Book Review: The Biggest Story Bible Storybook

Cut to the chase: The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung (not to be confused with his previous book, The Biggest Story ¹) is my new go-to children’s story Bible recommendation for family devotions.

Author: Kevin DeYoung is pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, NC and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He excels at communicating big theological ideas using simple but compelling language. Kevin and his wife Trisha have nine children.

What I Like About It

Gospel-centered

This book is not just a collection of Bible stories with good morals (as many other Bible story books have been). Instead, it connects the individual stories to the overarching plan of redemption, which centers on Christ and His kingdom. This is vital for children, who need to be taught not just “how to be good little boys and girls” but who Jesus is and how to be saved. (It is vital for the rest of us too!)

Not overly psychologized

My previous go-to storybook Bible, The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones is great at being gospel-centered. I love how it captures the significance of Old Testament imagery and shows how the Old Testament points to Jesus. However, I sometimes found myself cringing at the way the book describes God’s love for the world.

For instance, Lloyd-Jones repeated the mantra that no matter how bad people were, God couldn’t stop loving them. However, this statement seems to imply that God loves us because we are lovely when the Bible says the exact opposite (Rom 5:7–8). Also, it portrays God as somehow captive to His emotions, which is bad theology. Also, Lloyd-Jones presents God’s love for the world as unconditional. Taken to its logical conclusion, this would imply that all people are saved in the end, but the Bible teaches that many people will end up in hell (Mat 7:13–14).

These types of errors are common in Christian books for children. The authors would probably argue that from a developmental standpoint, children cannot understand concepts like God’s wrath against sin.² Of course, we should be very gentle when explaining God’s wrath to children, and we should absolutely emphasize His love. However, it is possible to do so while still giving proper biblical weight to God’s holiness, justice, sovereignty, and wrath. DeYoung maintains this balance in an age-appropriate manner.

Beautiful illustrations

Anyone who has read books to their children knows that the pictures matter to kids. You will be happy to learn that the pictures in The Biggest Story Bible Storybook are large, colorful, and imaginative. However, they are still mostly accurate (not picturing Zaccheus as 3 ft. tall or Goliath as 20 ft., for instance). This is important, since children tend to take things very literally.

One issue I had with DeYoung’s first children’s book, The Biggest Story, was that the pictures are so abstract and imaginative that sometimes, it is difficult to understand how the picture and story relate to each other! I was happy to see this issue was corrected in The Biggest Story Bible Storybook.

Well-organized and thorough

The book is broken down into 5 parts: “The Pentateuch,” “History,” “Poetry,” “The Prophets,” “The Gospels,” “Acts and Epistles,” and “Revelation.” Each part begins with a brief, one-page introduction to that portion of Scripture followed by several chapters of content. I love that DeYoung includes chapters on books such as Proverbs, Amos, and Zechariah, which are often omitted from children’s story Bibles. I also appreciate that each chapter includes a Scripture reading under the heading so that you can read the passage along with the story if you so choose (recommended for older children). There are 104 chapters, which breaks down into 2 chapters per week for 52 weeks if you want to stretch the content out for that long.

Quality writing

An important trait in children’s books that is often overlooked is the writing quality. Do the phrases flow off the reader’s tongue? Are the metaphors picturesque? Does the author avoid using too many words? Is it witty? The Biggest Story Bible Storybook checks all of these boxes.

In his opening “Note to Parents,” DeYoung asks the following. “Have you ever noticed that the best children’s movies are beloved by adults as well? Or that the best children’s books are also the ones parents love to read?” He goes on to say, “That’s no coincidence. When the best stories are told for children—in their idiom and at their level—they are still captivating for adults. They teach children and adults at the same time. I’d love for this book to do the same.” I think it’s safe to say that The Biggest Story Bible Storybook accomplishes this goal. I found it a joy to read to my children, and I am not the only adult I know who also enjoyed it.

Closing Thoughts

I hope that you do family devotions with your children. (If you don’t, check out this article of mine or this one by Zach Sparkman.) If you’re looking for some new content to cover in family devotions and you have young children, I couldn’t recommend The Biggest Story Bible Storybook by Kevin DeYoung more highly.