heavenly figures, apparently with halos. Not a Jewish way of illustrating things, but probably one that would be overlooked by children.

This isn't a friendly, readable book. Most children would get bored by the text and by the way it is laid out, with words and illustrations jammed on a page. But as a reference to refer to when a question arises or a point needs to be made, the text and the illustrations could be very useful aids to a discussion.

Too bad, as other reviewers have pointed out, that it does say "there was day and night", rather than the way the bible actually says "there was night and there was day" since this is such a common question and such an obvious point. But that isn't a show-stopper.

Rating:
Summary: A useful reference book
Review: The title is misleading. This is not a bible book for Jewish children. It is a book for use with children and retells and illustrates many Old Testament (the Jewish bible) stories. It includes some brief sentences, in the beginning, that distinguish the Old Testament from the New Testament. For a Jewish child, being raised in a Jewish home, I would look elsewhere. But for a child being raised in an interfaith home this book could be a very useful reference. It tells and illustrates Old Testament stories in a non-sectarian way, but could also be used to discuss Christianity when a child asks about the differences. In a Christian home the book presents a good children's reference to the old Testament stories, and a basis for discussion of where Christianity departs.

A number of the illustrations are reproductions of classic works of art, and some of them would not be the first, or even the last , choice in a Jewish home. There is a reproduction of a painting of the circumcision of the baby Jesus. Not clear why this actually needs to be illustrated at all, and certainly no Jewsih oriented reason to use Jesus as the example. But in an interfaith or Christian home it might be useful to point out that Jesus and his family were Jewish and followed Jewish teachings. There are some illustrations of heavenly figures, apparently with halos. Not a Jewish way of illustrating things, but probably one that would be overlooked by children.

This isn't a friendly, readable book. Most children would get bored by the text and by the way it is laid out, with words and illustrations jammed on a page. But as a reference to refer to when a question arises or a point needs to be made, the text and the illustrations could be very useful aids to a discussion.

Too bad, as other reviewers have pointed out, that it does say "there was day and night", rather than the way the bible actually says "there was night and there was day" since this is such a common question and such an obvious point. But that isn't a show-stopper.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for both Jewish and non-Jewish kids
Review: This book contains beautiful retellings of stories from the Hebrew bible, with photos of archaeological objects that match the stories and other relevant illustrations and maps on the margins on each page. This is one of the favorite books at my kids' Hebrew Day School library. The only references to Jesus in the book are in the introduction, which states that these are the stories that Jesus would have read (undeniably true, unless you think Jesus was fictional), and that Christians have two Bibles, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and the stories in the New Testament concern Jesus (also undeniably true). Why anyone would think that the book or the book title is "misleading" in some way because of these innocuous references is unclear. Highly recommended for all kids.