These illustrated retellings are an amazing (and practically free!) resource for parents and Primary teachers.
The Author and Illustrator
The retellings are written by Kim Webb Reid, and illustrated by Apryl Stott.The stories are written with a beautiful simplicity appropriate for ages 4 and up. My little one is only 3, so the first few times we tell a story, I'm pointing at the pictures and paraphrasing the story in the simplest way I can. Once he is comfortable with names and words unique to the story, I can transition into actually reading the text.
In picture books, an illustrator can make or break a story. What I often see in children's scripture stories are cartoonish renderings that are incapable of showing the depth of these great stories. I have completely fallen in love with Apryl Stott's thoughtful illustrations, which are sufficiently stylized to draw your eye to what matters most, while containing thoughtful details for those who want to linger on them. As if that wasn't enough of a treat, she has been designing a monthly coloring page that appears right after the story.
Together, this author-illustrator team has created a powerful resource for parents and Primary teachers to introduce children to the scriptures.
Book of Mormon Stories
2016 was the year we tried (and mostly failed) to read our church magazines online, so I didn't have access to physical copies from that year. Ink can be expensive, but I felt like my little one needed this, so I printed all of the pages, slipped them in sheet protectors in a 1" binder, and made a cover for the binders.*
The illustrations really appealed to my 3-year old. Paraphrasing the stories as I went, he let me read about half through before losing interest (for this child, it was more than I expected).
Then my older children picked it up, one at a time, and read through it themselves.
Bible Stories
In 2017, each month included a different story about Jesus.
This year, 2018, The Friend has been publishing stories from The Old Testament.
This year I'm prepared. I put a stack of repurposed sheet protectors (anyone else reuse those things?) in a 3-ring binder (for the year, you will need 24). As soon as we get a new Friend magazine, I can carefully tear out the Bible stories (and anything else in "The Friend Jr." that I think we will want to reread) and slide them straight into the sheet protectors.
I finally got around to making a binder cover so I would stop losing this binder when it's in plain sight. I named it Bible Stories so that this year's Old Testament stories and last year's Stories of Jesus could go in together.
Church History
While I have no inside information, I'm going out on a limb and guessing that 2019 will finish things off with a year of stories from church history.In case of that eventuality, I also made a "Stories from Church History" cover.
Free Printable Covers
The link for the binder covers takes you to Google Docs, where you can view and download them.Scripture Binder Covers (Original, Full-Ink Version)
Low-Ink Version of Scripture Binder Covers
Printing the Covers from a Mac
- Download (see links above)
- Open the document in Preview
- Select "Fit to page"
- Select "Single-sided"
Printing the Covers from a PC
- Download (see links above)
- Open file
- Select File, Print
- In the print dialogue box, choose "single-sided"
Getting the Stories
*If you need to go back and print some stories you are missing, go to the website for Friend magazine. Choose the year you need, then the month. Scroll down until you see "Scripture Stories." Off to the right it will have the author's name, Kim Webb Reid. Click the download button (an arrow in a circle), and print from there.I recommend printing the stories SINGLE SIDED on plain computer paper (it doesn't need to be cardstock), fit to page, and if there is an option for image quality, I choose "Best."
There is one story in each month, so if you're missing stories, YES, you will have to go separately to each month.
Im So glad that you were a fan as well! I was a little discouraged to save them thinking I'd missed so many-- but thank you for giving me the nudge to go through the archives! Two quick questions. They only started in 2016, is that correct? And Do you happen to have a story and or coloring page for March 2017? Looking on the church website there is no month of March for that year-- so strange!?
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