The Biggest Story Book Review

The Biggest Story is an illustrated retelling of the Biblical story of God. Written by Kevin DeYoung, it’s a wonderful picture book to help share the gospel with your older-elementary age kids. Paired with modern illustrations from Don Clark, the way DeYoung has summarized the story of God is clear, powerful, and captivating.

The Biggest Story book on a wooden surface.

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After a friend suggested this book, I picked it up from the library and was looking forward to reading it. Within a few pages I had added a copy to my Amazon cart. This book. Is. Good. DeYoung summarizes the Biblical story of God in prose that is clear, powerful, and captivating.

Paired with modern illustrations from Don Clark, the book blew me away. The best part of the book is how it takes what can often be so confusing about Scripture–how do all these stories and people fit together?!–and explains how the names, events, and stories fit together in the overarching story of God. Even as an adult reader with an understanding of the Old and New Testament, I came away from the book feeling like I had a new level of clarity and understanding. I would consider this book an essential pick to help share the gospel with your kids. My rating: 5/5.

The Format of the Book

Let’s talk a little more about the format of this book. It’s designed in chapters, which are short enough you can read a few at a time, but don’t expect to finish the whole book in one sitting. It’s written for about 9-12 year olds, but even if I had older teens, I would 100% give this book to them. That’s really the mark of a good children’s book, right? If every age finds something compelling and captivating in it? The book itself is very high-quality, printed on glossy pages, and hardbound with a dust jacket.

Close up view of The Biggest Story picture book.

**What I Love about The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung, illustrated by Don Clark**

It’s interesting!

DeYoung’s writing will keep your attention, and maybe cause you to grin a bit to yourself as you realize how he managed to convey some of the (very) mature content found in Scripture in a way that gets the point across, without diving into the mess. Like this,

“Isaac was sort of a weakling. Jacob was a selfish trickster. And Judah did such dumb stuff, we don’t even want to talk about it.”
p 52, The Biggest Story

He will catch a child’s attention instantly with the way he writes. Explaining the fall of man, “It was a terrible day, the second-worst day in the history of the world”. Begging the natural question, but what was the WORST day? Kids are gonna wanna know. And near the end of the book, they’ll discover the answer. AND, they will discover the hope that we have even after that day took place.

It’s True

I have a hard time with baby/kids theology books that, in the quest to make everything digestible, simplify the truth to the point of inaccuracy. I found this book maintained accuracy even in the face of summarizing a LOT of content and communicating at an older-elementary age level.

“Our story is the story of God doing what we can’t, in order to make up for us doing what we shouldn’t.”
p 107, The Biggest Story

It’s Hopeful

My favorite part of the book was at the very end when DeYoung explains that we’re still IN the story.

“It’s a familiar story to some of us. It’s a true story for all of us. But we haven’t seen the end of the story—not yet.”
p 120, The Biggest Story

He continues these thoughts and I find the final pages to be so hopeful. And true! It’s a wonderful, wonderful read.

It’s a Great Fit for 9-12 Year Olds

Though you could certainly read this book aloud to younger kids too, you may want to peruse it on your own before deciding if it will be a good fit for your younger child. If you need something for MUCH younger kids, keep an eye out for the next book I’m sharing! Another great choice to communicate God’s story with our little ones.

Notes and Details:

From the Amazon listing:

Published: August 2015
Age Range: 9 – 12 years
Grade Level: 4 – 6
Hardcover: 132 pages
ISBN-10: 9781433542442

The Biggest Story Book Review