Book Review - The Book of Books: The Bible Retold by Trevor Dennis

I’ve been reading TheBook of Books: The Bible Retold by Trevor Dennis for about a month now. 

The good: 

·         Dennis is a good storyteller, and he retells scripture with a combination of storytelling and Bible quotes.

·         The stories are simple and easy to read.

·         Dennis introduces chapters with well-written summaries that explain the context of the stories.

·         He includes a good balance of Old and New Testament stories.

The bad:

·         It does have a few simple illustrations, but it’s very texty.  The design is not something that will excite preteens.

·         Some of the stories seem to be altered a little bit from scripture.  The first few times I noticed a difference, I just shrugged it off, thinking perhaps I didn’t read the original Bible story very carefully. Then when I reached the story of Ruth and Boaz, I compared the text to scripture side by side.  Not only was the story different, but it was told in a manner I would not want my children to read.  According to the story, Naomi tells Ruth to “Go to where [Boaz] was lying, take your clothes off and lie down at his feet.”  The Bible does say “take your cloak off”, but that’s a very different picture to paint.  I was quite disappointed with that story’s retelling.  That alone will keep me from giving this book to my kids to read.

This could be a good tool for family devotions or Bible classes, but I would suggest you read the stories ahead of time to ensure accuracy.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Kregel Publications, in exchange for my honest review of the book.Show More