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Baby's First Bible Stories
by Cottage Door Press
A padded board book of twelve favorite Bible stories retold in simple words for the youngest listeners, with soft, friendly illustrations. A gentle first Bible for babies and toddlers.
Updated August 2026
Key features of this book.
- Padded board cover
- 12 favorite Bible stories
- Simple text for the very young
- Soft, friendly illustrations
How to use this book.
For bedtime reading
- Read one story per night for a calming routine
- Use gentle, soothing tones
- Point out illustrations and ask questions
- End with a simple bedtime prayer
For family devotions
- Read together and discuss the story
- Ask: "What did you learn about God?"
- Connect the story to your child's life
- Draw or act out scenes together
A book like this one is a good gift, and a dozen other families can give the same one. Our own keepsake book is printed for a single child, with their name on the cover and their own little face in every spread.
Explore more Bible story categories.
Bring Baby's First Bible Stories home.
Recommended for ages 0-3 years.
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What we checked against Scripture.
We read the passages behind the stories in this book and note where a retelling compresses, paraphrases or adds. We compare editions and read what other parents report. We have not tested this book with a classroom.
The twelve stories
Each retelling is a few sentences long and prints a Scripture reference beside it, which is unusual in a board book and makes it easy to read the real passage to an older child.
Compression
At this length every story loses its cause and its consequence. The reference beside it is the way back to what the passage actually says.
Questions parents ask.
What age is Baby's First Bible Stories for?
It is a padded board book, which puts it with babies and toddlers rather than with readers. Store listings disagree on the printed age band, so go by the format instead: board pages, a padded cover and a dozen stories of a few sentences each are made for a child who is being read to on a lap.
What is inside?
Twelve favorite Bible stories retold by Rachel Elliot in simple sentences, each with a Scripture reference printed alongside so an adult can look up the passage. Cottage Door Press published it in 2018. The illustrations are soft and friendly rather than detailed, and the padded cover is the reason most people choose it as a gift.
Does it print any Bible text?
No. The stories are retellings in the author's words. What it adds, which many board books do not, is the chapter-and-verse reference for each story, so you can read the real passage to an older sibling from the same page while the baby looks at the picture.
How long does a reading take?
About a minute a story, so the whole book is twelve minutes if a determined toddler makes you finish it. Most families read two or three at a time. It is short enough to be the wind-down after a longer book rather than the main event of a bedtime.
What does it leave out?
Everything past twelve stories, and all of the difficulty. A baby's board book gives you creation, Noah, the nativity and a handful of miracles. There is no arc connecting them and no explanation of why any of it matters. That is the right scope for the age, and the reason it gets replaced around three.