How to see the stories of God

So i'm sitting around trying to figure out how i'm supposed to teach 9 year-olds the fine art of reading Scriptures. I think some things are for sure: I cannot tell them to learn Greek... it's not really viable for me to give them a crash course in Jewish history and sociology cc. 6 BC-30 AD... I don't think I can explain the ideas of authorial distinction or redactions criticism.

But you know, the texts are really more prophetic than historical anyway. We read them for what they say to us today. If you read the story of Jonah, it doesn't really matter if it "happened", the point is that God wants you to hear that story... it's somehow timelessly relevant to the human condition.

We call God 'our Father' anyway, so I guess i'll just explain it like this: Pretend that your dad is telling you this story. You know that you're supposed to get something out of it, but you might have to think a little while. What's the moral here? How does the pattern of this story relate to your own life? Yes... that's far more productive.

The further you can distance scripture reading from doctrinal analysis the better, and that principle extends to adults and professional theologians.