It’s important to find the right children’s bible for your family.
Zonderkidz has released a new edition of their kid-friendly NIrV translation. This Bible is inspired by the popular Minecraft video game. It features block style cartoon illustrations that children will enjoy. To help get the word out about this book, they sent me a free review copy. The “Minecrafters Bible” is set to release June 7th.
My first thought was, “Ugh, another fad to sell Bibles.”
These things don’t normally bother me. Getting people to open a Bible using different styles of artwork isn’t anything new. In fact, our visual generation often needs this kind of nudge to open any book. As long as it’s the real Bible, having a few devotional pages isn’t a deal breaker in my opinion.
Then I showed it to my boys. They love the game (understatement) and were excited by the concept. So, I gave them a little time to check it out.
Two weeks later I asked Elijah, age 10, what he thought.
It’s just a Bible with Minecraft pictures.
That’s an honest review and says it all. Kids who like Minecraft will be interested, but ultimately it’s just illustrations added to a Bible.
I could imagine using this as gift or even a reward in a kids Sunday School class. One real upside, as pictured above, is the ABCs of salvation. This gives me a little more confidence in sharing this book with non-church kids. It could be a fun outreach tool if priced a little lower.
The illustrations are spread throughout the book at regular intervals, this is becomes a distraction since most of those pictures are nowhere near their place in the text itself. For example:
- “Walls of Jericho” is shown in 1 Kings 9
- “Psalm 23” illustrations appear in 1 Chronicles 16
- “Feeding over 5,000 people” is displayed in Jeremiah 3
- “Jesus is Born” can be found in Psalm 135
- “The Last Supper” in Lamentations 2
The placement of the illustrations is confusing for kids. It shows this was not a “serious” project, merely another way to sell some Bibles before the fad is forgotten.
No mistake, kids will be excited by the idea, but the actual product doesn’t deliver. You can get the hardcover Amazon.com for about $20.
**This is different than a previously published story bible titled, “The Holy Bible for Minecrafters.” That was more a collection of shortened Bible stories along with more extensive illustrations. It did not include a full text of the Bible.