How had I not heard of Heirloom Audio Productions before!? (If you don't know about them, and if you or your family enjoy audio dramas, then be sure to read on because you do not want to miss this one!) If you know us well or have been following my blog, you're probably aware that we are avid fans of good audio books and particularly adore radio theatre, audio adventures, and audio dramas. We are always seeking more options and were experiencing a lull in between great books, so when I heard we would be receiving a copy of The Dragon and The Raven from Heirloom Audio Productions to review, I couldn't wait to get it and start listening.
About it...
The Dragon and The Raven is a Christian historical fiction audio drama based on the book by author G.A. Henty. It tells a story of young Edmund, who enlists in the service of King Alfred and their fight against the invading Danes, despite terrible odds, to save Wessex and thereby preserve England. It's a fascinating tale of doubt, faith, courage, perseverance, and the power of God's love, even for an enemy.
Since it is an audio drama, and a good one at that, it is more than just a single narrator reading a book to you. Instead, it's a fantastic adventure that draws you in with a combination of different characters speaking with drama and passion, a nicely composed original musical score, and a wide array of sound/special effects that help you feel immersed in the story. The skilled cast consists of many people, including well-known voices and stars such as John Rhys-Davies, Helen George, Brian Blessed, Sylvester McCoy, John Bell, and Katherine Kellgren. Our experience with it...
Audio books can be a great tool for homeschoolers! There are many ways we use them in our home to maximize our use of time, entertain, and educate. I like to read aloud to the kids as well, but having someone else reading a story - or better yet, a dramatized adventure to listen to - infuses more variety and sometimes even excitement into our routine. We've played audio books when the girls are tasked with a chore like folding laundry or cleaning their room, during a meal or snacks when I'm busy with other tasks, or while they are doing other skill builders and games like knitting, puzzles, or building with blocks. They are great for traveling and waiting rooms at a doctor's office as well! And I must admit that I always keep an audio book on hand in the car for times when the girls begin to whine or argue... it really helps change the mood and keep the peace!
Since we do a lot of driving to various activities, events, and extra-curriculars, we often have some story playing along the way. When our copy of The Dragon and The Raven arrived in the mail, we opened it immediately and brought it with us on our next car ride the next day. I figured that since the girls are 5 and 8, they might benefit from listening to it more than one time, so we'd start with the car and then listen again at home if we wanted to delve into it further and expand our study of the Middle Ages, King Alfred, the Danes, and more. Within minutes, Big Sis was enthralled and I enjoyed listening as well. It is not our ultimate favorite audio drama, but it comes in second for Big Sis (and we have listened to many, many of them) and she said she loved it. In fact, when we arrived at our destination, she was rather disappointed that we had to pause the story.
The company's website states that The Dragon and The Raven would be good for children as young as 4, but while I agree that little kids would likely enjoy the sounds and story, there is a lot that I think would be above their understanding. (Luckily, there is a downloadable study guide available that may help, which I'll get to in a moment.) My 5 year old, Lil' Sis, definitely wanted to hear more of the story, but her understanding was limited and there were a few things I had to explain. Additionally, I think it's important to be clear that this audio drama does involve battle and death (to be expected, of course, considering the theme of the story!), which some young children might not be ready for, and the sound effects make it even more dramatic and emotional for young listeners. I turned down the volume significantly at these points because my youngest daughter gets easily distressed when she sees or hears others upset (she cried watching Care Bears!). However, it did help a bit that, when a person in the story died, they often said they "fell" in battle versus using more descriptive or vividly disturbing vocabulary, which I appreciated.
Heirloom Audio goes above and beyond the basic production of a good audio adventure drama and offers a lot of bonuses as well! We received access to a study guide, soundtrack MP3, an ebook of G.A. Henty's original The Dragon and The Raven, a bold and well-illustrated printable poster with an inspirational verse from Proverbs, an e-newsletter, promotion poster, and a neat 50-minute behind-the-scenes documentary. How cool is that? The number and kind of bonuses you receive vary according to the type of product you purchase from them, but they are all a nice addition.
The study guide was probably our favorite bonus (though we like the inspirational poster as well). It did a lot to enhance our experience because it helped Big Sis and I get a better grasp of everything that was happening in the story and dig deeper into understanding what it was all about. The study guide breaks the audio into about 4-10 minute chunks and then offers listening points, discussion questions, and vocabulary terms for each section. The "Listening Well" questions are meant to bring attention to what a child hears and remembers. We used these to also give a heads up on things to listen for, giving my daughter a purpose in listening the second time around. The "Thinking Further" questions are points of family or student discussion and can also be used as a springboard for further research and discovery, as well as giving even more depth or background to what the child is hearing. And finally, the "Defining Words" section is simply a list of vocabulary terms that might be helpful to have a child look up (or a parent explain). Other things included in the study guide are a recipe for "Alfred Cakes", a reading list with ideas for those who want to know more about Alfred the Great, and some brief related Bible studies and historical notes. Conclusion...
Overall, we really liked The Dragon and The Raven and look forward to listening to other products from Heirloom Audio Productions. I would definitely recommend looking into it if you're looking for an action adventure audio drama with a Christian focus. (To be sure, this is not just for homeschoolers either. It could make a great gift for family and friends too.) If you want to know more, head on over to their website or click on the banner below to read more reviews from other homeschool families.
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For the last month or so, we've had the opportunity to use and review the Faith Builders Bible from Zonderkidz. I am pleased to share our experience, thoughts, and personal opinions with you here. The Faith Builders Bible offers a unique presentation of the Bible by including an engaging brick-building based cover and some very well-designed and fun, bold, beautiful, full-color photos of building block creations as illustrations of certain Bible stories. It is the full Protestant-style Bible (not just selected stories as one might find in books for toddlers and preschoolers), including both the Old and New Testaments.
The main draw of this book will likely be the building block (or brick-building) theme. My kids are only moderately involved with Legos and similar building blocks. We have a good supply of blocks, but they do not play with them daily, nor do they ask for them as gifts or get particularly excited with new sets - unless the set has cute animals or a food/kitchen theme... but that's a story for another post. ;-) Nonetheless, both girls found the Faith Builders Bible interesting and my 3rd grader, Big Sis, cuddled up by me and begged to look through the entire book in one sitting. Granted, we didn't read the whole thing all at once, of course, but we spent plenty of time seeing what this Bible had to offer. Lil' Sis, our kindergartener, stayed with us only to see the colorful photos, but she is happy that this book will primarily belong to her since she hadn't yet received a "real" (full) Bible yet. Conveniently, we received this just in time to go along with another assignment she has to begin looking up books of the Bible!
At the beginning of the Faith Builders Bible, they include an illustration of the Books of the Bible, grouped by type, as a stack of blocks with a book name on each block. This could be helpful in learning all the names of the books in the Bible, but is also interesting to easily see what category they all fall into (for example: law, prophets, gospel, history, etc.).
Beyond the brick-building difference, some nice features of the book include: both a proper/common order and alphabetical listing of the Books of the Bible in the Table of Contents, a dictionary of some helpful terms found in the Bible, and an interesting listing of the publisher's chosen "Great Bible Stories".
This translation version offers "helps" to the reader, such as including more breaks and titles in each chapter, referencing verses quoted in other parts of the Bible, removing confusing/unclear words (specifically, they do not include the word "selah" in the Psalms since the meaning is unclear), and clearly referencing names and places, such as saying "Euphrates River" vs. just "river" where appropriate. These small differences will be just perfect for some people, allowing them to better understand what they are reading. Others, such as those already experienced with various Bible translations, might find this to be altering the text more than necessary and potentially hindering a deeper understanding of Scripture. However, this version is intended for the former type of audience - those who could use a little help figuring out the Word - and would, therefore, benefit from this translation as they begin their adventure with the Bible. And even for those who prefer other translations, this one might give a little insight where it might be otherwise difficult to grasp.
Due to the theme of this Bible, it felt natural to have the girls do some free play with our Legos while they listened to the Scripture being read aloud. This gave them something to do when we read pages that were not illustrated, which they enjoyed. A big benefit for my active kids! To further engage their attention and memory, I'd invite them to build something from what was being read. Other times, they would choose a story they remembered from the Bible before we began reading, we'd look it up, and they'd build as I read.
We found that just using building blocks were not enough for my creative kids. They expanded the building theme into other mediums, even using board game and puzzle boxes to create a Tower of Babel! As you can see from some pictures I've included in this post, they also used other blocks and toys, and Big Sis' favorite: Minecraft! [Hey Zonderkidz! That's an idea for a future similar Bible theme!] She decided to make Solomon's Temple in Minecraft and was much more involved in doing it that way vs. actual building blocks since she could make it bigger and include a burning fire, gold, and more. I think it is worth noting a few more things here: 1) There are 24 color illustrations in the Faith Builders Bible, which both the girls and I were a tad disappointed with, particularly since it's brick-building theme is the feature that differentiates this Bible from others. It is the most engaging and fun aspect! So the limited number of Lego-like photos left us wanting more... much more. That said, I can see why they wouldn't be able to put pictures on every page and had to limit it. The book would simply be too big and thick if they had much more in there. Perhaps two books - one with the Old Testament and one with the New Testament - would be better, allowing them to have more building-block inspiration photos. Or maybe a story book Bible (rather than a complete one) as another option would be good, wherein they could include many more photos and ideas. 2) The font used in this Bible is 9-point size and a clean style. This is totally acceptable for me and my older daughter, but since this book is designed for early readers, it might be a bit small for some students. On the other hand, a larger font would have likely resulted in a heavier and thicker book, which would potentially be less manageable. So this font was probably a reasonable compromise for the publisher. 3) The brick-building illustrations are there more for inspiration than direction. There aren't any specific "how-to" or step-by-step instructions available on how to make the builds shown. Of course, this is a Bible and therefore not meant to be a building guide and since it doesn't come with a kit of blocks that match the pictures it's probably best that they don't have instructions anyway... allowing a child some creative license and freedom while they build (after they get past the "I can't make it just like the picture frustration if they are like my kids), but it's good to know what you're getting ahead of time. 4) The illustrations do not usually match up with their place in the book. For example, if the picture is about the Tower of Babel, I would assume it would be alongside the Bible verses that tell of that story/event... but that isn't the case here. This can be a bit confusing to young children who are inspired to read more. On the other hand, the verse references are included and it would be a good opportunity to teach your child how to look up verses in the Bible, if they don't already know how.
As of this post, the Faith Builders Bible is priced at $24.99. If you'd like to learn more, head over to the Zonderkidz website and check it out, read the reviews on their website, or click on the banner below to read other reviews from my fellow Schoolhouse Review Crew! You can also find Zonderkidz on Facebook and Twitter.
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AuthorI'm a homeschooling mom of three, enjoying our time in Hawaii and hoping to share some of that experience with you, including ideas, reviews, resources, and information. Archives
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