As part of my teaching reading class in college, we had to teach an adult to read. I learned there are books written especially for older children, teens and adults who struggle with reading. They are called “high interest” books. The vocabulary is easier but the subjects are more interesting to adults than what Dick, Jane and Spot are doing.
The Bible can seem like a very intimidating book to introduce to your child. We think about all of the difficult words and concepts. We remember all those laws and begats and we start to feel a sense of despair. How can we get our child to read all of the great things God has to say to us, if he gets bogged down and never wants to open it again?
The good news is that the Bible is really sixty-six shorter books. A lot of those books have stories that are very appealing to boys and girls and are similar to high interest stories. Many of them, they will never hear in Bible class or from the pulpit. These stories are the hidden gems of the Bible. The best part is that all of these stories are true!
Does your son love gross stories? Does your daughter have a romantic streak? Do they enjoy stories that make you think? They are all in the Bible. I even taught one entire quarter of all of the weird, wild, wacky stories in the scriptures.
The great thing about these stories is that most of them are short and are very easy to follow. As with everything in the Bible, they also have the advantage of having a deeper lesson or purpose. They make great family devotionals or independent reading for a new Bible reader.
These stories will show her a glimpse of the amazing ways God works and the amazing if not sometimes strange choices we sometimes make as people. Help your child enjoy his first attempts at reading scripture and he will hopefully be hooked for life. Who knows, he may even eventually want to tackle reading the laws of Moses!