Archbishop Desmond TutuChildren of God Storybook Bible

Thoughtfully currated and beautifully illustrated, this children's Bible reflects the diversity and beauty of Creation while sharing encouraging Bible narratives.

I had to download the audio version because I love it so much to go with this book. The narrator is fantastic and the book is very engaging! My 9 year old has loved it for years!

This is, quite simply, a lovely book. Desmond Tutu has gone straight to God's heart in these beautiful stories. It makes a wonderful read-aloud and was written by a true storyteller. The illustrations--in many styles, featuring cultures from around the world--have prompted many conversations in my house--deeper conversations than we usually get to with other children's Bible books, about what God looks like, what Jesus looked like, what his followers might have looked like, and about how other cultures may interpret the stories of God.Unlike some other children's Bibles, the God and Jesus portrayed in this book is a God I want my children to know. Main messages:-His heart for us is good and kind, we are pursued and known, and we are loved regardless of performance.-Faith shouldn't just be a head knowledge, but a heart knowledge that inspires action.Example: the loaves and fishes story tells us that God wants to provide for us, AND that we can provide for the world.Each story ends with a prayer that is something I genuinely want to pray for and with my children.My children wanted me to read story after story.I am so thankful for this book.

I purchased this book because the cover was of a brown-skinned Jesus, something very important to me as I don’t want my children to internalize a white Anglo-Saxon version of Jesus. What I didn’t realize is that each story included is illustrated by a different artist - so the same character (like Abraham or Jesus) is depicted in a different way, sometimes with varying skin tones or hair color or etc. But this was even better, ultimately, than a book with one artist’s vision, as it helped my 3&5 year old understand that no one knows what these people looked like for sure. It’s been a good conversation that has led into a bit of ancient human history (we all came from Africa, black and brown skinned people were the norm, then white skin developed later). Overall a great choice to help with that awareness! I also love how the stories are written out and chosen as they are very appropriate for young audiences. I don’t feel that all Bible stories are appropriate or understandable to the very young. Each story is followed by a simple and understandable prayer related to the story, such as one for the Creation that thanks God for the earth and reminds us that we are to care for it. This Bible book sits alongside the Jesus Storybook Bible and some individual books by Katherine Sully, and I’m quite pleased with the selection for my preschoolers.

I often recommend children's Bible storybooks to give children and adults a quick overview of the Bible. However, I am very critical of such storybooks because the beliefs of the author and their interpretations of Scripture color and shape the stories.I first encountered "Children of God Storybook Bible" at a school book fair. The fact that it was authored by Archbishop Desmond Tutu immediately attracted my attention. He is a Christian, an Anglican, and more importantly, he grew up in South Africa under Apartheid. With Nelson Mandela he was a major proponent of non-violence in the black struggle for equality. If anyone has earned the right to interpret Sacred Scripture as one of "God's faithful little ones", Archbishop Desmond Tutu has. The stories are faithfully, sensitively, and beautifully written, touching heart and mind with its compassion and imaginative expression. Prayer concludes each sharing showing how this story impacts us today. In recognition of the equality of all God's children, Archbishop Tutu asked artists from all over the world to share their insights by illustrating a few stories. Bible heroes and heroines dance across the pages in exquisite painting to symbolic drawings, Heroes and heroines reflect the nationality of their artists, from Irish to African, from American to Asian. The "Children of God Storybook Bible" is one of my favorite books and I highly recommend it.

This edition of Children of God Storybook was a delightful surprise - it includes CD'S with Archbishop Tutu reading the stories. The children for whom the book was a gift were so delighted with the book, and especially the CD'S - they wanted to take them to their Sunday School so everyone could listen to his delightful voice.The two older children are avid readers, the youngest is 2 years old. To give the older children some understanding of Archbishop Tutu's life, ministry, and Umbuntu theology I suggested they watch the Craig Ferguson interview with the Archbishop on YouTube. The interview is one of the best Ferguson did, in my opinion. The Archbishop speaks simply, and with great delight. I wanted the children to have the benefit of a "visual" to go with the delightful voice that may sound like he knows no pain or hardship. The children found the interview online, and watched it with their parents. I suggest you do the same.The book is beautifully illustrated, and each story is two or three pages long. It would make a very special gift for a Baptism, for a God-child or special children in your life. It is a wonderful introduction to stories of faith from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament.

Desmond Tutu's Storybook bible tells the familiar stories of the bible with beautiful images of characters with a variety of skin tones and features in words accessible to children. Unlike many Children's Bibles, the goal is to share the stories of the bible, rather than convey any specific political/cultural agenda. It doesn't condescend or feel cringy, but rather reminds us that God loves us and shares the stories of the Christian tradition.

I bought this book for my god son and it was important that he not begin this journey as so many children have for many generations, with the false idea that Christianity is a 'white' religion. The bible could not be clearer concerning the location and racial demographic of the participants in this most famous of stories and yet...racism has won the day. It was difficult finding a book written by supposed Christians that showed people of all races being a part of this story - very difficult. This book is a valiant effort led by Bishop Tutu but it does not go far enough. Every depiction of Christ but one shows a white european fitting the traditional images which have already been so unkindly thrust upon us. The majority of the artists are from white european cultures and while some have created wonderful illustrations which really embrace the vision of heaven given to the apostle John, the rest have done the same old thing.I was not able to see enough of the book before purchasing and was disappointed when it arrived but not enough to hold it back. I have given it to the child it was intended for because i know his family will make up for the shortfalls but they shouldn't have to. It is a plain and simple fact that Jesus did not inhabit the body of a white man during his time on Earth, to keep depicting him in this way is racist because of the agenda behind it. To give children this false impression is to allow this discrimination to continue and it makes God complicit in our lies. As Christians if we cannot love and embrace Jesus with brown skin up to the darkest shade, then we don't love him at all and certainly have no business calling ourselves Christians.

The most lovely bible story book around!I wanted a bible story book in which Jesus and other characters were actually ethnically correct (ie not white) and that didn’t pick the problematic stories that scatter in the Bible.This book didn’t disappoint! I would even suggest it to other faiths or Atheists as it’s so lovely and it is written with the principle of Jesus - love. Every story comes back to love. To loving your neighbour, to loving the less fortunate and to being a kind person.It’s one of those books that will be dog eared and thoroughly read over the years and that your children and you will honestly treasure. The stories will never get old and Desmond Tutu has employed the most amazing illustrators in order to keep even the most fidget prone child from being anything other than entranced.

I am a catechesis in our Parish and we use this book for the children. Its beautifully written and each bible story is illustrated in full colour by different artists so there are many styles running through the book. The children love it and it is a great way to introduce them to Bible stories.

This is a fabulous book. Desmond Tutu - a most remarkable man - has made every single Bible story simple and clear, each carrying the message that God is love. It is both beautifully written and beautifully illustrated. I can't think of better book for a child to have hanging round their bedroom as they grow up. Even where a family is uncertain about faith issues, this book will give any child a sense of the goodness and rightness of the world into which they have been born. That is quite a gift. I bought this book to send out to a poor church in Africa, because the illustrations feature people of all sorts of ethnicity. It felt like exactly the right book for the poorest child in Uganda. It also feels like the right book for the richest child in the UK.

This is my favourite children's Bible - a view shared by my 2 and 3/4 year old. He has sometimes complained if I tried to read another version!Most stories are told in a double spread so they are short enough for young children, although I think they are aimed older. The stories are nicely told, neither dragging or feeling curtailed, and it's a book I enjoy reading (not the case with all Children's Bibles I've tried). The illustrations are good - there are lots of different illustrators, so even if you don't like some pictures you will probably like others. The styles of illustrations vary, as do the ethnicities of those depicted, which I also think is a real strength of this book.