Zonderkidz: The Beginner's Bible, new edition {Product Review}

I remember the year my little brother received The Beginner's Bible when he was a little boy. It was so exciting to go through the stories, and he LOVED acting them out. We read it sooooo many times, he had passages memorized! When my oldest was born, my parents gifted us with that Bible for us to read to him. He too LOVED it, and cherished being able to read it by himself when he was old enough. This past year, that same Bible--now in our family for 25 years was passed to my youngest son and he too began reading it all by himself. As soon as I was told I had a chance to review a NEW edition of The Beginner's Bible by Zonderkidz, I leaped at the chance to get it and hoped the new edition still had the wonderful traits of the one we had been passing through the family.

Product Information

The Beginner's Bible by Zonderkidz is a MUCH loved picture bible recommended for ages 6 and under. The new edition of this beloved Bible has updated 3D artwork, new stories (over 90!), and new text. The text is written with beginning readers in mind, and features a LOT of sight words and easy to phonetically sound out words. There are also online coloring sheets, apps, games, and more that coordinate with the new edition of this Bible--perfect for letting your children or students enjoy their favorite bible stories even more! This new edition is affordable--retailing for just $16.99 at most retailers.

Our Thoughts on This Product

The first thing I noticed about the bible, was that it had VIBRANT colors and still featured many of the same cover characters our beloved classic edition did. In fact, the boys immediately recognized that it was a newer version of their now worn out edition. Both boys--even though Little Britches is well beyond the age it was designed for--eagerly wanted to get their hands on it. 
I have enjoyed seeing my youngest find joy inside the covers of this version of the bible. He LOVES the bright colorful photos and most important, that he can easily read the text. He enjoys that the words are either recognizable or easy to sound out. Baby Britches takes this bible to church with him each week, and at any given time during the service, I can find him with it open on his lap reading silently to himself. It really makes me happy when I see that...gives me warm fuzzies.
This past week, he has asked if he can have it during meals--we are book friendly family and everyone is allowed to read during lunch if they want. I loved watching him read while he ate his meal! Bible study is always welcome!

Do you have the older edition? If so, I'm sure you want to know what the difference is. That was what my main question was too. Here are a few pictures to show some differences:
First, the table of contents is much easier to navigate. The stories are clearly marked. They also have some new titles--and also some of the stories have been switched out.

Classic Edition

New Edition

 You would also find some of the text reads different. Here are some pictures of photos of the same story in each edition. You can really see how the illustrations have been changed to the brighter 3D version. 

 Because I really wanted to share more about how these two versions compare, I have created a video review for you--I hope it will help you get a feel for this product. 
(I apologize for the cuts to and away--I was all by myself and my editing program wasn't working properly!)
Now, before I quit, i do want to share a couple of the cons I have with this bible. For me, one downside of children's bibles is that too many of them don't quite line up with our family's doctrinal beliefs. This one has elements of that present. For instance, there are several mentions of heaven as an eternal resting place, a few of the men (some non-Nazarite vow keeping ones) have long hair, photos of angels with wings, the age of Jesus in the beginning of His story (has Christmas elements to the story--and I don't celebrate Christmas), the age of David in the battle with Goliath (he should be more of a teenager), and a few other odd ball things. It truly is what you would expect in just about any contemporary children's illustrated bible. BUT if you don't have issues with these things, then it won't be a problem! I will add, that I was pleased to see the FULL and biblically correct 10 commandments listed. Sometimes children's bibles don't get that accurate. Now in regards to the cons, they are not enough for me to not use this bible. I am not above making text changes if there is something that doesn't completely match the Bible. This version's error is mostly in the illustrations, NOT the text. And really it DOES do better than many of the children's bibles available.
In short--I would definitely recommend this children's bible. It is a great book for beginning readers. The illustrations are vibrant, the text is age appropriate, and there are many beloved children's stories included. I know that we will plan on getting another 25 years out of this new edition as we enjoy it's treasures!

Want to Know More?

You can see how much we loved The Beginner's Bible from Zonderkidz--but why not hop over and see what other families in the review crew thought as well? Make sure you connect with Zonderkidz via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest for more news! *** If you have any questions, make sure you tune in for my LIVE review of this product on Thursday, January 5, 2016 at 1pm EST over on my Facebook Page!