Also by this author: The Prisoners, the Earthquake, and the Midnight Song, The Prisoners, the Earthquake, and the Midnight Song Board Book: A True Story about How God Uses People to Save People, The Prisoners, the Earthquake, and the Midnight Song Coloring and Activity Book
Published by Zonderkidz on February 14, 2023
Genres: Children's, Bible Stories
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Get out your coloring tools and pencils! You can draw and doodle along to this fun and interactive illustrated Bible storybook that takes children ages 6-12 through 60 stories from the Old and New Testaments.
In the My Epic Doodletastic Bible Storybook, kids will love following the arrows zipping across the pages, pausing to read the callout boxes with jokes and questions and using their creativity to color in the line-drawn illustrations. The unique format will also guide them through the Bible, helping readers see the parallels and links within the stories, all while drawing attention to wider biblical themes and showing how everything is connected—and that God is the author of it all.
My Epic Doodletastic Bible Storybook is perfect for:
read-aloud, emergent and independent readers, as well as reluctant readers
children who love to express their creativity through art
Easter baskets and stocking stuffers
Sunday school classes, homeschool lessons, road trips, and a quiet activity during church services
With over 250 pages and 60 Bible stories that cover Genesis to Revelation, My Epic Doodletastic Bible Storybook includes all your favorite biblical characters as well as important stories and people that may be less familiar. Give your kids the opportunity to engage with stories from the Bible in a whole new way with My Epic Doodletastic Bible Storybook!
This book shares different Bible stories in chronological order, from Genesis to Revelation. Every page has multiple things to color, and this will be fun for a variety of ages. The publisher is recommending this for kids ages six to twelve, but this is for anybody who likes to color. The pages are reasonably thick, and although markers will bleed through, this is appropriate for colored pencils, crayons, and some pens. The cartoon line drawings from Gareth Williams are cute and engaging, and they highlight key characters, props, and themes from the stories.
The stories themselves are somewhat difficult to read because of the font choice, the emphasis on different words, and the many doodles surrounding them, but I read them all regardless. You have to really concentrate to read these, but if someone is just reading one story at a time, it won’t be as much of a strain. I wish that the font was more readable because the story adaptations are great. Each story is about four pages long, and Bob Hartman tells them in an engaging, kid-friendly style, highlighting dramatic tension and using simplified language.
Hartman sanitizes sexual elements of some stories, like by saying that Potiphar’s wife wanted to kiss Joseph and spend time with him, but he did not sanitize physical violence, wartime realities, or details about people being put to death. None of the violence is illustrated, but I was somewhat surprised by some of the details included. I’m not saying that it’s wrong, since it’s all in the Bible, but if parents intend for their kids to read this book and not just color in it, they should know that this storybook includes details that many other children’s books about the Bible would skip over or be less direct with.
My Epic, Doodletastic Bible Storybook: 60 Bible Stories to Read, Color, and Draw will appeal to a wide age range. The illustrations are cute and appealing, and although I wish that the stories were easier to read, the style encourages kids to notice emphasized words and color in parts of the text. Kids will enjoy coloring in the illustrations, and the small vignettes to color can fill short bursts of time without someone feeling overwhelmed about finishing a big or intricate coloring page. This will make a great gift for kids, and can also appeal to many Christian teens and adults who enjoy coloring.