We recently received the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids to review. It was sent to us by LifeWay Christian Stores, a Christian store chain with 160+ stores nationwide. If, like me, you don’t have one near you, make sure you check out their website.
The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary is a 200+ page, large-format hardbound book with bright, child-friendly graphics. Chock-full of illustrations and photographs, each entry includes a definition plus a pronunciation guide – a must for some of the tongue-twister names of people and places! Many maps and charts are also included, which help to place those definitions into the proper context.
Based on the Holman Bible Dictionary and the Holman Pocket Bible Dictionary, this book is the perfect resource for moments in the middle of bible reading or verse memorization when your child realizes that he doesn’t quite know what that word means. With the Illustrated Bible Dictionary at hand, a Bible-focused definition can quickly enhance understanding of the passage.
Though it’s aimed at elementary ages, older students might well find it appealing enough to simply read through, cover-to-cover. (Much to my amusement, mine did. Dictionary and encyclopedia reading seems to run in the family.)
One benefit of reading whatever catches your eye – Bible references are included, so that you can go straight to the location in the Bible that word is used to learn more.
My ten-year-old was a bit puzzled about the random color blocks throughout, wondering why they were there – that it was part of the visual theme never occurred to him. And while he didn’t pick up on something seemingly so obvious, he did inform me that he had one minor complaint. The frog on the cover, with the path to the “F” at left? There is no “frog” under F in the dictionary. I suggested checking under “plagues”, as I was thinking that one of the plagues of Egypt was frogs – and we struck gold! Or at least a handy-dandy list of all ten Egyptian plagues, frogs included, complete with Bible references.
We also eventually discovered that “frogs” is part of the “Animals of the Bible” chart – and the kids suggested that perhaps in their next version, a cross-reference would be appreciated.
Oddly enough, while we did find the other two cover images inside, “ark” and “centurion” inside, we never did find that same frog image anywhere. And another quick note – the cover on our book differs slightly from the pic above, in that there are no definitions on the cover.
The gorgeous artwork on the cover permeates the entire book. For a look inside, check out this link and click on “Download PDF sampler”.
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids may be purchased from LifeWay Christian Stores for $14.99. It’s an amazing value at that price – this is a sturdy hardbound book with glossy pages, very well-made. Definitely a great addition to the homeschool reference library.
To see what other crew members had to say about this product, check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog post, LifeWay Christian Stores.
**I received this product for free as a member of the 2010-11 The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew so that I could provide you with an honest review of it by our family.**
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