The Picture Bible Review

I read this when I was young, in it’s original B&W, 6-volume paperback incarnation that first appeared in 1973. A couple years ago I picked up this single-volume, colorized, hardcover edition and read it to my three kids. Now I’m reading it to them again.

I was raised as a hardcore Conservative Evangelical. I left Christianity in my 20s, but I want my kids to be aware of what a huge impact the Bible has had and still has on our culture. I teach them to respect that different people believe different things, and to believe what they think is true. Also, all of our relatives on my side are still hardcore conservative evangelicals, and I want my kids to understand their perspective.

This Picture Bible has been great for that purpose. It’s dramatic and engaging for young children. The frequent end-of-chapter cliff-hangers do a lot to keep them interested.

Beyond that, for myself, I’ve found it helpful for getting a better grasp of the general sweep of OT history. Previously I’d known stories out of context with each other, and hadn’t known as well how they fit together.

As good as it is, it could be better. When reading it to my kids for the first time, I was astonished to discover that the story of Jonah and the Whale merited only 1/4 of a page, in a 3-page section covering the last 12 books of the OT that gives each book one little picture and a short summary. Giving Johah such short shrift seems a surprising omission given that few Bible stories are more tailor-made for dramatic visual storytelling, and that it’s message is so readily understood by children. Fortunately there are a couple of excellent picture books of the story; my kids liked “Jonah and the Whale (and the Worm)” by Jean Marzollo best; in fact they love it.

Also, there is a lot of repetitive editorializing that gets tedious. And, addressing God as “thee” is anachronistic and silly — if it’s intended to appease KJV ideologues, that demographic probably considers this book Satanic anyway.

There have been a lot of comments here about its being bowdlerized — sexual and violent content watered down or omitted to make it appropriate for kids. Of course I approve of that in general; the Bible certainly contains some plot points that 5 year olds just aren’t ready for. Even everyday life in OT times is in some ways shocking by modern standards. It takes some maturity to really understand that life was a lot different back then.

However, some of the substitutions are strange and imply weirdly different motivations to characters than in the Bible. It would have been better to just omit the motivations. For example, the sodomite mob being concerned that Lot’s guests “look as if they’ll cause trouble” and wanting to “run them out of town”. It would have been better to depict them as a mean mob with no particular motivation other than meanness itself.

Regarding racially insensitive stereotyped characters, these images were first published in 1973 (the 1978 copyright refers to the colorized images in the single-volume book). Given the delays in 1970s publishing, that means the artist was probably working at least as early as 1972. Given the quantity of images, I’d guess the artist may have started as early as 1970 or 71. The images are a product of their time. We can’t expect illustrations made 45 years ago to be as racially sensitive as illustrations made today would be.

Regarding the comments here about the printing quality, I’m not sure if mine is the same as the latest; the cover shows Moses holding up the 10 commandments right before throwing them down, but the border area is blue rather than red. Anyway, mine has sewn signatures which are holding up very well, but the hinges were very weak and soon tore right through from the kids’ handling. I taped it up with clear strapping tape but it isn’t pretty. Given that the publisher paid for real sewn-signature binding, it’s too bad they didn’t also spring for real cloth hinges behind the endpapers. My advice, assuming your copy will be handled by children, is to preemptively tape the hinges (on the inside of the book) with strong tape. The illustrations in mine are all quite bright and clear; not faded as per some reports here.

I hadn’t heard of the Action Bible until reading these reviews. It sounds like it may be more dramatic but with less variety in characterization. I’ll have to try get one and find out for myself.

Of course this Picture Bible is no substitute for an actual Bible. But for getting young children interested in the Bible and the stories in it, it’s excellent.