"HEROES AND VILLAINS OF THE BIBLE", produced by Thomas Nelson

I had high hopes for this one. Instead, I was greatly disappointed.

Here's the synopsis of "Heroes and Villains of the Bible". It's a bible...a very condensed bible, but a bible none-the-less. Leviticus is absent, so that was a relief since it's marketed as a children's book.  It's not much of a story book, since one lonely picture prefaces each bible passage, and a brief children's lesson closes out the narrative.  The problem is that the bible passages are anywhere from 2 to 5 or 6 pages long...with no additional pictures! If they want to market this to children -- especially boys -- then there better be more pictures, especially pictures of fire, and bows & arrows, chariots, horses, and war. But there's none of that, except for that one lousy picture at the beginning of each "chapter".

My youngster had absolutely NO interest in this one. He was more interested in turning the digital pages on my iPad than he was in the story itself. He wants pictures and story-telling, not a repackaged bible. That said, it would have been nice to have some fictionalized additions to the biblical narratives to keep childrens' attention.  Not only that, but shorter would also help to maintain their interest.

"But the bible is pure and perfect", someone may suggest. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but let's be realistic: we want boys to engage the bible with great interest, and this one doesn't do it.  I've read many great authors who could render the accounts contained in "Heroes and Villains of the Bible" much more alive in a youngster's mind.

Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed with this "book". I give it one star out of five stars for lack of creativity and imagination.  This title lacked any real effort.


I received this book free from BookSneeze in exchange for my unbiased review. I was not compensated, threatened, coerced, or promised favors in return for a positive review. All opinions are mine.