Bible Stories for Baby Hands

Bible Stories for Baby Hands is a new collection of board books that bring the beauty of traditional religious art to a format that the littlest ones can benefit from. If you are tired of blobby cartoon characters and mushy stories, now you can put something inspiring into their hands.

The color lithographs on each page are based on engravings by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld for his 1860 Bible in Pictures. Each one is meant to dramatically encapsulate the story it represents, so that by simply pointing to elements in the picture, an adult can easily tell the story to the child. Therefore, for the youngest children, the pictures alone suffice.

However, we have not neglected to add text. Beneath each illustration is a quote from scripture that pertains to the story that is depicted above. Then, as the child gets older, the full story behind each picture is provided.

For the New Testament books, we chose to take the text directly from scripture. Sometimes this required paraphrasing portions in order to fit the full story. We smoothed the vocabulary and syntax in a few places, only where necessary to make it understandable for younger ears; otherwise we allowed the power of the original text to shine through.

For the Old Testament books, the original scripture passages were usually far too long, so we did our best to write them in language that fit with the others; however, we tried to include quotes and phraseology from scripture where possible. Many of these Old Testament stories include prefigurements of Christ, so we wove this into the text, mentioning how these characters tell us something about Jesus.

Book 1 is Old Testament Stories from the Pentateuch. This includes the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Jacob wrestling with the Angel, Moses and the Israelites overcoming the Amalekites, and the Brazen Serpent.

Book 2 is Old Testament Stories: Joshua, Ruth, David, Daniel. This includes the stories of the spies who scouted out the land of Canaan, Samson and the Lion, Ruth, David and Goliath, Elijah and the Ravens, and Daniel in the Lions Den.

Book 3 is New Testament Stories: Jesus Comes to Us. This includes the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Presentation in the Temple, the visit of the Magi, and the flight into Egypt. Several of the beautiful prophecies of Isaiah and Zechariah regarding the Messiah are also found in this book.

Book 4 is New Testament Stories: Jesus Teaches Us. This includes Jesus among the Doctors in the Temple, Nicodemus, Jesus blessing the little children, the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son, and the Sermon on the Mount.

Book 5 is New Testament Stories: Jesus Saves Us. This includes the stories of the Samaritan Woman at the well, Peter walking on water, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, the Crucifixion, His appearance to the disciples on the way to Emmaus, and the Ascension.