REVIEW: Job - A Modern Man - Lighthouse Theater CD, Who Was King Tut, and Assorted Reinforced Hardcover Library Binding Nonfiction Books from Library and Educational Services LLC

This review gave us a unique opportunity to try out a variety of titles from Library and Educational Services LLC.  We selected Job – A Modern Man – Lighthouse Theater CD, a book titled Who Was King Tut, and three other complete book series from their vast selection of Hardcover Library Binding Nonfiction Books.

WHAT IS IT?:

Library and Educational Services LLC is a service that offers an immense library of titles from which to choose.  There are so many series and individual titles to explore that you could spend a whole day just browsing all that is available on their website!  And what’s more, their prices will save you a lot of money off publisher’s prices, making it a wonderful way to build up your home library or to supplement and enhance your homeschool program.

I selected one of the Lighthouse Theater CD’s titled Job – A Modern Man.  These CD’s are audio productions with theater-style performances.  There are currently seven titles in this series available from the website, ranging in price from $6.99 to $9.99 each.

I also selected a book titled “Who Was King Tut” from the “Who Was…” series. There are currently over 100 titles to choose from in this series, and they are all normally priced at $3.89 on this website, but I did note that they are currently on sale for $2.89, so it’s a good time to stock up!

In addition, I selected three different book bundles from the Hardcover Library Binding Nonfiction Books category.  These included the Amazing Animal Skills set of 4 books ($21.65), the World’s Scariest Predators set of 4 books ($19.95), and the Ye Yucky Middle Ages set of 4 books ($19.70).

      

In addition to everyday books, there are also curriculum materials available specifically for homeschooling, and it’s easy to search browse within the categories that are most relevant to you.  You can also sign up for their newsletter and select the categories that you’re most interested in hearing about when there are special sales, new arrivals, or closeouts!

OUR EXPERIENCE:

We were so excited to receive our shipment of books and selections!  It was much like a curriculum “box day” when all the wonderful new school books arrive and everyone is anxious to check them out. 

The first selection we tried out was the Lighthouse Theater CD called Job – A Modern Man.  This audio production gives a thoroughly modern twist on the basic story of Job, told in theater-style as if he were a man living in today’s busy and industrious world.  The story was approximately 50 minutes long.  I should start by saying that my 11-year old son, Holden, has pretty extreme ADHD.  I’ve never actually tried any audio theater productions with him before.  My older kids never could sit still for them and lost interest pretty quickly, so I never expected it to be any different with Holden, the most distracted of my three children.  But he does love bedtime stories, even at his age, so I decided to wait and try playing this late at night when he was getting tired and starting to settle down more.  We snuggled up together and listened to it in my bedroom.  Low and behold, he was captivated right from the start!  He was paying close attention throughout the story, and we talked about it afterwards.  He was so animated and excited, and he immediately asked me if we could get any more of them to listen to going forward!  He loved the lively voices and the sound effects, and he reminded me that he puts himself to sleep at night by listening to stories and things with headphones using an electronic device in his room at night.  For him, it was a perfect bedtime story and a great way to transition himself to calm and stillness before bed!  I realized this is actually perfect for him, and of course I said yes to listening to more of them in the future!  This was actually a great discovery for us.  The story was well done, and it was captivating enough that neither of us fell asleep until it ended because we were too busy being engrossed in the story.

Our next selection was the “Who Was King Tut?” book.  The timing on this was perfect for us, as we are currently studying ancient history, and we actually read about the popularity of King Tut in one of our history books the very day we read this book!  The moment lent itself right into learning more about him with this selection.  And wow…we learned a lot!  We read all about the culture of ancient Egypt, their religious beliefs, why the kings had themselves buried in tombs, How the mummies were preserved, how most of the tombs were raided by looters, what kinds of things were buried with the mummies and why, the life and death of King Tutankhamen, and the discovery of his untouched tomb by Howard Carter in 1922.  Holden loved hearing about the legend of the “Curse of King Tut” as well.  The book included lots of helpful black and white illustrations, as well, which helped us understand about hieroglyphs, Egyptian gods and goddesses, how the Valley of the Kings was laid out, etc.  This was an intriguing, fact-filled book that really augmented our ancient history study very well!

Next, we dove into the Ye Yucky Middle Ages series, beginning with “There’s a Rat in My Soup,” which taught us about medieval foods and customs.  This one was really gross, at least to us!  We both shrieked lots of “eewww’s” and “yuck’s” during this book, and it had plenty of colorful illustrations to make it even more interesting.  We could hardly believe some of the disgusting things that people ate in this time period.  It turns out that they ate whatever they could get their hands on, and no part of an animal went to waste, which was maybe the worst part!  And without proper ways to store food, they often ate spoiled foods and beverages.  Yuck!  Holden loved this book with all of its gross descriptions.  It even included a recipe or two, but I don’t think we’ll be trying them out any time soon! 

Then we took a look at the World’s Scariest Predators series, beginning with “Predators of Asia and Australia.”  Although we are somewhat familiar with Siberian tigers, Tasmanian devils, the duck-billed platypus, bats, crocodiles, and vipers already, the particular species unique to this region have some unique characteristics that were unknown to us.  For instance, we did not know that a Tasmanian devil will eat any meat it can find, even dead humans, and its bite is 4 times stronger than that of a dog of the same size!  We did not know that the platypus is actually a venomous mammal with a stinger located on its ankle.  We did not know that ghost bats wraps its prey in its wings and kills it by biting the neck.  That had us so nervous that we decided to research online whether or not they bite humans. Thankfully, they do not!  And we did not know that the Russell’s Viper has a venom that will coagulate human blood in mere seconds…so well that a diluted version of it is used to stop uncontrolled bleeding in people with hemophilia!  This was all so fascinating.  This book was not only full of facts and interesting information worth knowing, but the illustrations take center stage, making it an eye-popping adventure for children.  I was so interested that I would be likely to pick up one of these books to read just for myself!

Last, we started on the Amazing Animal Series, beginning with “Movers and Makers:  How Animals Build and Use Tools to Survive.”  Wow! This book was one of the most fascinating books we’ve read in a long time!  We learned so many interesting facts we didn’t know about the ways that animals manufacture their own shelters, use items in nature as tools to catch food, and create traps and lures for getting food.  All we could think to ourselves after reading this was what an awesome creation God has made!  I can’t think of any other way that so many insects and animals would be so perfectly designed to provide food, shelter, and protection for themselves.  Simply amazing!  These books are a great read, even for me as an adult.

All of the items we received were really captivating and of interest to us both.  The illustrations in the books were wonderful and really added to our enjoyment of the books.  They were all so informative, and they were definitely age-appropriate.  The audio production far exceeded our expectations, and we really had a “eureka” moment at how good of a fit it was for my wiggly son who often has trouble transitioning to bed at night.  The Library and Educational Services website is easy to search.  I found that browsing by my son’s age category was really helpful in ensuring I was choosing books that would be of interest to him.  With so many great choices, it’s hard to choose just a few!  This would be a great place to buy book gifts, too!  I even browsed through the homeschool section and discovered an interesting and unique math curriculum I’d never heard of before, and I ended up spending some time researching it and considering it for our own homeschool!

This website is a great resource, and with so much to choose from, you are sure to find something for everyone in the family, because they also offer teen, adult, and Christian books, as well!  And the hardcover library binding makes them a durable, long-lasting choice that will stand up to lots of use. 

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