"I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture..." -- Chuck Swindoll, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Zondervan, 1994

Contact: Brian Burch or Tara Powers, 616-233-0500

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 27, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Zonderkidz™, the children's division of Zondervan, today announced the NIV Adventure Bible Memory Game for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, as well as a new online destination for the NIV Adventure Bible, www.AdventureBible.com. The app and website bring new interactivity to the bestselling NIV Adventure Bible, America's most-read children's Bible with more than six million copies sold. The game made its debut in Apple's App store this week; the website is currently live in the beta phase.

Memorization is the key to understanding and retaining information. In a young Christian child's life, Bible stories form the building blocks of faith, and research shows that children who engage with the Bible before age 10 are more likely to read the Bible regularly as teenagers. The NIV Adventure Bible Memory Game reaches children by understanding how they learn and then takes them on a fun and rewarding journey through God's Word.

"Reading and memorizing Scripture is important at an early age because it helps children begin to understand God's love and plan for their lives," said Annette Bourland, senior vice president and publisher with Zonderkidz. "By coupling and integrating proven techniques with a technology platform many children understand, the NIV Adventure Bible Memory Game engages children in a completely new way that can impact their faith and their futures."

Mobile apps continue to be among the fastest-growing segments in consumer software, and publishing groups, such as Zonderkidz, are moving into the space in order to provide children educational content that combines interactive features, artwork and games.

The bulk of the NIV Adventure Bible memorization games are designed around word scramble and fill-in-the-blank. Children can review verses for the various levels and then take the quiz. They also can take them at varying levels of difficulty which are differentiated by the number of blanks they need to fill in.

Games on all iOS devices including the iPad and iPod touch and iPhone are segmented into easy, medium and hard levels. Users can record themselves reciting up to five favorite verses. "Shake to Scramble" randomly selects a Scripture verse and creates a new scramble. Users earn animal sound effects and Bible illustrations for correctly completing verses.

The mobile app comes at the same time as the launch of the NIV Adventure Bible’s new beta website, www.adventurebible.com. This online destination provides a safe place for families, Christian school teachers, and children's ministry leaders to get a passport into biblical adventure with maps, timelines, devotionals, sermon outlines and many other activities and educational resources. There are even three online games to test Bible knowledge, a Bible search function, and a teacher dashboard to make assignments and watch the progress of their students' activity on the site. Everything on the site is free and is being praised by Christian school teachers and children's ministry leaders as a wonderfully rich and robust site to supplement their existing curriculum.

"The new AdventureBible.com is full of interactive resources and activities to aid both in family time or teacher lesson planning and to encourage further learning beyond the text of the Bible," added Bourland.

The NIV Adventure Bible uses the updated NIV text, which was completed in the fall of 2010 after years of rigorous translation work by the Committee on Bible Translation (CBT, www.NIV-CBT.org). The updated NIV translation utilized the oldest and best-attested biblical manuscripts along with the finest contemporary English language scholarship in order to create a Bible that was not only accurate, but highly readable and easy to comprehend.

The NIV Adventure Bible Memorization Game was designed by Momentum Design Lab and is currently available in the Apple iPhone and iPad App Stores as a Lite (Free) edition and a full edition sells for $4.99.

About Momentum Design Lab
Momentum Design Lab is a premier user experience design company located in San Francisco, California. With years of experience, our team members have worked with various successful start-ups and large-scale enterprises to produce graphics and interactive interfaces for web-based products. Because we have worked with companies in industries ranging from software and hardware to social networking and non-profit we are confident our team can help you strategize and successfully take your product to market.

About Zonderkidz
Zonderkidz, a division of Zondervan, and Harper Collins, inspires young lives through imagination and innovation. As the leader in Christian children's communications, it produces bestselling and award-winning Bibles, books, board books, graphic novels, audio, video, and digital products that awaken the hearts and touch the souls of kids 18 and under and the people who love them, from family members to educators. Zonderkidz is the publisher of the NIrV (New International Reader's Version) Bible translation, the 3rd-grade reading level edition of the NIV that is ideal for children and those who speak English as a second language. Visit Zonderkidz on the Internet at www.zonderkidz.com.