Shiny Sequin Bible

As a blogger for Booksneeze, I had the opportunity to review the Shiny Sequin Bible - International Children's Bible published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. As seen in the photo, the colors on this Bible cover are bright and fun. The sequins appear to be glued onto the front cover securely. It did have glitter all over the cover but each time I've used it, I'm finding it on my hands instead. It does have a peculiar smell to it the first time it comes out of the box but after a while that smell fades.

This is the first time I've seen this translation of the Bible. It is designed to be understood on a third-grade reading level. (By comparison, most newspapers are written on a fourth-grade reading level.) This translation was prepared specifically for children to aid in their understanding of the concepts. The publisher claims to have accomplished this feat by addressing the geographical references, ancient customs, connotations, rhetorical questions, figures of speech, and idiomatic expressions. They have taken places and phrases that would be "unfamiliar to the modern reader" and adjusted them to our common language without changing the context of the verse. One example they give in the preface is, "Instead of using the phrase, "God drive the nations out of Cannan," ...they translated "forced them out of Cannan."

I like this Bible translation for a few reasons. First, it's very cute for a little girl to carry around. I think that it would be noticed by other children and give the opening in conversation for a child to share about their faith and where they attend church. Secondly, even as adults it can be difficult to follow the history of the countries and keep straight the where and when of events. This translation helps with consistency and allows the reader to develop the framework to understand more depth of detail when they are older. Lastly, any time a translation is taken straight for the original Greek and Hebrew, I feel that it is less influenced by the readers opinions (i.e. a paraphrase) and truer to the original text. Overall, I feel that this translation has much to offer the young female reader.