It’s time for another giveaway on the blog, this time a beautiful children’s book! I was recently offered the opportunity to review The Biggest Story by Kevin Deyoung and illustrated by Don Clark. I am so excited about this book! When we first got it, the cover itself was so visually appealing that all of the kids gathered around and asked me to read it to them. “Okay, just a chapter,” I said. I had no idea we wouldn’t be able to put it down! We read the entire story in one sitting, all of us enthralled by the candid, conversational, raw presentation of the story and the stunning illustrations. NEVER have we read a Bible story that pulled us ALL in so completely. The words flow together and are written directly to children everywhere. Take a minute and pin this image!
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Why did we love The Biggest Story?
Let’s start with the story itself. The Biggest Story is the story of how the snake crusher brings us back to the garden. It begins with creation and works it’s way all the way through to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Children hear so many short, independent stories from the Bible and may not be able to see the bigger picture. Kevin Deyoung brings everything together in a powerful book that builds towards the real focus. You see the story isn’t over yet, because we haven’t made it back to the garden!
I can hardly express to you how much I loved this book. It has a treasured place on our shelf and can be read in one comfortable sitting with your children. This to me, was one of the best parts! I didn’t have to break it apart into small sections, I could read it as one fluid story so they could see the entire picture! I have NEVER read a children’s book where the hairs on my arms were raised and I had chills. I was literally blow away by this book. The ending is the most powerful, incredible, passionate ending I have seen. It inspired me, my voice was trembling just reading it, there was the power of God on those words and my kids were RIVETED.
An inside view of the illustrations. SO bright!
The illustrations in the Biggest Story will blow your mind. My husband took one look and started gently turning the pages one by one, unable to stop looking at the detail, the imagery, the story written in the pictures alone! Every single page is so bright and visually compelling that my kids were glued to every page in this book. With five young children you can imagine that when it’s story time, there are pauses every 2 minutes for gentle reminders to stop hitting one another, sit down, no talking, etc. Not during this story time! Every child from my 3 year old up wanted me to read it again so they could see the pictures again.
The *ONLY* thing I would advise parents is to maybe look at the pictures ahead of time. There were a few that were, as my 8 year old described them, creepy. One in particular he said would give him nightmares. A few with skulls and some powerful imagery. If your children get scared easily or are very young, you may want to use discretion with which pages you show them. I chose to show all of the pictures to my kids, young and old, and use it as a point of discussion. We all talked about why the pictures were portrayed that way and what message the illustrator was trying to send. My son never said anything about nightmares the next day, so I think we’re in the clear 😉
An illustration that my children found a bit scary.
Enter the giveaway to win the Biggest Story!
Want to win a FREE copy of the Biggest Story for your family? This would be an amazing Christmas gift or birthday present. Make sure to check out the promo video HERE.
Can’t wait? Grab a copy of the Biggest Story today!
