By Zondervan
The classic first Bible for the very youngest, more than ninety favorite stories retold in a few simple words each, with big, bright, friendly pictures.
This is the one you'll see on a lot of toddler shelves, and for good reason. It walks from Creation all the way through to the early church in short, plain stories, a page or two each, told in the smallest words. Noah loads the animals, David faces the giant, Daniel sits with the lions, baby Jesus arrives, and at Easter Jesus dies and comes back to life. The pictures are round and cheerful and cartoon-bright, the kind a two-year-old will point at and name. It's less a book you read cover to cover and more one you dip into a story at a time, over and over.
For a child who is just old enough to sit for a short story, this hits the mark exactly. The retellings are pared right down, one clear idea per page, so a very young child can follow, and the friendly cartoon art keeps the tone warm rather than solemn. Because it holds so many stories, it grows with your child for a few years, first as a point-and-name book, later as one they'll read a bit of themselves. It's the safest, simplest place to begin if you want a broad sweep of the best-known Bible stories in one sturdy volume.