A lot of kids don't like to read, but there are few who won't listen to a good story. The folks at Your Story Hour know that, and they also know good stories are quite often true stories, which is why they specialize in audio dramas for kids taken from the pages of the Bible, and United States and world history.
Each volume includes several audio CDs with fully dramatized tales of the Civil War, the life of Christ, Christopher Columbus, Clara Barton, Joan of Arc, and much, much, much more. Stories are introduced by a narrator, and are accompanied by music and sound effects as a number of actors bring important events and people of the past to life.
Kids older than 10 or 11 years old will probably find these a bit juvenile, but for younger kids in need of wholesome, non-visual entertainment they're highly appealing and engaging. Only one volume is devoted specifically to character-building stories, but every story on every CD is calculated to impart virtue and honor.
The history in some of the stories can be a bit shaky at times. For instance, Christopher Columbus is portrayed as pioneering the idea that the earth is round when in fact that was a well-established fact in his day, and Abraham Lincoln is basically assumed to be the greatest American of all time. These issues aren't terribly prevalent, however, and won't turn kids off.
In an age when increasingly immoral entertainment is available more and more readily, products like the CDs from Your Story Hour are refreshing and welcome. Some kids will probably find them cheesy, but they're probably the ones most in need of stories that are instructive and historical while remaining fun and accessible.
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Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.
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