Living Books: The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally-Lloyd Jones

In the Charlotte Mason method, we introduce our children to the Bible at an early age. And by the Bible, we mean, reading to them and letting them read from an actual Bible, and not Bible stories! (Isn’t that amazing, considering even we adults these days don’t always feel undaunted by an actual Bible?)

But we also love Bible stories, especially for the ages before formal academics (which Miss Mason pegs at 6 years old), and one of the most highly recommended books is the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally-Lloyd Jones.

Pros of Using the Jesus Storybook Bible for CM Homeschool Bible Lessons

Here are some of the reasons why we recommend the Jesus Storybook Bible:

It maximizes the power of story.

In one of her speaking engagements, Sally Lloyd-Jones talks about how the story has the power to transport us to whole new worlds and times, and we are transformed by the story itself, with no need to moralize. That agrees with the CM method through and through!

In the Jesus Storybook Bible, you won’t have a set of truths that your child needs to memorize or internalize; instead, he encounters the love and wisdom of God through the stories themselves. (Come to think of it, did you ever notice that the Bible itself comes in stories?)

Every story whispers his name.

This is the tagline or subtitle if you will, and Sally Lloyd-Jones expertly lives up to it! Just as Jesus Himself tells the two disciples on the road to Emmaus that all that the prophets have talked about pertained to Him, this book also weaves a clear path pointing to Jesus, even in stories in the Old Testament where His name isn’t explicitly mentioned.

The stories revolve around God’s amazing faithfulness to us.

The book has this constant refrain: God’s “never-stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love.” In my personal opinion, giving our children an early glimpse of a God who’s always faithful and who will never stop loving us is a crucial part of forming their picture of God. That’s a win over any book that focuses on our part: after all, we always fail!

Possible Cons to the Jesus Storybook Bible for CM Homeschool

On the other hand, we do have some notes on what you need to look out for if you intend to add the Jesus Storybook Bible in your CM homeschool schedule:

The book contains only 44 stories.

If you’re planning to use the book as a Bible spine for a year, I think you may be disappointed. At best, you may be able to use it once a week for 36 weeks, with a few weeks with two readings.

If you’re looking for something that can last longer, like more days a week for a whole year, you will probably enjoy Catherine Vos’s The Child’s Story Bible instead. (Watch out for our review on that coming up soon!)

The book features mainly the most popular Bible stories.

This point is similar to point #1, that it pretty much covers only the more popular stories in the Bible. This means that it can work as a good overview, but if you really want your children to go through the entire Bible in story form before using the actual Bible, this probably won’t be a good choice.

Perhaps a good way of looking at it is more of an introductory Bible story. Even so, it can still be worth it.

Illustrations may not fit a more “classic” preference.

These comments I got from other moms: if you’re the type who loves all those classic illustrations, such as the Caldecott awardees, we’re not sure you would like the ones in this book. Some people feel that Jago’s illustrations are a bit childish, but then again, that’s a matter of personal preference.

Personally, I like the splash of colors and the imaginative design. But if I had the choice, I’d still probably lean towards the more classic sketches myself. Again, differences in personal preferences are OK 🙂

The partner curriculum is not really CM.

The Jesus Storybook Bible also has a full curriculum designed for Sunday schools. This is how it looks:

We’ve used it, and the kids in our church enjoyed it, but it wasn’t really compatible with the Charlotte Mason philosophy, partly because of the direct questions and activities.

So if you prefer to be a wholly-CM homeschool family, you likely won’t need to buy the curriculum, just the book will do. (But the curriculum does come with audio and video versions of the book, if you like having a talented voice artist read for your kids!)

Using The Jesus Storybook Bible in a CM Homeschool

If you were to use the Jesus Storybook Bible in your CM homeschool, I would recommend it for the kindergarten/preschool years, or even as a bedtime family read-aloud that may or may not be part of the “official” school books.

However way you want to use it, prepare some tissues and let the stories sink in to you too, Momma. I believe it can speak to us parents, too, so… enjoy! 🙂