not that Jonah was disobedient but that he hated the people of Nineveh.’ It is reflecting on this that is important and interesting and drawing out these aspects is very much integral to his approach: ‘They make the stories more open ended They give parents and children the opportunity to consider the ramifications of the story’.


Though Bob has an evangelical background, the stories have appeal right across the denominational divides and looking at the Storyteller Bibles it is clear that they can be used in a much wider context. He has never felt that they should be exclusive – indeed, through the organisation Open the Book he has taken his storytelling programme into schools of all types including Muslim schools just adapting his storytelling techniques to be sensitive to that tradition. They now reach over 3,000 schools around the country. ‘There is an assumption that people know these stories and they are old hat’ he says, but in fact he has discovered people do not know them and if they are well told children welcome them.


They are of course woven not just into faith but also into our culture and knowing them cannot but widen appreciation and understanding. Bob Harman’s storytelling is an ideal introduction.


The Lion Storyteller Family Bible by Bob Hartman with illustrations by Krisztina Kallai Nagy is published by Lion Children’s Books, 978-0745978420, £12.99 hbk.


Ferelith Hordon is editor of Books for Keeps.


Coming Soon from Storyteller Extraordinaire Bob Hartman


Sep 2020


May 2020


When Bob Hartman tells a story, he gives it all he’s got! TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT


www.lionhudson.com


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