God’s Colorful Kingdom Bible Storybook by Esau McCaulley

Vibrantly illustrated, God’s Colorful Kingdom Storybook Bible emphasizes God’s love for the diverse family He has created and redeemed as well as His care for the poor and needy.

God’s Colorful Kingdom Bible Storybook: The Story of God’s Big Diverse Family by Esau McCaulley, illustrated by Rogério Coelho. Tyndale Kids, 2025. 272 pages.

• Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 8-10
• Recommended for: Ages 6-10 as a read-aloud (or independent read)

God’s Colorful Kingdom: Strengths

God’s Colorful Kingdom is perhaps the most colorful storybook Bible I’ve ever seen. Full-color illustrations show people in all skin colors: why has it taken so long to produce a resource like this? (To be fair, we have seen great improvement in this area; The Kingdom and the King is one notable recent publication.)

Illustrations are fresh and vibrant, showing biblical characters and contemporary characters (why contemporary? We’ll get to that). The editorial focus of this storybook Bible is clear in the title: God’s big diverse family. The illustrations reinforce the colorful diversity piece over and over in charming, well-designed vignettes.

McCaulley’s aim in this storybook Bible is to be faithful to Scripture while emphasizing some of the Bible’s teaching that has historically been underrepresented in story Bibles, notably the expansiveness of God’s kingdom on earth as seen in different ethnic backgrounds as well as the importance of caring for the poor and needy. As such, the selected stories emphasize characters that aren’t always depicted in a traditional storybook Bible: the Hebrew midwives and Moses’s mother, for instance. Each of the 31 stories includes a retelling of the biblical story along with copious editorial comments from McCaulley that not only reinforce the theme but also offer helpful explanations of biblical concepts.

For example, near the end of the story of Noah, McCaulley explains why names are important and how family names represent stories. He goes on to say, “this list of names from Genesis is really just part of a longer list of our family members. They tell the story of how we came to be. These names are a reminder that no matter where you are from or what color you are, you are an important part of the human family created by God.”

Where relevant, some of these editorial expansions are accompanied by the aforementioned illustrations of contemporary people and places. Stylistically, they are linked to the biblical scenes. At first, this caught me off guard, but the more I read, the more I liked it. It’s a terrific way to link McCaulley’s theme from the Bible with present day application.

God’s Colorful Kingdom: How to Use It

All that to say: this doesn’t quite work as a storybook Bible. For one, it simply doesn’t have as many stories in it as we normally expect. And the stories included – while fantastic choices – leave gaps (such as no mention of the Assyrian captivity, or glossing over Isaac and Jacob). This isn’t the storybook Bible to use if you’re after basic Bible literacy and a run down of who’s who or what happened when. Additionally, McCaulley’s editorializing adds much to the Bible stories (i.e. sometimes putting in emotions to stories that don’t provide that information originally or his helpful explanations of various concepts). This is not necessarily a problem if you use the storybook Bible differently (see below), but it’s a fine line between retelling Bible stories for younger listeners and veering off into possible and probable, but not technically biblical, stories and anecdotes. Young listeners may not always be able to tell the difference.

But – and this is a big but – I do not say that to disparage this storybook Bible. Rather, I offer a different approach: treat this storybook Bible more as a family commentary/devotional or as a storybook you might read as part of a Sunday school lesson or in a Christian school classroom. Bible passages are included, so parents and educators could read the Bible passage first and then pick up God’s Colorful Kingdom for an expansion/retelling. McCaulley really has a gift for talking directly to his young readers, and the way he explains and applies the stories he chooses is thought-provoking and winsome. His retellings are fresh, and the illustrations are fabulous. He clearly renounces sin (and points out multiple times that all humans are guilty of sin) while consistently pointing to Christ as our only hope. This would be a great follow-up or companion to a more traditional story Bible and should prompt some healthy discussion amongst listeners.

Considerations:

• This book includes many pictures of Jesus.
• “Diverse” is interpreted biblically (in the cultural/ethnic sense) rather than our current culture’s appropriation of the term to include unbiblical lifestyle choices.

Bottom Line: While excellent, God’s Colorful Kingdom works better as a commentary or devotional for children than as a traditional story Bible.

Also at Redeemed Reader:

• Reviews: We’ve reviewed lots of storybook Bibles on Redeemed Reader! Here are some of our other favorites: The Biggest Story, The Storyteller’s Bible, and The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible.
• Resource: Browse all our Bible-related resources here.
• Resource: Don’t want to buy a story Bible but use your own Bible and help your children understand the overall story? Check out our Bible Pilgrimage: A Step-by-Step Journey Through the Whole Story of the Bible.

You may purchase God’s Colorful Kingdom Storybook Bible from Amazon.