A Brief History of Tyndale Kids

In The Beginning . . . Tyndale House Publishers

Dr. Kenneth N. Taylor wrote what has become The Living Bible so his 10 children could hear and understand the Scriptures in everyday English. In 1954, as he rode the commuter train to his job in Chicago, Taylor started paraphrasing the New Testament into modern English. After seven years of writing and rewriting, he submitted the manuscript to several publishing houses, but it was rejected by all of them. Convinced there was value in the work for more than just their own children, Taylor and his wife invested their limited savings in the publishing of Living Letters. This volume became the first release from Tyndale House Publishers, named after William Tyndale who was the first person to translate the Bible into English for the masses.

Taylor exhibited his self-published Living Letters at the 1962 Christian Booksellers Association convention. The following spring Billy Graham saw a copy of Living Letters and decided to purchase copies to offer on the telecasts of his crusades—half a million copies were given away through the Graham crusades. Ken Taylor's dream had become a reality and more—a publishing entity had been born. Today, The Living Bible has sold more than 40 million copies, and the New Living Translation has sold more than 5 million copies.

Always With a Heart For Children

As you can tell from our founder’s story, Tyndale’s heritage lies in children’s product. Concerned that his children didn’t understand the family's devotional reading of the 17th-century English in the King James Version of the Bible, Taylor wrote what has become The Living Bible so they could hear and understand the Scriptures in everyday English. This first children’s product was a herald for the standards of quality and content of future Tyndale Kids products.

Since then, Tyndale has published hundreds of other children’s products, such as Taylor’s Bible Story Book and My First Bible in Pictures, which have become favorites for three generations of children. And the legacy continues with today’s Tyndale Kids products such as the One Year Devotional series, Little Blessings preschool series, Karyn Henley’s Playsongs and juvenile fiction series such as Left Behind: The Kids. Tyndale Kids is the exclusive CBA distributor for other quality children’s products such as Wee Sing music products, Dorling Kindersley books, Focus on the Family’s Adventures in Odyssey and McGee and Me products, and the Superbook video series. Today, Tyndale Kids publishes approximately 60 new products each year and boasts a backlist of hundreds of kids’ products.

Just as in the beginning, Tyndale continues to make children a major focus of its ministry by making scripture understandable for readers of all ages.

May 1, 2001