The NIV Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible For Kids by Zondervan

Have a budding prayer warrior at home? Are you eager to instill a life long love of prayer into your tween or teen? Are your struggling with prayer yourself? I have the answers to your prayers ( pardon the pun please). The NIV Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible For Kids is a powerhouse in the prayer department. This is also a compact edition Bible. It can easily be carried to school, Sunday school or on over night trips. The Bible is packaged inside a durable, attractive cover- it boasts many features. These features include:

      -full NIV text

      -presentation page

      -highlighted verses for 

        memorization and meditation

      -book introductions

      -reading plans

      -topical index

      -devotions about people who

        prayed and listened to God

        such as Abraham, Hannah & 

        Job 

       -the "hand prayer" model to 

        remind kids to pray for others 

        & themselves 

       -prayer journaling pages to 

         record prayers & answers to 

         prayers.

   Prayer is hard work, especially for children. Coming from a religious education background, I know first hand how children struggle with prayer. Two of my favorite features in the NIV Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible For Kids is the Prayer Journal and the devotion sections of the Bible. Boasting 9 pages in the back of the Bible, the prayer journal called Conversations with God gives the child ample room to see how God listens and answers their prayers. Seeing how God is in tune with their lives and cares enough about them to answer their prayers will most definitely encourage any young pray-er to keep going. 

   

   Also The Big Dreams, Big Prayers Devotions help to kick start a stagnant prayer life. The devotionals use scripture to show how God's people (sometimes imperfect) talked to God during both times of anguish and celebration. These are great models for children to follow. They also give children true-to-life examples they can relate to. 

   

   Aside from prayer, just reading the Bible is a daunting task. The NIV Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible for Kids takes the pressure off in 3 easy ways. First, throughout the text there are special highlighted verses that can be used for memorization or scriptural meditation. A child could easily locate a favorite verse and write it down to reference throughout the day. 

   Every book has an informative introduction listing who wrote the book, why the book was written, what is special about the book, when the book was written, what chapters tell you about a character's experiences and lists the important chapters in the book. 

   Lastly, the Bible offers a unique 3 step reading plan. The people over and ZonderKids really put some effort in on this one. I have never seen a reading plan quite like this and may very well adopt it for myself. The plans are broken down into "courses". 

   Course one is a 2 week time commitment and lists a basic survey of the Bible. You have 3 sub-courses to choose from. 

   Course 2 is a 6 month commitment- a birds eye view if you will. Here you will be taken through 13 sections. 

   The last course is the entire bible broken down into a 3 year reading plan. Of course- you would only have to read 1 chapter a day. There is no set plan so one could easily tailor the plan to ones needs and finish in a year. 

   The NIV Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible For Kids is another amazing Bible from Zondervan. Zondervan really knows how to pay attention to details. I enjoyed the topical index or concordence and the devotional index. These small features make navigating the Bible really easy.  

  As I stated in the beginning, I would recommend this Bible to anyone struggling with prayer. Since it is really geared towards the 9-12 age group, the NIV Big Dreams, Big Prayers Bible would be a home run for teens and Tweens. The features pack so much learning potential. I have not a bad thing I can say about it....5/5!!!!

P/S- make sure you take a look at the 10 Commandments for kids (pictured above) . This is hands down the best child appropriate rendition I've seen!!

**Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers <http://booklookbloggers.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”