ESV Seek and Find Bible

I received a free copy of the "Seek and Find" Bible from Crossway books to review. I was not required to write a positive review.

My first thought on seeing this Bible (marketed to 5-9 yr olds) was that it is HUGE! It's a big, hardcover Bible with a dust jacket. The artwork on the front is interesting, showing illustrations of several Bible stories. My thought about the dust jacket is that it is superfluous, I mean what child will be able to keep the dust jacket nice if they actually use the Bible?

I like that this was a complete Bible, not just a collection of Bible stories. A full Bible is very valuable even for young children, following along in church, finding and reading different passages throughout.

I have mixed feelings on an overall summary of this publication. So here are my thoughts, intermixed. I really liked the illustrations, the time-lines, the character sketches, the explanations of historical things. They were a great addition to the text. I did not like the separate Bible "stories" interspersed throughout the Bible text. They make it hard to find Bible passages easily and quickly and add to the overall bulk of the book. I don't have issue with what was written in these stories, but I think they would have been better printed as a companion book, rather than in the Bible itself. Another caution about this set-up is a child's possible confusion over which is the inspired Scripture and which is just the added story part. The seek and find/related Bible readings etc. were great, don't get me wrong, but I really would rather see them separated from the actual Bible. Other sections such as maps and dictionary--nice and necessary.

All in all, this is a nice Bible format. I would have organized it differently, but it is eyecatching and contains valuable extra information that will enhance a child's Bible reading experiences. My children will use this as a resource and as an additional version of the Bible, but I can't see it being their favorite one to take to Sunday School.

Thanks to Crossway books for letting me review this new publication! Please feel free to see www.crossway.org/blog