--- description: Find out why A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet is on TIME's list of the must-read books from this year. title: 'A Children's Bible' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c5c9ad7c264ccf5/698a1408b3fce335a60c75ec/best-books-2020-Childrens-Bible.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 09, 2020 # A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  After a punishing storm sweeps through their shared vacation home, a group of children decide to run away. They’re annoyed with their parents’ responses to the catastrophe—many of whom chose to self-medicate in the face of chaos. What ensues is both a timeless adventure story and a distressing narrative about the burden today’s younger generations carry, forced to deal with times that feel increasingly apocalyptic. The agonizing concern in _A Children’s Bible_ is not these characters’ proximity to the end of the world, but instead their readiness for it. It’s a haunting message, and one that author Lydia Millet underlines in the judgmental, precocious voice of her teenage narrator, Evie: the children are listening, and they know it’s on them to clean up the messes the adults have left behind. **Buy Now:** _A Children’s Bible_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9781324005032 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1324005033/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1324005033&linkId=a4a5910d60a83709503f00d4bbb14cbc "undefined") These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904412/a-childrens-bible/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904412/a-childrens-bible/"},"headline":"'A Children's Bible' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-09T20:07:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:44:26.812Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904412/a-childrens-bible/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c5c9ad7c264ccf5/698a1408b3fce335a60c75ec/best-books-2020-Childrens-Bible.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c5c9ad7c264ccf5/698a1408b3fce335a60c75ec/best-books-2020-Childrens-Bible.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904412/a-childrens-bible/","name":"'A Children's Bible' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020"}}]}] ```