Zonderkidz Faith Builders Bible (A REVIEW)

We love brick building. Combine that with learning about the scripture stories, and you have some boys (or kids) who will be much more interested in said scripture stories. We had the opportunity to check out this Faith Builders Bible by Zondervan. Although we didn't use this for our daily scripture study, we were able to take some of the brick building fun and use it in a way that worked for us.

The Bible that we received is a hard backed book with soft scripture like pages, and written in the New International Reader's Version. Along with the regular scripture pages it has 24 intermittent full color pages of brick building ideas to try and build. Those 24 pages didn't always seem to match where the story was in the Bible though.

With that said, it isn't what I thought it was going to be. I was hoping more for some Bible stories with more brick building ideas because we don't read this version of the Bible. I was hoping to be able to just incorporate more of the brick building into our own scriptures (King James Version). The wording in this version is very simplified.

How we used the Faith Builders Bible

One thing that we did do from the book was the 2nd page, building with books of the Bible. I've done something similar to this with other scripture memorization, so I thought it would be a great way for us to review the books of the Bible.

I spent some time with the boys digging through the bin of "bricks" and trying to find the different colors so we could alternate like they did in this book. We found most of them. Then I wrote all the names on the sides with a sharpie. It will come off easily with a dry erase marker. I had the boys practice putting them in order. I like how it broke it up into sections, and is actually very consistent with what we believe.

As I was talking to my teenage daughter about this review and how I was kind of having a hard time writing it because of these differences in the writing. She decided to look for herself and do some comparing, and she even said herself that it was too "unpoetic" and "boring to read". She is 14, and grew up reading the KJV of the bible.

A comparison:

Here is a comparison of the NIrV of scripture to the KJV. The scriptures I am comparing are Genesis 6: 19-21

New International readers Version:

"19. Bring a male and a female of every living thing into the ark. They will be kept alive with you. 20. Two of every kind of bird will come to you. Tow of every kind of animal will also come to you. And so will two of every kind of creature that moves along the ground. All of them will be kept alive with you. 21. Take every kind of food that you will need. Store it away as food for you and them. "

King James Version:

"19 And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female.

 20 Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.

 21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them."

The KJV just sounds so much more inviting and lovely to me, and I think that is what my daughter was trying to say. Now, my boys (7 and 9) however are still trying to "get it". Most often they dread scripture time because they just don't understand, so I can understand why many families would use a version like this.

Overall:

I had a hard time wanting to share this with my children because I don't prefer the written text in this Bible. As I said earlier it is very watered down, and I think that it loses a lot of the beauty and story that the scriptures can have in the original writings. I want my children to grow up hearing the words of the KJV. So, if you are a King James Version Bible reader this isn't for you. Other than that the brick building is fun. It seems really well built, and the pages are all very nice if you prefer this version. It seems that there were a great many children that enjoyed it along with the brick building. If you'd like to read about how other families felt about this book you can check them out by clicking on the link below.