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Curious Kids' Guides #2
The World of the Old Testament: A Curious Kid's Guide to the Bible's Most Ancient Stories
The stories of the Old Testament portray a world completely foreign from our own. Curious kids riveted by these stories are likely to come away with questions. Who were the people who lived in the time and place in which these stories were set? How did they work? What did they eat? What were their families and tribes like? How did they fight? What did they believe about God, kings, enemies, and the world around them? And above all, what does any of it have to do with how we read and understand the books that make up the first half of the Bible? The Curious Kid's Guide to the World of the Old Testament answers these questions and more, with colorful illustrations, charts, graphs, maps, and other infographics that will keep kids' attention for hours, and send them back to the Bible with surprising new insights and understanding.Curious Kid's Guides present cool and surprising information about Christian history and beliefs in an entertaining, visually engaging way for kids.
64 pages, Hardcover
Published October 1, 2019
48 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 6, 2020
Ordering for J221 section of my library.
June 17, 2025
A fantastic overview of the culture and history of the ancient Near East, with the purpose of understanding the Old Testament within its context. This book is perfect for reading with kids to give them a better understanding of the Old Testament - the topics are brief and the illustrations keep them engaged - and I learned new things too.
September 21, 2020
-interesting reference points
-lacks an index or glossary
-table of contents is less than desirable, especially considering the lack of index
-approachable illustrations
-lacks an index or glossary
-table of contents is less than desirable, especially considering the lack of index
-approachable illustrations
November 9, 2021
The World of the Old Testament is a reference book for upper elementary children. It doesn't concern the Old Testament itself as much as it concerns, well, the world of the Old Testament. If you have curious young readers who want to know what ancient people ate and wore, how they fought and traveled and prophesied, give them this book. It really brings Egypt and the Levant to life in tactile ways.
This book gets a strong start with a section on "Myth and History." It's a great starting point for talking with children about the Bible, and different ways of reading, writing, and storytelling. Kids who can grasp the difference between fictional and non-fictional stories can also understand that truth-telling doesn't always have to be literal. Ancient people didn't have the burden or resources modern people have when it comes to history, not to mention very different approaches to authorship. Many problems modern readers with the Bible come from applying modern reading methods to an incredibly ancient text, and helping kids understand how to read the Bible is an unmitigated good, in my opinion. (Of course, I'd nitpick a few things about this spread, but the nits are not worth picking.)
The illustrations are really fun, though the authors went for a diversity of skin tones rather than sticking with historical accuracy, but it's fine. I'd much rather see a range of skin tones than only one color. As a kid, pictures of archaeological finds often bored me, because they were all shades of beige and so worn down and dusty that it was hard to see the significance or imagine the item being made or used. I can tell Jemima Maybank's illustrations were based on such material, but she provides the color so loved by the ancients.
Of course, as with any such book, there are a few drawbacks, but they are minor. (Why weren't Esther and Ruth mentioned? Why wasn't there a spread on the temple, or Jewish holidays? Why weren't David's and Solomon's covenants with God mentioned in the spread on covenants?) The temple is in the next book, The World Jesus Knew, but since Solomon's temple is different from the second temple Jesus knew, it should have been included in the Old Testament book. I think some of these drawbacks come from wanting a bit more about the Old Testament itself in The World of the Old Testament, but that's not the brief. There are a lot of great resources on the Bible for children, but not nearly as many on the historical context of the Bible, so I am very grateful this book was published and I look forward to reading the other two in the series.
This book gets a strong start with a section on "Myth and History." It's a great starting point for talking with children about the Bible, and different ways of reading, writing, and storytelling. Kids who can grasp the difference between fictional and non-fictional stories can also understand that truth-telling doesn't always have to be literal. Ancient people didn't have the burden or resources modern people have when it comes to history, not to mention very different approaches to authorship. Many problems modern readers with the Bible come from applying modern reading methods to an incredibly ancient text, and helping kids understand how to read the Bible is an unmitigated good, in my opinion. (Of course, I'd nitpick a few things about this spread, but the nits are not worth picking.)
The illustrations are really fun, though the authors went for a diversity of skin tones rather than sticking with historical accuracy, but it's fine. I'd much rather see a range of skin tones than only one color. As a kid, pictures of archaeological finds often bored me, because they were all shades of beige and so worn down and dusty that it was hard to see the significance or imagine the item being made or used. I can tell Jemima Maybank's illustrations were based on such material, but she provides the color so loved by the ancients.
Of course, as with any such book, there are a few drawbacks, but they are minor. (Why weren't Esther and Ruth mentioned? Why wasn't there a spread on the temple, or Jewish holidays? Why weren't David's and Solomon's covenants with God mentioned in the spread on covenants?) The temple is in the next book, The World Jesus Knew, but since Solomon's temple is different from the second temple Jesus knew, it should have been included in the Old Testament book. I think some of these drawbacks come from wanting a bit more about the Old Testament itself in The World of the Old Testament, but that's not the brief. There are a lot of great resources on the Bible for children, but not nearly as many on the historical context of the Bible, so I am very grateful this book was published and I look forward to reading the other two in the series.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews