If you have followed our family for very long, you know we tend to go far when we travel. We like to drive to Maine as often as we can manage, we have driven to Oregon and Florida too. When I say “we” that usually means the children and I. Robert did join us in 2009 while we were unemployed, but normally he flies in to where we are and flies home – this allows us the most time on vacation.
So how do we manage to drive 2000 miles on way on these trips? Well, we do have a DVD player in the car, but honestly we only watch 1-2 movies in a 12 hour travelling day, and 1 if 8 hours or less. We play games (license plate, sign ABC, etc). Our favorite thing to do is listen to books on audio though!!
Our all-time favorite is The Chronicles of Narnia by Focus on the Family! We love these stories so much I think each of my kids could tell you play by play, the scenes for each!! We have listened so many times, and we still love to listen!
These precious audio dramas are produced by Focus on the Family. We also own Bonheoffer, Corrie Ten Boon, and A Christmas Carole by Dickens. We love the different voices they cast for each character, love the dramatic effects and simply love to listen again and again!!
So when they announced the future release of Oliver Twist I knew that I wanted to get this CD Audio Drama too.
Our copy arrived right before Thanksgiving and instead of ripping it opening and listening right away, I handed it off to my husband so he could listen first, it did note a rating of 12+ on the package. I wanted him to “screen” it before I listened with the kids, in case it was not appropriate.
Well, the entire time he was listening to this story, he would come home using his British Voice, often in character – Mr. Bumble or Oliver, depending on the day. He loved it. I would catch him sitting in his truck once he got home just to finish a section or disk. I knew this story was a keeper for our family!
He feels that for our children it will be okay for them to listen, but he recommended at least 8 year of age. {This is our personal opinion, we do not recommend you allow children under 12 to listen to this drama unless you preview it first for your own family.} He honestly feels that it would be good for our children to really experience how other children were being treated during the early 1800’s.
Specifically, Robert felt that the casting of the characters was perfect, he thought the voices really fit the characters in this production. He felt that Focus on the Family did a great job bringing this story to life, and that they were able to really enhance the story with the dramatic interpretation they provided.
As a family we have listened to the first disk, while trekking up to Dallas, and I will tell you my kids are hooked!! It is obviously a very sad story, especially in the beginning when Oliver Twist is so mistreated. But this story could be fact, it is based on what was really happening during this time in history, and it should make us all appreciate what we have that much more.
I highly recommend this Focus on the Family production of Oliver Twist. I also recommend any of their other products, our family has loved them for years and looks forward to more productions in the future!!
If you would like to hear other audio samples, check out CBD.
NOTE : I was offered a copy of Oliver Twist by Tyndale House Publishers, in exchange for an honest review.
