We love listening to stories as a family, and audio dramas are even better. That’s why we were excited to review Season 6: Underground Rising, digital version from The Brinkman Adventures.
I was also happy to hear that they didn’t whitewash the truth. For example, in the Dutch Underground, the people were unsure about helping at first. Later, in “I Wonder Why,” one of the missionary’s children was very upset about the changes that her parents’ decisions caused in her own life. Her parents themselves even considered quitting at one point because following God’s call was very difficult. In “Free Burma Rangers,” the main character walked away from faith during his teenage years, becoming a bully and drinking secretly.
Of course, these bits of unvarnished truth are great because the stories are about real people, and nobody’s perfect. They do each go on to make amazing – and much better – choices, however, and that redemption sets a great example for all of us. It takes acknowledgement of the difficulty and sacrifice, however, to understand fully the greatness that comes later.
Some parts of certain stories, however, felt very preachy to me. While the characters in “Twice Born Fly” were conveying excellent information, it felt pushy, and I don’t like that. It isn’t our job to force people to change their minds – we can only share about Jesus. The rest is up to Him. The fly-eating kid in this story was really cute, though.
I especially liked how stories took place in a variety of locations, all over the world. They didn’t only happen in the United States, and the main characters weren’t always Americans. They did go back in time a bit, as well, but they kept a personal connection to the people telling the story, and I liked that. It makes it easier to relate to an unfamiliar situation or culture if you can connect to the person telling the story.
The website has great information, too. You can go there to find more information about the true stories behind the adventure stories, including real photographs of the actual people. There is lots of fantastic information here, and it really brings the stories to life.
One piece of information that I think could be really useful is the curriculum for sale in the store. It costs extra, but these stories would make great jumping off points for further study into the culture and/or geography of each location, in addition to studying the theme and moral of each one.
My Little Man wasn’t very enthusiastic about the episodes that took place during WWII, but we haven’t studied that yet. While there wasn’t anything too intense or scary, it wasn’t a story he could relate to yet. He enjoyed the others in this set, however, and wants to listen to more. We looked at some of the other seasons, and Season 5 is next on his wish list: It involves dinosaurs, the mafia, and more. The locations of this season particularly interest him, and I can see this one being a really big hit.
My Big Helper really liked the music. She thought certain parts of certain stories were harder to understand than others (again, the Holocaust episodes mainly, because we haven’t studied those) and she also thinks that it was cheesy in places. Looking at some of the other seasons, she’s drawn to Season 2. With information about jewels, pirates, and France, she’s excited about that one.
If these inspirational adventure stories sound like a good fit for your family, you’re in luck! They’re offering a 10% discount when you use coupon code FALL10 on all of their products through October 31. This is a great deal!
