Audio Drama

Product Review–Jonathan Park Audio Adventure

September 7, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

I remember reading, in literature we regularly received from some Creation ministry (I can’t remember anymore which one), about the Jonathan Park audio adventures. At that time, our family did not listen to anything recorded, which means this must have been well over 20 years ago. I thought, at the time, that these stories sounded amazing—I wished they were books, rather than audio adventures. Then, after we started listening to recorded stories, we didn’t have a CD player, only tapes, for many years, and no money to buy anything extra, so I never seriously thought about buying those stories for my children, although they would have loved them. When I was offered the chance a couple of months ago to listen to The Adventures Begins, Series 1 from Jonathan Park, I jumped at the chance. I was sure my children would love these stories!

Well, I was wrong. My older children would have loved them, but the younger family (we have a 4-year gap between the older children, who are now all out of school, and the younger ones) don’t listen to the same type of stories that the older ones loved. I played a few chapters after school on rainy afternoons, but we have so few sunny days here this time of year that, when possible, I want them outside as much as they can be. So, I resorted to listening myself while I worked, and found Little Miss hanging around to hear the stories! The two boys are simply not interested. How disappointing! I enjoy these audio adventures.

There are four albums in Series 1, each containing three 26-minute episodes. These make a total of nine stories, three of which have two parts. In the first, “Secret of the Hidden Cave,” Jonathan Park and his father Kendall, a paleontologist, find themselves in a cave in New Mexico during a storm. They discover a dinosaur skeleton—but have to flee before rescuing it. There are two parts to that story, as well as the next one, “Adventure on the Aucilla River”. In this episode, the Parks and their new friends the Brenans, on whose property the hidden cave was found, fly to Florida to help with an archeological dig in a river. They also help to catch some art thieves. “Disaster at Brenan Bluff” follows, in which a dinosaur graveyard is found and lost—and Jonathan learns a lot about pride and its results.

“The African Safari” is more on the unbelievable side. The Parks and Brenans are flown to Africa to uncover hominid fossils—and find themselves involved in a grand deception. “Escape from Utopia” takes place near Roswell, New Mexico, where they find themselves caught up in another fraud! How can they escape from a bunch of crazy people who are trying to contact aliens? Then, in “The Clue From Nineveh,” the bully from school, who already caused a lot of embarrassment to Jonathan, causes more trouble at the museum. The last episode in Album 3 is “Art Heist Adventure,” and unfortunately, I haven’t had time to listen to it yet, or to the three episodes in Album 4, “Mystery at Dead Man’s Curve” and parts 1 and 2 of “The Return to Hidden Cave.” Little Miss and I plan to listen to them as soon as we have the chance.

I like the way scientific principles were woven into these stories. There were a lot of evidences for God creating the world only 6,000 years ago, and the truth of Genesis. Sometimes, the explanations got too long-winded, but most of them time they worked naturally into dialogue in the story. Most of the time, the stories were easy to follow, but sometimes, point of view switched between two sets of characters, and I got confused about who was speaking. Overall, I would say that the Jonathan Park audio adventures are very interesting, and definitely worth listening to. Click on the image below to read other families’ impressions of these stories! And, if you want to try out these stories for your family, “The Adventure Begins, Series 1” is currently discounted by 60% on the vendor’s website. Use the code jpcrew22 for free shipping for the CDs, or buy the digital download; both are the same price. There is no end date for this code.

Product Review–The Adventum

August 30, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.

My family loves listening to audio books. Many years ago, I found, in a secondhand store, a set of tapes of dramatized Bible stories, and those tapes nearly got worn out from all the listening! So, when we were offered the chance to review The Adventum, Volume 1, I didn’t hesitate to request it. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to listen to all of this yet. I thought we could get through a lot of it while we were traveling about a month ago, but Miss Joy couldn’t handle listening to it, so that didn’t work. I thought we could listen in the afternoons while she’s asleep…but half the time now, she doesn’t sleep, and the other half of the time, we want to get outside in the sunshine! So, that hasn’t worked, but Esther listened to all of it and very kindly wrote this review for me. I had taken some notes as we listened to the first two chapters, and she covered everything I noted, so I’ll just let her tell the tale.

Since I was very young, I have loved stories, and when audio dramas first entered my life, I was amazed and even more addicted to books. I was the girl that went around with one of those 9-inch-long portable cassette tape players, the kind with four AA batteries in it, riding my bike on our driveway for hours just so I could get a little more listening time in. And, with all the different stories I listened to—some that Mom recorded herself, and some that we bought—there were a certain amount of Bible stories I had the chance to hear. Some were gripping; others, not so much. But no matter what, I always enjoyed the chance to hear another story.

Recently, I was reminded of that time when Mom brought out The Adventum for us to listen to. I admit; I was skeptical at first. Most of the dramatized Bible stories I’ve heard in the past typically fall into two camps: Dramatized with too much creative license so it deviates from, or even undermines, the messages from the Bible, or ones that sound like they’re straight out of a children’s Bible story book with a bit of music added in the background. Neither option is particularly appealing to me, and though I’ve learned more about the Word from both, I wasn’t excited about hearing more of the same. But hey…anything is worth a try once, right?

When Mom turned it on, I thought it sounded like the “Bible story book with a bit of music” sort of recording. “Okay…this is going to be boring,” I thought. “No surprise there, I guess.” We progressed through the first days of creation, and part-way through day four or five, I realized it wasn’t just music in the background. I found myself in the Garden of Eden, watching the calm sea suddenly erupt in a chaotic whirl of bubbles and foam, with the snorts and squeals of a myriad of sea animals coming to life all at once. Then the sky was filled with the twittering and warbling of hundreds of birds—a majestic, beautiful scene. Then came the land animals, with the elephant trumpeting nearby and dogs and sheep running on the new green grass. It was…stunning. I’d never seen the creation of the world that way before. And as we followed the progression of the story—the Lord creating Adam, Adam naming the animals (I loved the humor in that scene!), then searching the garden for his special “other”, I found myself drawn into the story more and more. When the eventual fall came, I found myself shocked and grieved by all that transpired—in a way I hadn’t considered the story before.

We weren’t able to listen for very long. Around about the time we heard about the fall of man, my two-year-old sister decided it was too scary to listen to any longer, and we had to turn it off. She’s a sensitive soul and is incredibly adept at immersing herself in stories, even at a young age. But later, when she was out of earshot, I was able to finish listening on my own.

There’s a lot to love about The Adventum. From the beginning, I noticed that they weave New Testament truths into the story. At one place, I think around the time of the fall, it was talking about the grief Adam and Eve experienced, and the narrator quoted part of John 3:16: “For God so loved…,” and suddenly, that verse was enriched by the context. I found this first volume—tracing the Bible story from the creation of the world through to Jacob fleeing to Laban—gripping, entertaining, humorous, and insightful.

But the question remains…how does this story stack up compared to the Bible? There was creative license used here and there. With Adam searching for Eve, for example, it shows him running all over the garden, wearing himself out before he falls asleep and God creates her. That’s not in the Bible, but I felt it’s a good idea of how that may have played out for him. There were a few inconsistencies I found, though. One that sticks out is right before the flood, when it shows Noah out gathering firewood when he knew that the flood was imminent. He finds himself racing back toward the ark as the floodwaters rise around him, and only just manages to get in in time. It’s possible, of course, but I feel like Noah and his family would have stayed in the ark in those last few days, trusting God for the timing of everything, rather than running around trying to get a few more supplies. Another place I noticed was when Abraham sacrificed Isaac. That was a powerful scene, but they never had Abraham tell Isaac what was going to happen—you hear him suggest that Isaac sit on the altar, then lay down, then close his eyes…the Bible doesn’t say either way, but I’ve always read the story as if Isaac was a knowing and willing participant in the scene. Again, it’s possible; I’m just not convinced.

As a whole, though, I came away very impressed by The Adventum. They kept to the Biblical account, didn’t detract from what God was doing (and didn’t change it), and delivered an engaging, fresh look at the stories we all know and love. While younger listeners, like my sister, might find it hard to listen to because they are pulled into the scenes so much, I believe most children above 8 or 10 years old would be fine with it. One thing I appreciated was that this series is very clean—you hear that the people before the flood or in Sodom and Gomorrah are evil, but their sin is not described. And even though several babies are born, those scenes are also carefully crafted and not graphic.

For the child, like me, who can’t get enough of audio stories (even if they don’t have a portable tape player!), I think this would be an exciting addition to their library. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Volume 1, and I hope I’ll have a chance to hear more of them in the future!

The Adventum is available in two formats, as CDs or as a digital download. We received the digital download, which is very handy, as we can load it onto any device for easy listening. Both cost the same. Right now, both are 50% off through their website, and here is a code for free shipping within the United States: advcrew22. If you have children who enjoy listening to audio drama, don’t hesitate. Order now—you won’t regret it! Click on the image below to read more reviews of this new way to hear the Bible.

Product Review—Brinkman Adventures Season 6

October 11, 2018 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We have been listening to the Brinkman Adventures audio dramas ever since the first season was released. We’ve enjoyed some episodes more than others, of course; some have been absolutely great, and others were not quite so interesting but still good. When we saw that Season 6: Underground Rising was available for review, all of us hoped we could get it, and we started listening to it right away.

The first two episodes are about the Dutch Underground during World War II. The stories were quite interesting, and the fact that they are true stories from the producer’s grandparents makes them especially interesting. The 3^rd episode, Twice Born Fly, was a fun story about when the father of the family found himself in prison in quite bizarre circumstances. I was expecting the punch line that came, but it was still a really fun story, with a great message. The 5^th and 6^th episodes, about the Free Burma Rangers, were very exciting. We were nearly on the edge of our seats at times during these stories. Probably our favorite episode, however, was the 4^th one, I Wonder Why? This tells the story of a family who moved to India to run an orphanage and experienced some amazing miracles—as well as some very difficult times. I think we appreciated it so much because we could relate to some parts of the story. The children of the family went through culture shock, and had many struggles learning to love those around them, as well as learning to adjust to a completely different way of life. The way they changed through the story was really special.

In the episodes about the Dutch Underground, there were stories we quite appreciated, as well as aspects that bothered us somewhat. My favorite part of that story was the scene where the Nazis burst in on a meeting of the Underground. It was New Year’s, so one of the women had made oliebollen, or oil balls, and those treats saved the day. We have a friend who came from Holland, and she makes oil balls every year; we get treated with them when we join her family on New Year’s Eve. That part of the episode was more meaningful to us because of our friend. We also appreciated the attitude of the Underground workers that they wanted to help deliver those who were being taken to death. It meant putting their own lives in danger, but they were willing to do that for the sake of others.

On the other hand, the attitude expressed by one young man that, “Life on the sidelines is very boring,” rather bothered me. When he left the sidelines and joined in the fight, he started doing things that go against the teachings of Jesus. I know many Christians believe that war is different, but we take the Sermon on the Mount literally, and don’t believe it is right to use violence at any time. There was also the issue of stealing ration cards—is it right to steal, even in wartime? I know this was a very difficult time, and I’m not sure what I would do if I were there—this makes a good topic for discussion! Another problem we had with these episodes was the very thick Dutch accent one of the narrators has. It was authentic, and I enjoy the producer’s quest for authenticity, but we quickly lost the younger half of the family as we listened to this story, and they didn’t want to hear any more episodes, sadly, although I believe everyone ended up listening to Twice Born Fly.

The two episodes about the Free Burma Rangers were fascinating, and very exciting. I didn’t know anything about them before, but what we learned, from the audio drama and from the Real Stories page on the Brinkman Adventures website, is amazing. The dedication these men have to help people who are being attacked is wonderful. On the other hand, as I mentioned above, are Jesus’ commands to not kill suspended in war time? I did appreciate what one person stated in Episode 6, that Jesus said we are to love our enemies.

We really enjoyed the Real Stories page. All the children crowded around to see as I looked at the pictures and read the stories on that page. It really adds to the audio version to have this page available and be able to see photographs of the people and events that are featured. At the end of the section for each episode there are a couple of paragraphs to help apply the lessons to our lives. We ended up skipping through those the evening we looked at the page, because it was bedtime and we just wanted to see the pictures—maybe sometime we’ll go back through and get more out of the stories and discussion suggestions.

If you are a family, like us, who enjoy listening to stories, check out the Brinkman Adventures. As I said, we have really enjoyed most of their productions. The first season was definitely our favorite, but some of the other seasons have been very good, as well. And, if you are interested in trying them out, they are offering a coupon right now. The code is FALL10 and is good for 10% off all their products. It is live from October 10-31, so go to their website and try out some great audio dramas for your family!

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