Zondervan has acquired The Beginner's Bible from Mission City Press, which first introduced the popular line in 1989. Zondervan has served as the distributor of The Beginner's Bible since 1997 and its Zonderkidz group has managed the publishing program since 2004.
Zonderkidz has steadily expanded the product line to include a variety of Bible storybooks as well as full text Bibles that feature art from The Beginner's Bible, children's books, devotionals, I Can Read Bible stories, Bible covers, audio products and seasonal titles, among others. In 2005, Zondervan introduced a full revision of the product. To date, over six million copies of The Beginner's Bible have sold in all editions and it is available in more than 20 languages worldwide. The entire product line of The Beginner's Bible books, Bibles and other branded products has sold more than 18 million units since the brand was first introduced.
With the acquisition, Zondervan said it intends to continue to build out the product line. Among the new products planned are The Beginner's Bible: Kid-Sized Devotions, The Beginner's Bible Book of Prayers, and Heroes of the Bible.
