Creating The Lion First Bible

A Word to Parents and Teachers

Creating this book has been a real challenge: staying close to the Bible text and at the same time choosing words and concepts that very young readers can understand.

But the Bible is rich in story, and story can be understood at many different levels. So I never doubted that it could be done.
Even the youngest child can enjoy and learn from these wonderful stories about the creator-God who loves and cares for his people. Love, trust, promises broken or kept, help in trouble, doing wrong and being forgiven, are key concepts in the one "big story" the Bible tells. And all are within the grasp of young children: not in the abstract, but embedded as they are in stories about people very like ourselves although they lived so long ago.

Enjoyment and understanding go hand-in-hand. So I hope you will share my own pleasure as you read these stories to and with children. The reading is meant to be interactive, helped by rhythm, repetition and the sounds evoked. It's intended to be fun! I have provided footnotes here and there by way of explanation, and to help you answer questions.

I have not "translated" every challenging word. Some - God's "Kingdom", for example - remain as bridges, making connections, ready for the time when children go on to read the Bible for themselves. No Bible story book can ever be a substitute for the "real thing": this one is meant to be a first step on the way. I hope it lays a good foundation.

My thanks to all who have encouraged and given me generous help, especially David (sometimes chewing over problems at breakfast!); friend and author, Mary Batchelor; teachers Christine Cousins and Tricia Cowell; my editor, Su Box; and artist Leon Baxter, who has done for this book what words alone could never do.
Pat Alexander