NIV Kids' Visual Study Bible - Book Review

From the publisher: The NIV Kids’ Visual Study Bible, for ages 8–12, brings the Bible to life in four-color illustrated splendor. This study Bible includes a spectacular full-color interior featuring over 700 illustrations, photos, infographics, and maps on every page that visually represent key Bible information. Each page also features important facts located near the relevant verse. Intriguing facts; colorful, engaging maps; photographs; and illustrations make this a Bible they’ll want to explore.

Features:
     Over 700 four-color photographs, illustrations, infographics, and maps throughout
     Full-color design
     Book introductions, including important facts and an image to orient the reader
     One-column format with side bar study notes for ease of reading
     Presentation page
     The complete text of the New International Version (NIV) translation of the Bible
     Beautiful cover featuring gloss

The NIV Kids' Visual Study Bible is just that: Visual. In my opinion, the selling point of this edition of the Bible for kids is all the visual aids that are a part of it. This is not to say its a graphic novel-type book; it's not. It just has a lot of pictures, charts, graphs, etc. For example, there is a pie chart breakdown of the topics discussed in Proverbs. There is a bar graph showing the make up of David's Mighty Man army. These types of things are spread throughout the Bible. Additionally, each book of the Bible begins with a title/information page, which includes "Who wrote this book?", "Why was this book written?", "What do we learn about God in this book?", and several other topics which can be helpful in understanding the context of the book. In the margins of the pages, quite often there are summaries, explanations, or support for specific verses.

So, does this version work? Overall, I'd say yes. I have a daughter who is anxious to get her hands on this Bible, and she likes it. She feels like all of the visual parts will be helpful and good. I do as well, as the key is to help kids understand what they are reading, as opposed to just reading it or looking at pictures. Overall, I would recommend the NIV Kids' Visual Study Bible as a great Bible for kids in the 8-14 year range in particular, but it is a good Bible for kids of other ages as well.

I received a review copy of this book from Zondervan in exchange for an honest review.