Zondervan Blog

Announcing the Beginner’s Bible Storybook App for iPad (Watch the Video)

 

We're excited to announce that the best-selling children's Bible of all time, The Beginner's Bible, is coming soon for iPad as a storybook app!

The Beginner's Bible App will be free for all to download. It will include 6 Bible stories, coloring pages and a game.

Get your first look at the app when you watch the video, then sign up to be notified as soon as it's available!

 

We are so excited about the app's upcoming release!

A child's first Bible is so important. It can set a child on a course of lifelong Bible exploration. The Beginner's Bible is the first print Bible that many children receive in their life – and for good reason. The book is a vibrant, engaging introduction to the characters and stories in God's Word.

We set out to create an app that captures the appeal of the book. From the app you can expect:

• Each illustration will be interactive. For example, in the story of Noah's Ark, kids will be able to push the elephants onto the ark, and set the ark rocking on the water.
• The app includes fun activities, such as an interactive game and coloring pages.
• It's easy to use. We designed the app so young children can use it easily on their own or along with their parents.
• Experience Bible stories with your kids. While kids can listen to the stories through the app's built-in audio (complete with sound effects), parents can turn off the audio and read it aloud with their children.

Parents, if you want your preschooler to begin learning about the Bible, introduce them to this app and you'll have an eager audience.

You'll see what I mean when you watch the Beginner's Bible App video.

 

More Bible stories to come

The free app will contain one complimentary Story Pack: 6 Bible stories, coloring pages, and a game.

After the free app's release, we will make available 14 more Story Pack over the next couple of months. Each Story Pack will include 6 stories, plus coloring pages and games, and will be available for $1.99. This way you can collect loads of fun activities, plus all of the Bible stories from The Beginner's Bible!

Can't wait to download the free app? Me neither. Sign up to be notified as soon as it's available and start your preschooler on a journey of faith!

-Helen Schmitt, Zonderkidz

 

This post does not represent the views of Zondervan, its partners or representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared for information purposes only. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.

 

Celebrating Easter with Kids: Recommended Books, Activities, and Sweepstakes

 

The Easter story can be heavy stuff to teach our young ones! That's why Ruthie Spaans, a member of our Zonderkidz team, shares these recommendations for Easter books, free activities, and a limited-time sweepstakes. (Enter the Beginner's Bible Easter Sweepstakes by March 26, 2012.)

 

For Christians around the world, the Easter season marks the foundation of our faith. Easter is when we celebrates the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus — heavy stuff to teach to little ones!

 

That's why our Zonderkidz team is always searching for new ways to teach Christ's message to your kids. Our goal is simple: to encourage you to spend time with your child, and with God. We pore through parenting blogs, investigate the latest trends, and hang on every word when others share how they're teaching matters beyond ABC's and etiquette, delving into the deeper things of our faith.

 

Fun Books that Go Deep

If you are looking to teach your preschoolers the deeper messages of the resurrection in fun yet inspirational ways, we recommend the Beginner's Bible resources. The Very First Easter, The Beginner's Bible Book of Prayers, Jesus Saves the World (an I Can Read book), and The Beginner's Bible Deluxe Edition are wonderful tools to help you introduce the Easter story, with traditional art, fun characters, and even audio narration!

 

Inspirational & Fun Activities

Some parents like to use food or crafts as the theme. Others look for the latest technology, such as apps, to tell the Easter story in a way that today's generation of kids accept without question. Still others combine traditional holiday activities with a theological twist to illustrate the story.

I encourage you to visit TheBeginnersBible.com and The Beginner's Bible Facebook page for weekly devotions, coloring pages, stickers, and other teaching resources. We even have an animated Easter video on YouTube for you to enjoy!

 

As a special treat, we encourage you to enter The Beginner's Bible Easter Sweepstakes on Facebook, for your chance to win a set of some of the newest products in The Beginner's Bible lineup.

 

Enter the Beginner's Bible Easter Sweepstakes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We wish you a blessed Easter season, and pray each day for our parents and children's ministries that work hard to bring Christ's message to kids!

- Ruthie Spaans, Zonderkidz

 

(This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's personal opinions are shared only for information purposes. To receive new Zondervan Blog posts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

Watch "Song of the Stars" Christmas Party Videos

 

Last week's Song of Stars Live Christmas Party with Sally Lloyd-Jones was such a joy that I'm still thinking about it!

Sally read her new Song of the Stars Christmas storybook and answered questions from our online party guests. Also, we watched Christmas song performances from a sleigh-full of Sally's talented musician friends.

Now you can watch those song performances from the party, plus some bonus videos we didn't show, if you visit the Zonderkidz Song of the Stars Video Playlist.

(You will find performances from Jason Gray, Ellie & Drew Holcomb, Katy Bowser & Kenny Hutson, Randall Goodgame, and a lot more...)

 

2 Highlights from the Song of the Stars Party

1. Cutest Moment
Two-year-old Carter McCracken sings "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Sweeter than any Christmas cookie, this video is guaranteed to bring you tears of joy:

 

2. Most Captivating Moment
As Sally read Song of the Stars, the story and pictures helped me see Christmas with a child's eyes again. I felt like one of the animals on this page:

"The One who made us has come to live with us," the animals say. Like them, I became awed over Christ's birth. While the incarnation is rich with mystery, it also presents a crystal clear picture of the lengths God will go to in order to love us and take care of us.

Watch video: Sally reads Song of the Stars Aloud

 

I'll leave you with Sally's parting speech from the party:

"Just think... 'The One who made us has come to live with us.' What an incredible story we're part of. How wonderful we have a God who loves us so much that he came to rescue us. So... I hope your Advent is filled with the wonder of this story that even the angels don't tire of."

With Sally Lloyd-Jones and my coworkers, I wish you a Happy Christmas!
 - Adam Forrest, Zondervan Internet Team

 

About Song of the Stars: A Christmas Story

The Song of the Stars, written by best-selling author Sally Lloyd-Jones and illustrated by Alison Jay, is a Christmas book that explores the joy and excitement and celebration in all of creation at the coming of Jesus. Learn More

(This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's opinions are his own, and are shared for information purposes only. To receive new blogposts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

Zonderkidz Heads to National Bible Bee + Top Resources for Kids' Bible Learning

 

The Zonderkidz team is excited to attend National Bible Bee, which kicks off tomorrow in Nashville, Tennessee! We wish all the contestants their best in the event. You can learn more about the Bible Bee at www.biblebee.org, including how you can host a local Bible Bee.

Zonderkidz are actually sponsors of the Family Fun area at the Bee, and many of our titles will be available throughout the event. Before we hit the road, we'd like to share some games and resources that help young people get excited about learning the Bible.

 

Games and Activies for Bible Learning

A great way for kids to memorize Scripture and learn the books of the Bible is the Adventure Bible Memory Game App. Here's a video about the memory game.

 

You can find more online games, activities and resources at the NIV Adventure Bible website: www.adventurebible.com.

 

Two Great Study Bibles

Two study Bibles we're not bringing to the Bee (but we recommend them, anyway) are the Adventure Bible and the Teen Study Bible. Both contain a lot of study features to help young people better understand God's Word and apply it to their lives.

 

Learn More

Learn More

 

If you're attending the National Bible Bee, we look forward to connecting with you!

 

Find Zonderkidz on Facebook

For book giveaways, fun activities, daily devotional messages, and more, find us on Facebook:

• Parents of kids, visit www.facebook.com/Zonderkidz
• Teens, visit www.facebook.com/GoodTeenReads

  

- The Zonderkidz Team

(This post does not represent the views of Zondervan or any of its representatives. The writer's opinions are their own, and are shared for information purposes only. To receive new blogposts in your reader or email inbox, subscribe to Zondervan Blog.)

 

8 Teen Fiction Authors Weigh in on Their Joys, Challenges, and Inspiration in Writing

 

Jonathan Michael, teen fiction enthusiast and Zondervan marketer, recently interviewed six authors of young adult fiction about the joys and challenges of writing. Also discussed: the struggles of biracial families, keeping fiction "real," where story ideas come from, and ghosts. Below I've transcribed some of my favorite parts from these video interviews, and you can follow the interview links to see more.

Stay up to date on more author interviews, book giveaways, and new book excerpts when you Like "Good Teen Reads" on Facebook.

WARNING for fans of teen fiction: you'll want to add at least one of these books to your Christmas wishlist.

 

Melody Carlson on authenticity: "I have a hard time being completely 'light'..."

 

JONATHAN: Your On the Runway series is kind of like high fashion meets reality TV. That sounds like a "light," subject but then you put some heavier things in there—

MELODY: I have a hard time being completely "light." [Laughs.] There's something about me that has to put that jolt of reality in it...

[My characters] are just getting out of their teen years, but they need to make some really hard life decisions, and one sister is really drawn towards all that glitters, all the glamor, and she makes some bad decisions. The other sister is trying to be a good Christian while helping her sister, and keeping the reality show going. And she is faced with some really difficult choices too, with her friends and her romances... I guess I like to keep it real. And that's the thing I hear back from teens, too — "Thanks, it feels real." Watch Interview

Learn more about the On the Runway Series
Visit her at www.melodycarlson.com

 

 

Joan Lester on writing about struggles of biracial teens: "I wanted to empower the reader..."

 

JOAN: I was impelled to write [Black, White, Other], because I'm a member of a biracial home. I have biracial kids, and I saw the kind of struggles they had...

I've written a lot of nonfiction about the topics of race and gender, those are kind of my areas of expertise. But to write about it in fictional form [was new for me].

In order to write good fiction, you have to create good characters that people will really care about, characters with flesh and blood... And I wanted my story to be inspiring, because that's the kind of literature I like to read and pass on. I wanted to empower the reader. Watch Interview

Learn more about Joan's book Black, White, Other
Visit her at www.joanlester.com

 

 

Bill Myers on exploring the supernatural

 

BILL: As we know, there's a huge fascination that teens have for the supernatural... So what I did in The Forbidden Doors series is explore these various supernatural counterfeits [such as seances, ghosts, ouija boards, reincarnation]. The premise of the stories are that a brother and sister, teens, have stumbled upon a group of kids in California who are experimenting with all this stuff, to see if it's something you should mess around with. There's a lot of true information in the stories...

[It's interesting] to see this pattern over and over again, in the legitimate supernatural counterfeit -- there's a good side to the supernatural too -- but with the counterfeit stuff, it's always the same pattern. It's [basically] glow-in-the-dark action figures that are saying "You are like God," or "Come worship me." And they only pick on Jesus Christ. They don't pick on Buddha or anyone else, they always say they're better than Jesus Christ, even the UFO abductees. That was interesting to me. Watch Interview

Learn more about Bill's Forbidden Doors series 
Visit him at billmyers.com

 

 

 

Heather Burch on heroic teens and writing "X-Men meets Cinderella"

 

HEATHER: My trilogy The Halfings is a story about Nikki Youngblood, who's being being hunted by men and demons.  She turns to three half-human, half-angel young men for protection. While they're keeping her safe, two of them sort of fall in love with her... Which is deadly on a lot of levels. 

I really wanted to write a story about teen heroes. I've known some amazing young people, and some of my characters are based loosely on young people I've known. I wanted to write a story with characters who were larger than life, but who were teenagers. Sometimes I call my trilogy "X-Men meets Cinderella." [She smiles.] Probably heavier with X-Men, with a little bit of Cinderella...

The challenge is to capture the attention of teens. There are so many things vying for their attention... If you can give a story that captures them, and eveything else just fades away? That is it, that's my challenge and that's what I hope to do. Watch Interview

Learn more about Heather's upcoming series The Halfings
Visit her at www.heatherburchbooks.com

 

Enter to Win the Berenstain Bears Holy Bible & Brother Bear Tote

 

Enter the Giveaway

The Berenstain Bears are hosting a giveaway. Ten winners will receive a Berenstain Bears Holy Bible and a Brother Bear Tote! Enter now, because the giveaway closes on Saturday morning, May 29, 9:59AM EDT!

Enter the Giveaway

 

Illustrated by Mike Berenstain, the Berenstain Bears Holy Bible is in the New International Reader's Version (NIrV), written at a third-grade reading level and specifically designed to help early readers discover the Bible for themselves.

 

Each winner will receive a Brother Bear Tote and the Berenstain Bears Holy Bible

The features of The Berenstain Bears Holy Bible include:

• Book introductions that provide each book's main themes, plus an outline of the contents
• Dictionary that defines key Bible words for quick reference
• Reading plan for 150 famous stories of the Bible
• Presentation page for personalization and gift giving
• 18 full-color pages that highlight virtues taught by God's Word, such as respect, courage and friendship. Here's a sample:

 

 

This giveaway reminded me of how much I loved the Berenstain Bears books when I was a kid. So after you enter the giveaway, I'd like to swap stories about lessons we learned from the Berenstain Bears books we read as children.

A Lesson I Learned from the Berenstain Bears
I was 6 when I read The Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare. If you haven't read it, it's a good book about dealing with bullies and peer pressure. In this story, Brother Bear falls in with a gang of cruel but charismatic bullies. They pressure Brother Bear to steal a watermelon from Farmer Ben's patch, and while Brother Bear knows this would be wrong, he really wants to impress his new friends. Brother Bear caves, gets caught in the act, and his new "friends" run away. Fortunately, Farmer Ben has grace on the young cub and shares some wisdom about how Brother Bear can stand up for what he knows is right.

I thought I was taking this lesson to heart, but I was mistaken. I closed the book still thinking the bullies were really cool. I remember thinking, "Maybe if I just don't bully other people then I can still do bad things and everything will be okay." This sounded reasonable to me, so I created a new "cool guy costume" (complete with black fingerless gloves, which I made myself) and I went out looking for trouble. I did the baddest thing my six-year-old imagination could think of: I stripped some branches off of a tree.

Within minutes I began to cry. I remember thinking, "Farmer Ben was right!" I learned that day that being bad, even in secret, is not cool.

How about you, did you learn any lessons from the Berenstain Bears books?
(-Adam Forrest, Zondervan Internet Team)

 

 

Jonathan Friesen Hosts "The Last Martin" Writing Contest for Young Adults

 

Author Jonathan Friesen loves to help young adults share their stories with the world. Find out why in this guest post, and learn how young writers can enter "The Last Martin" Writing Contest, open through June 1, 2011.

 

The Book The Writing Contest

One of the benefits of writing books for young people is that you get to visit schools. Lots of them. Elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, home schools—I love them all. And when I release a new book, it gets even better. Take this last month; I've been able to travel across North America talking about The Last Martin, the funniest, most intriguing middle grade book you'll find. (If I do say so myself!)

 

But I digress! I was talking about visiting schools. When I do, I often ask, "How many of you like to write?" What do you think they say?

 

In elementary school? Most. By middle school, fewer than half tell me they enjoy it. When I ask a room filled with high schoolers, only two or three hands shoot up.

 

I think tha's sad. Where does all this writing passion go? I have my ideas. (I'm putting on my teacher hat.) I think we teach writing like we teach math. "This is right. This is wrong. This is how you do it." That's what we say. When really, writing is an art, like painting. Adults never look at kids' watercolor creations and say, "This splotch of yellow is all wrong!" Nope, they hang them on their refrigerators.

 

Why tell you all this? I can't bear to see passionate writers lose their desire. God gives us each stories. Only we can tell them. If kids lose their willingness to share these precious tales, the world loses. We all lose.

 

It's important to me that kids pass on their own sacred stories. It really matters. That's why I spend time investing in young writers who still want to share their gift with the world.

 

And it's why I'm so thrilled Zondervan is holding a writing contest in conjunction with the release of The Last Martin. Few activities kindle writing flames like contests, and this one is more than special.

 

The Lord's Prayer: From the Heart of Children

 

We dare you to watch this video without cracking a smile. 

 

 

 

If you liked the video, share it with your friends.

 

 - Adam Forrest (Zondervan)

The Award Winning Jesus Storybook Bible

More Information | Weekly Video

We wanted to share some of the awards that The Jesus Storybook Bible has received. If you haven't visited the Jesus Storybook Bible website and seen the wonderful videos of the stories, now is your chance!

The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the one story underneath all the stories of the Bible and points to the birth of a child, the Rescuer, Jesus. Complete with 44 Bible stories, The Jesus Storybook Bible paints a beautiful portrait of Jesus and invites children to see that he is not only at the center of God’s great story of redemption—he is at the center of their story too. Children and adults alike will be captivated by the beautifully written narrative and the original and unique illustrations by accomplished artist Jago. Lloyd-Jones’ powerful gift of storytelling draws the reader into the greatest adventure of all time in an exciting page-turner that kids (and adults) find hard to put down.

2007 Gold Moonbeam Award

Winners for the first annual Moonbeam Children's Book Awards were announced this week, and three titles from Zonderkidz, the children’s division of Zondervan, were selected from among 862 entries submitted by authors and publishers in 45 U.S. states, six Canadian provinces, and seven countries.

Gold Moonbeam Award: The Jesus Storybook Bible (Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jago) in the religion/spirituality category.

To read the full press release, visit here.

2009 NAPPA Award Winner

The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition, written by Sally Lloyd-Jones, illustrated by Jago, and narrated by British Emmy award-winning actor David Suchet, is an Honors Award winner in the 2009 NAPPA Children’s Products Storytelling & Audio Books category.

The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition, invites children to discover—through full-color illustrations and three read-along CDs—that Jesus is at the center of God’s great story of salvation and at the center of their story, too. The beautifully crafted deluxe edition allows readers to experience all the emotion and drama of the Bible as award-winning actor David Suchet’s narration brings this storybook Bible to life

For more information, visit here.

2010 Mom’s Choice Award Winner

The Mom’s Choice Awards is known for establishing the benchmark of excellence in family-friendly media, products and services.
The Jesus Storybook Bible won in the Children’s Picture Book Religion & Spirituality category.

For more information about the Mom's Choice Awards, visit here.

ALA's 2010 list of Notable Children’s Recordings

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has selected The Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition, for its 2010 list of Notable Children’s Recordings. The list includes recordings for children 14 years of age and younger of especially commendable quality that demonstrate respect for young people’s intelligence and imagination; exhibit venturesome creativity; and reflect and encourage the interests of children and young adolescents in exemplary ways.

For more information about the Mom's Choice Awards, visit here.

Jesus Storybook Bible

Learn More | Read Excerpt

The Jesus Storybook Bible website has been featuring videos each week from the Bible. Also available is an extended excerpt of four stories from the Bible on Scribd. The video "He's Here," featuring the Christmas story from the Bible has been made available on YouTube here.

The Moonbeam Award Gold Medal Winner in the religion category, The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible. At the center of the Story is a baby, the child upon whom everything will depend. Every story whispers his name. From Noah to Moses to the great King David—every story points to him. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle—the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together. From the Old Testament through the New Testament, as the Story unfolds, children will pick up the clues and piece together the puzzle. A Bible like no other, The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to join in the greatest of all adventures, to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God’s great story of salvation—and at the center of their Story too.

Don't miss the opportunity to preview this inspiring and beautiful children's Bible.