My children love learning and enjoy so many resources from National Geographic so when I was asked to review their new book 1,000 Facts About the Bible I was excited to get my hands on it. Just like the National Geographic Kids Magazine and their television shows and movies the graphics are fantastic! In trying to explain 1,000 Biblical facts I was also very impressed with the way that the authors organized the book with different popular topics like Family, Angels, Animals, Laws & Commandments, Miracles, Prophets, Apostles and more.
Our oldest child who is 5 years old loved the section on Lands of the Bible including People and Places from 20th Century B.C.E to 1st Century C.E. which includes a great map of important events of the time. I enjoyed the 50 facts about Miracles and the 15 amazing facts about the Apostles which both included many of my favorite stories and facts about the Bible.
As a Catholic homeschooling parent I did have a few issues with some of the 1,000 facts from a Catholic viewpoint, but expected that from a secular company. One of them being one of their facts that "Jesus had four brothers - James, Joseph, Judas and Simon", which Catholic Answers nicely disputed from the Catholic viewpoint HERE. Also, they stated that the Bible includes "around" 66 books. We know as Catholics that the Catholic Church has published 73 books in the Bible (EWTN appropriately discusses the difference in Protestant and Catholic Bibles HERE).
Overall, I see the benefit of National Geographic publishing this book because I think that it is important for all children to be exposed to the history of the Bible and I think this book will help with this cause. Yet, I would recommend that Catholic parents always be certain to pre-screen what our children are reading and are being exposed to in order to be able to continue to teach the truth of the Catholic Faith and answer questions appropriately.
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