Children’s Bibles in America : A Reception History of the Story of Noah’s Ark in US Children’s Bibles

Children's Bibles have been among the most popular and influential types of religious publications in the United States, providing many Americans with their first formative experiences of the Bible and its stories. In Children's Bibles in America, Russell W. Dalton explores the variety of ways in which children's Bibles have adapted, illustrated, and retold Bible stories for children throughout U.S. history. This reception history of the story of Noah as it appears in children's Bibles provides striking examples of the multivalence and malleability of biblical texts, and offers intriguing snapshots of American culture and American religion in their most basic forms. Dalton demonstrates the ways in which children's Bibles reflect and reveal America's diverse and changing beliefs about God, childhood, morality, and what must be passed on to the next generation.

Dalton uses the popular story of Noah's ark as a case study, exploring how it has been adapted and appropriated to serve in a variety of social agendas. Throughout America's history, the image of God in children's Bible adaptations of the story of Noah has ranged from that of a powerful, angry God who might destroy children at any time to that of a friendly God who will always keep children safe. At the same time, Noah has been lifted up as a model of virtues ranging from hard work and humble obedience to patience and positive thinking. Dalton explores these uses of the story of Noah and more as he engages the fields of biblical studies, the history of religion in America, religious education, childhood studies, and children's literature.

"The thematic organization of Children’s Bibles enables Dalton to bring coherence to the vast amount of material he has gathered, including more than 350 published print materials from the colonial period to the present. This alone constitutes the volume as a valuable resource for future research." - Reviews in American History

“[Dalton] has written the most wide-ranging book on American children’s Bibles so far…Not only has D. catalogued and analyzed hundred of children’s Bibles throughout American history, but he also usually provides relevant context from American history that could have contributed to particular changes made in the retellings…[Children’s Bibles in America] provides a deeper look into the largely uncharted world of children’s Bible’s in America.” – Catholic Biblical Quarterly

“This is a careful, scholarly work that provides a balanced history of children’s Bibles in America. It patiently and insightfully assembles the information needed to show how children have been taught about God, salvation, the virtues, and the nature of the Bible over the last two and a half centuries…It is a lively and exciting, thought-provoking, living document that demands an answer to the questions it raises.” – Jerome W. Berryman, Director of the Center for the Theology of Childhood

"The book has clearly been well researched and informed by many different texts from different
perspectives throughout the two hundred years it canvasses.… [it] would appeal not only to people interested in children’s literature, but also to those interested in history and religious studies." - Children's Literature