Bible Translations for Children

I've been weighing the possibility of buying a Bible that's translated specifically for children. Does anyone have any thoughts/wisdom on this?

I ask because in some ways I think it's unnecessary. We have a number of Bible translations in our home already; we read mostly from the KJV or ESV at family devotion times. Like other books we read to the sweet girl, we know much of the Bible is still going to be "over her head," but we believe in the importance of reading it together. We can always spend time explaining, discussing and answering questions, and we also believe that there's richness in hearing the cadence and beauty of the language itself, especially in a beautiful translation.

But there's also much to be said for reading a version that's easier, more comprehensible for young people. We've used a number of Bible storybooks in the past few years, which are really collections of re-tellings of stories or passages from the Scriptures. There are some very good ones these days: we've especially liked Big Picture Story Bible and The Jesus Storybook Bible (which approach the Scriptures from an overall narrative/big picture perspective, relying on insights in Biblical theology). When the sweet girl was even younger, we used Lindvall's Tell-Me Stories books, which are marvelous for read-aloud (we still use them sometimes!). We also very much liked the now out of print "My Very First Bible" (by Sattgast) -- we've used both the Old and New Testament volumes, and still go back to them occasionally, though she's starting to remark that the stories are "too short." This year we've also been reading our way through Egermeier's Bible Storybook which has the advantage of being a very full collection with much longer and detailed re-tellings. I think it's been fairly effective, though I'm not wild about the illustrations. We're also using and liking the Young Reader's Bible by Standard Publishing for independent reading practice.

I'm now working on lesson plans for our first grade year, and one of my plans is to combine our ongoing study of the Bible with our new studies in Ancient History. I'm utilizing a curriculum guide called Biblioplan for Families and they emphasize reading a number of Biblical passages that correspond chronological with the history studies we're undertaking. For younger students in the K-3 range, they recommend The Step-by-Step Bible by V. Gilbert Beers. I've been trying to find a copy of this to look over (to see if I want to purchase it) but it's apparently out of print and not showing up in our county library system. I was not wildly impressed with the Early Reader's Bible that Beers did for the same publisher, which is why I'm hesitating to go on and buy a used copy (though there are some available on Alibris).

In the meantime, I've been researching into actual translations of the entire Scriptures for children. It seems there are a handful of fairly respected ones, primarily The International Children's Bible and the NirV (essentially the NIV but moved into an easier reading level). There are also other translations geared toward non-native English speakers or young/less fluent readers, including things like the CEV and Good News.

A bit mind-boggling, isn't it? And I don't mean to go crazy here. I'm thankful, very thankful, for the many rich choices we have when it comes to English translations of the Scriptures. I also know that the most important thing is that we're faithful in reading together each day and in teaching our daughter to love and listen to and obey these words. Still, I'd love to find a good article somewhere that fully compares/addresses some of the available options, particularly if it gives attention/care to the methodologies behind some of the translations. If anyone knows of any such resource, or if you'd like to share what you've used or how you've approached Bible reading and Bible study with your family/young children, I'm all ears!