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September 19, 2017

"A better children's bible" from Aleteia: a review of The Catholic Children's Bible

The Catholic Children's Bible, First Edition (paperback)

Jennifer Fabrizi shares…

"…I wanted a Catholic Bible for my Catholic children.

My goal was to share at least part of the day’s Mass readings with my kids in language that is easy to read and understand. The Catholic Children’s Bible published by St. Mary’s Press is an excellent choice for doing just that. It combines the complete text of the Good News Translation Catholic Edition with 125 two-page spreads that provide deeper examinations of key passages. Each brightly illustrated spread is organized into four sections: a summary of the passage itself, “Understand it!” (an explanation of the passage), “Live it!” (implications of the passage), and “Tell it!” (a wordless comic strip that serves as a prompt to retell the story).

This Bible has several useful appendices: timelines, maps, and more. These  added tools are an excellent complement to the Scripture, and the work done in these supplements by authors Sr. Mary Kathleen Glavich and Brian Singer-Towns is impressive.

My kids and I find this Bible very easy to read. The Good News Translation is a dynamic equivalence translation, meaning it is a translation from the Greek and Hebrew, not a paraphrase of an English translation, but has a focus on preserving the meaning of the original text rather than on maintaining the grammar and word order of the original. The readability extends beyond the text itself to the layout. The Scripture itself is printed in a large, cheery font without illustrations or distracting text boxes. There is only a small, discreet leaf at the beginning and end of a paragraph to indicate when an extended examination of the passage will follow. As a teacher, catechist, and parent, I’d estimate that an average 4th or 5th grade student could read it without difficulty… "

 

Read the full review at Aleteia >