Veggie Tales Pistachio DVD Review

VeggieTales Pistachio- The Little Boy That Woodn’t, is one of their newest DVD sensations that is a lesson in listening to your parents.

We liked this movie a lot. It is full of adventure, humor, funny characters, with a great lesson in the end.

The animation like all of the other Veggie Tales is very well done. In the story, Gelato carved a little boy out of wood so he wouldn't be so lonely. But this carving came to life and was named Pistachio. When he doesn't listen, he gets himself into a “whale” of a situation! He is faced with some tough decsions. Does Pistachio decide to listen to the wisdom of his father and save his family from becoming fish food? You can find out and learn a lesson about the importance of listening to your parents. VeggieTales Pistachio from Big Idea, Inc. is available where DVDs are sold.

The Flowering Cross Book Review For Easter

Easter is just 2 weeks away! I love finding great books to add to my daughter's collection that help to explain the holidays, such as Easter. This beautiful book, The Flowering Cross, by Beth Ryan, is a perfect pick! The Flowering Cross is a wonderful story with graceful and soft illustrations.

In the story the main character, a 6 year old girl named Katie, befriends a grouchy old neighbor named Jack. Katie always shows love to Jack (reminiscent of the story Polyanna) and eventually they become friends. She then invites Jack to church and shares the love of Christ with him on Easter.

My daughter loved the story and I liked the scripture verses at the end of the pages that corresponded with the text. It is now one of our favorites in our library. It would be perfect in your child's Easter Basket!

Product provided by Book Sneeze for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Love One Another

1 John 4:7 (New International Version)
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God."

DVD Review: What's In The Bible?

Phil Vischer and Tyndale House Publishers have recently announced their venture to publish a 13 DVD series called, “What’s in the Bible?”
This is a children's DVD series that explores the greatest book ever written, the Bible. Through the use of puppet characters, the books of the bible, such as Genesis are explained to kids in a humorous but informative way. You can view it here: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-Mnq_sqMus)

I was sent a preview copy for this review and sat down to watch it with my pre-school age daughter. I was excited to watch this video because I love Mr. Vischer's vision of bringing the books of the bible to life for kids. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The puppets were all strange looking and it jumped back and forth too much from a blue headed country singing cowboy to a scary looking grandma with a man' voice, then to two male puppets on safari (one with a ridiculous high pitched girl's voice). I expect better from the Christian community. My daughter told me part of the way through that she likes learning about the bible but wanted to know if I could get the silly puppets off the screen so she could learn. Hmm, well since they were the show, I couldn't comply. I will say that maybe older children will find it funny and might laugh at the puppets, but do we really need to make them so stupid and ridiculous? Our kids are smart, insightful, and sensitive. They want to learn and some of the content was good but it was lacking in the entertainment area.

In my opinion, this DVD didn't meet my expectations and could have been done a lot better, however, if this DVD touches a little one's heart than that's all that matters. I encourage everone to view it for themselves.
You can purchase What’s in the Bible? for $14.99 from Tyndale.
Disclosure: Sample DVD provided from Tyndale House for review purposes.