The Oxford Book of Bible Stories
The Oxford Book of Bible Stories retells forty of the most powerful and unforgettable stories of the Old Testament: Noah’s Ark, Samson… Ruth… Handsomely illustrated by Jason Cockcroft.
Sadly, The Oxford Book of Bible Stories is no longer available, although you may be able to find secondhand copies on Amazon or elsewhere.
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At first there was nothing but God.
Everything around God was chaos
Like a wild, wide,
Deep, vast ocean.
God filled it with light
And called it Day
And he called the darkness, Night.
That was the dawn and the dark of the first day.
Contents:
Creation • Eden • Cain and Abel • Noah • The Tower of Babel • Abraham, Father of all Nations • The Cities of Sin • Sarai and Hagar • Abraham and Isaac • Jacob and Esau • Laban the Trickster • The Journey Home • Joseph the Dream-reader • Moses, the Child of the River • Moses and the Pharaoh • Parting the Waves • A Land of Milk and Honey • Joshua • Gideon against the Midianites • Jephtha’s Daughter • Samson, the Strongest Man in the World • Ruth • Samuel • Saul • David the Giant-killer • David the Outlaw • David the King • The City of David • Bathsheba • Solomon the Wise King • King Solomon’s Temple • Rehoboam the Foolish King • Elijah the Prophet • Elijah in the Wilderness • Elisha and the Leper • Jezebel • Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar • Balshazzar’s Banquet • Daniel and the Lions • Esther, the Queen of Persia • Jerusalem Rises Again • Jonah and the Monster Fish • Index of Places and Names
Another book of Bible stories? This one is retold by an award-winning author. Unusually, the biblical characters are given feelings and emotions – eg how the animals felt at being separated from their families for Noah’s Ark, and God roaring in the rain as he flooded the earth. Enhancing the pages are colour and black and white illustrations, some of which are impressionistic in style.
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What a dream team. Berlie Doherty, who is an accomplished prize-winning novelist, retells the Old Testament stories, which are brought to life with wonderful illustrations by the masterly Jason Cockcroft.
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As you see, it’s a very comprehensive collection covering 271 pages.
When I was a child, in a small seaside town, I used to go to the beach and listen to a man telling stories. One was about a baby whose mother hid him from the soldiers in the bulrushes, and whose sister Miriam watched and waited to see what would happen to him. Another was about Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale and was later spat out, still alive! Another was about Daniel, who spent the night in a lion’s den, and not a hair of his head was touched. While he was talkng, the man stuck little cut-out felt lions, whales, babies and suchlike onto a felt board; sometimes they would drop off – the desert camel, which turned up in most stories, had a particular habit of doing that. The children would giggle and whistle, but I used to sit with my heart stopped while the story-teller groped in the sand, desperate for him to carry on with his story.
I loved those stories. I didn’t even know that they came from the Bible.
Then, one day, OUP invited me to retell stories from the Old Testament. Imagine my joy at revisiting these stories from my childhood. In my research I discovered more that I only half knew, or had never met before, and realised that they are all part of one big, important story, like chapters in a book. These chapter-stories are full of danger and treachery, of heroes and villains, of fierce love and simple devotion, of hopeless despair and glorious triumph. I am haunted by characters such as Ruth, stranded in a strange land; Jeptha’s daughter, who knows she will never grow up; Hagar, sheltering her dying son from the desert heat; David, shepherd boy, giant-slayer, King… Oh – but I can’t stop there! But they are all in these pages, for you to discover.
I hope you love reading them as much as I loved listening to the man on the beach. Instead of his felt figures, you have Jason Cockcroft’s superb illustrations. I hope the stories will stay with you for the rest of your lives.
As with my Fairy Tales collection, I was faced with the task of retelling stories that were so familiar that it seemed impossible to make my version any different. What I did was to read the original story, close the book, write the story again in about six or ten sentences, just to get down the most important points that must never be changed, and then to build the whole story up in my own words. Try it yourself with a well-known story like Noah. How can you bring the characters and place to life; how can you make it exciting and interesting, and most of all, how can you make the reader want to know how it finishes? You have to work hard! You have to imagine you are there yourself.