I have, in the past, reviewed several different Bibles that are oriented towards kids: some of them have been directed towards youth in general, others towards either boys or girls. I usually find them somewhat disappointing in their emphasis of pictures and cuteness over biblical content. The girls' Bibles have a lot of pink and purple, and "girly" art, while the boys' Bibles focus on blue as a theme color, while emphasizing the "action" of the Bible. This Kids' Visual Study Bible is very different. This is a Bible I would enthusiastically recommend for kids of a proficient reading age. Hands down, this is the best Study Bible for kids I've ever seen! Nothing else I've seen in kids' Bibles comes close, in my opinion.
The first thing I noticed is a big thing for me. So many Bibles oriented towards children make all of the cutesy sidebar content the visual focus: not this one! In the Kids' Visual Study Bible, there is plenty of visually appealing material, but the biblical text is central: the notes and pictures are presented in sidebars that are clearly secondary to the text. I'll take some pictures to demonstrate...
As far as the translation goes, I think the 2011 New International Version is a pretty good choice: it's not dumbed down for young readers, but the dynamic equivalence of the version should work perfectly for late elementary school students, and all students in middle school and up. My daughter, who is going into fifth grade next year, will have absolutely no problem reading and understanding this Bible.
As I said above, I am usually a bit disappointed in recently published children's Bibles, so the Kids' Visual Study Bible was a welcome surprise! I would highly recommend this Bible to anyone who has children in middle school, as it's easily one of the best Bibles for that age I've ever seen. (The publisher's recommended age is 8-12, and I think that's right on.) This is a Bible that honors the text, while still providing plenty of supplemental interest to enhance the child's experience of that text. Hats off to Zondervan for a really fine product that restores my faith in Bible publishing for kids!