Children's Rainbow Good News Bible

It’s a great first unabridged Bible for any child who’s ready for one (anywhere from 6-11, but this wouldn’t feel out of place on a tween/teen’s shelf either). The ‘Children’s Rainbow Good News Bible’ feels smaller and more lightweight than its predecessor (although, to be fair, I am both bigger and stronger than I was when I was 7), so it’s perfect for smaller hands.

With a contemporary hardback cover, and brand new illustrations for the colour plates inside, the ‘Children’s Rainbow Good News Bible’ is bright and engaging for kids, and I love how key thoughts or questions have been inserted every now and then into the text in a contrasting colour. At the start, similar to its big brother the ‘Youth Bible’, there are helpful sections on ‘What is the Bible?’ and how to read it, followed by a reading trail to help kids understand the big story of the Bible across 12 readings. There’s a very readable introduction to each book, as well as an additional introduction to each set of books, to help children understand the different sections of the bible: history, poetry, wisdom, etc. The back of the book contains short articles on nine big issues (e.g. ‘Who is Jesus?’, ‘Baptism’ and ‘Creation and the Environment’) as well as a well-designed glossary of key words.

Finally, there’s a rundown of different emotions, with a brief Biblical framing and some Bible verses to look up. For me, this was the weakest part of the ‘Children’s Rainbow Good News Bible’. It tended to gloss over difficult emotions with ‘God can overcome ’ which is true, but it’s also true that God is dwelling with us in that emotion. However, this is a minor point which didn’t diminish my appreciation of this excellent revamp which deserves a place on every Christian kid’s bookshelf.