*Bible Review: NKJV Early Readers Bible

*NKJV Early Readers Bible. Thomas Nelson, 2006, 1664 pages. 

Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 8-10

Recommended for: ages 8-14 and up

Bottom Line: This New King James Version for young readers contains excellent, age-appropriate study helps in a sound translation.

It’s attractive but not flashy: red-letter with 9-10 point font, two columns.  There are no full-color illustrations, the supplementary material of this Bible is some of the most helpful and instructive I’ve seen.  The overall approach is not devotional (i.e., not a lot of personal applications) but aims to give young readers the tools they need to study the bible effectively on their own.  In fact, the preface pages address How to Study the Bible, followed by Brief History of the Bible, short paragraph introductions to all the books, where to find common topics, a chronology and several Bible reading plans, plus one 1-year plan.  I especially like the Character-building from Proverbs page.  Two-color inserts throughout features maps, family trees, expositions on such topics as the Tower of Babel and life in Bible times, “People” (nations) of the Old Testament, timelines, charts (Kings, prophets, etc.), quizzes, How to Pray, and a very cool comparison of Genesis and Revelation.  Another feature I haven’t seen anywhere else: stars in the margin indicate prophesies of Jesus: white stars are promises given, black stars are promises fulfilled.  The dictionary and concordance are separate, and it’s a real concordance, not just a list of subjects.  It’s a great study Bible for kids, as long as they can handle the translation.

Overall rating: 5 (out of 5)

Categories: Middle grades, Christian, Bibles and Bible stories, Starred Reviews

Readers, this is one of our top recommendations for children’s Bibles. To see more, get your FREE Guide to the Best Bibles for Children and Teens!

Cover image from amazon.com