Big success for Scripture Union's 'The Big Bible Storybook'

|PIC1|Scripture Union's The Big Bible Storybook was chosen as the Children's Book of the Year at the Christian Booksellers' Convention Awards ceremony earlier in the week.

The Big Bible Storybook, designed to encourage an adult to share the Bible-time with a child, has grown in popularity since its publication in February 2007, with sales over 6,000.

It has even inspired its own Facebook fan club: 'The Big Bible Storybook' looks good enough to eat. The Bible Friends, the dolls designed and created by Mark and Anna Carpenter and used to illustrate the stories, are proving so popular that there are calls to release toys based on the characters.

Maggie Barfield, commissioning editor of the book, was overjoyed with the result: "This win now means more people will hear about The Big Bible Storybook, so more adults and children will meet God through sharing it together."

The Big Bible Storybook is suitable for use in children's groups and at home. In fact one member of the Facebook fan club took it with her to Africa: "The most useful resource we took to Uganda. [We] used it every day at school.

|PIC2|"The kids loved the bright colourful pictures, and it was really easy to transform the stories into dramas and actions for the children to copy.

"Each story was a really good length for the assemblies we did. Love it!"

The Big Bible Storybook has also been nominated in the UK Christian Book Awards 2008 for Best Children's/Youth Book alongside another Scripture Union publication, The Strong Tower by Robert Harrison & Roger Langton.

The results of these awards will be announced in May at the National Christian Resources Exhibition.