My First Veggie Bible Stories (Book Review)

Scripture Connection

Because this little book is a collection of Bible stories, each two-page spread connects to a different passage of Scripture, with the reference included on each paraphrased story. Stories include Noah’s Ark, Daniel in the Lion’s Den and Jesus Feeds Thousands, among others.

Writing

Stories function individually, so readers can read one at a time, or choose to read through the whole collection, which is quite short. Language and sentence structure are both very simple, but do a satisfactory job of conveying the story in ways that little ones can understand. Themes are gently threaded into the narrative, with the main emphasis being on what happened in the story. I do find it impressive that the authors are able to retell stories with such brief accounts.

Illustrations

Each of the colorful pages is fully colored and includes members of the Veggie Tales cast portraying people from the Bible. While the characters, with their colored eyes, look a little bit different than the veggies I grew up with, I do enjoy seeing their (mostly) familiar faces. The inclusion of animals is adorable, too. I especially like the lions from Daniel in the Lion’s Den.

Characters

As a note, characters included here are not always consistent with the Veggie Tales film series. The character that I think of as Esther does not represent Esther in this book. Instead, the rhubarb that I recognize from the Ruth film is shown, here. Maybe they were trying to stick with a specific cast of characters, in the book.

While I was surprised not to see the Esther veggie, I do see the value in introducing a different character to the role. It can help little readers/viewers to remember that the Bible character is not an actual vegetable.

I do like that, as usual, Jesus is not depicted as a vegetable, even though there are a few New Testament stories about Him.

Respectful Critique

For me, personally, the Veggie Tales / Bible story combo wasn’t the most effective in this format. This isn’t a critique of the writing; it’s just that a major part of the charm of VeggieTales is the humor, and a straightforward book retelling isn’t the best vehicle to convey that. Therefore, this wouldn’t be my first choice for a Bible story collection. Even so, I could definitely see it appealing to kiddos who are very interested in VeggieTales.

Recommendation Status

I think this collection would most appeal to little listeners who are already familiar with the Veggie Tales series. The simplicity of the writing sounds similar to Sunday School curriculum, which works for the audience. While this book wouldn’t be my favorite in the genre, the brief retellings do capture the Bible stories in a short space.