"Big Red" Holy Bible - Contemporary 3-D Art, a Review

The "Big Red" Holy Bible - Contemporary 3-D Art is a bible targeted for young readers, recommended for ages 6-12 or a 3rd grade reading level.  The bible uses the International Children's Bible translation, a translation I had never encountered before this review.  The best description for this bible is from the Booksneeze website.

The same "Big Red" Bible that you've trusted for 25 years . . . now with updated, fresh, 3-D art for today's video-game generation. A full-text of the International Children’s Bible translation with bright Red cover and ALL NEW contemporary art, that was created especially for children ages 6 to 12. “Big Red” has been updated with an all new collection of beautiful full color pages, illustrating treasured Bible stories. Inside the type is big and readable for this age group. Kids will love having a Bible to take to church that’s easy-to-read and understand!

I initially requested this bible because I thought the illustrations and simple translation would be good for my brother-in-law in 3rd grade.  The illustrations are all computer generated, designed to look like something from a video game to attract such a young audience, but I found most (if not all) of them off-putting and bland.  I'm not sure if a young kid would be impressed with these or if they would find the illustrations cheesy.  Personally, I didn't like how "white-washed" most of the people were, though I fully expected it in our Americanized version of Christianity.

As for the translation itself, the ICB seemed pretty straightforward and understandable, though slightly clunky.  I do think a 3rd grader could read from this translation with few problems, but there may be some places with difficulty.  I read through some of my favorite passages and used it for a few days alongside my morning studies, and I didn't like the way some of the sentences were structured.

One thing that I liked was the dictionary in the back and the use of footnotes throughout.  The dictionary has plenty of entries that would be useful for a child when coming across an unfamiliar word.  The footnotes are your standard biblical footnotes, offering cross-references or "Other versions add..." and the like.

Overall, the "Big Red" Holy Bible - Contemporary 3-D Art is not something I could see myself buying for my kids or really recommending for others.  The bible is riddled with illustrations, but proportionally they are severely lacking.  For the most part this seems like a simplified translation with occasional illustrations tacked in at random places.  The provided dictionary & memory verses at the back are nice resources, but in no way unique to this particular bible.  If you're looking for a children's bible only for some easily understandable text, then perhaps this is the one for you.  If you're wanting something with more bells & whistles, perhaps more color and not endless pages of text, I'd skip out on this one.

*FTC Thingy: This bible was provided to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers and Booksneeze free of charge in exchange for an honest review.  There were no cookies or pies or delicious cakes involved in this transaction, though if there was, I certainly wouldn't be telling anyone about how delicious they were.