Zondervan’s NIV Beautiful Word Coloring Bible is another addition to the Bibles available for those of us who like artistic journaling. Instead of the full color artwork of the original Beautiful Word Bible this one has line drawings for us to color.

ISBN: 9760310445579

Zondervan provided this Bible free for review. I was not required to give a positive review – only an honest one.

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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)

Amazon

Church Source

DaySpring

and many local Bible bookstores

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COVER & BINDING

This edition is hard cover with a dust jacket and includes one aqua ribbon marker. It measures 8.5″ x 6.75″ x 2″ and weighs 3 pounds, 4 ounces. It has a glued binding and lays flat easily.

The actual hardcover doesn’t match the dust jacket but has an illustrated version of Proverbs 3:5-6 in beige and aqua on it.

PAPER

This paper is thick (feels like 40 gsm or  higher) and white (which is rare in journaling Bibles). White pages allow for a slight bit more show through than than the typical cream but allow for truer colors when using light and/or translucent art mediums. The pages are easy to turn and not noisy.

TYPOGRAPHY

It has a 7 point font and is set in single column format. Poetry is set in stanzas, lists are laid out like lists, and letters and quotes are indented to make them easy to spot. The ink is medium dark and consistent throughout.

The header contains the page number and reference verse at the outside corner. It includes standard NIV translation footnotes at the bottom of the page.

The margins are 2.25″ wide with 40 light evenly space lines in any margins that don’t contain illustrations.

Books always begin at the top of a page giving a little extra journaling room at the end of most books.

ARTWORK

While there are notably more empty margins than filled ones there are hundreds of verses to color. There are ones that are simply drawn lettering,

illustrated verses,

full page illustrations,

and two page spreads.

Here’s one I’ve colored with metallic and glitter gel pens.

An index to all the illustrations divided up by artist is included in the back.

COMPARISON TO ORIGINAL NIV BEAUTIFUL WORD BIBLE

The Beautiful Word Coloring Bible is noticeably thicker than the Beautiful Word Bible; 1/2 of an inch thicker and 3/4 of a pound heavier. Since it is an identical text setting all this extra heft comes from the thicker, more art medium friendly paper.

Also since they didn’t use any color ink the chapter numbers and section headings are black instead of teal and blend in more.

Many of the same illustrations are still there just converted to line drawings.

But not all the illustrations are the same (as I originally thought). Some have been altered slightly and some have been completely redone. Here’s an example of one where they substituted a different illustration more suitable for coloring.

ENDING THOUGHTS ABOUT THE BEAUTIFUL WORD COLORING BIBLE

Zondervan’s Beautiful Word Coloring Bible is a good choice for those who want some predrawn artwork to color in their journaling Bible and who either prefer the NIV translation or white paper. For those who liked the original Beautiful Word Bible but wanted thicker paper or an opportunity to put more of their own personal touch to the predone artwork this is the Bible they’ve been looking for.

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This Bible is available at (includes some affiliate links)

Amazon

Church Source

DaySpring

and many local Bible bookstores

_________________________________________________________

Photography by hannah C brown