Animals in The Bible: Powerful Lessons From God's Amazing Creatures is a 40 minute documentary DVD that explores fifteen animals that are written about in the Bible. There is also an 80 page study guide that accompanies the DVD.

Ants, horses, lambs, snakes, eagles, deer, fish, doves, wolves, foxes, quail, camels, donkeys, dogs, and lions are the animals that you will see in the DVD, Animals in The Bible: Powerful Lessons From God's Amazing Creatures. The video is beautifully filmed with easy-going narration. The production itself shows the majesty of God's creation in stunning color. It is a high quality production. On the back cover of the DVD it says that it will "stir your heart and mind to praise the Creator."

The study guide is a wonderful resource. It includes a few color photographs of the featured animal and information about the animal, such as their function or life cycle. Each animal has different information. For example, the eagle section also includes a comparison with the turkey. The horse section outlines a few famous horses. At the end of each animal chapter there is a resource page about that animal. It is a list of internet sites divided into different categories for easier viewing: hands-on activities, free online games, lesson plans, toys/educational products/gifts, books to read and additional information. My favorite part of the study guide was the section that described how the animal was used in the Bible. Sometimes Mr. Munger included many verses and other times he described how that type of animal was used during biblical times. For example, in the eagle chapter he wrote that "many cultures and religions have treated the eagle as a sacred bird," and "falsely worshipped the eagle." The bolded subtitles made it easy for a young person to find their topic of interest. There were also a few games scattered in the book like word searches. The last list in the book is a list of places to go, virtually and physically, organized by state.

Animals in The Bible: Powerful Lessons From God's Amazing Creatures can be used as an educational video on a rainy day afternoon. It is pleasurable in its presentation to be a stand alone video. The DVD could also be used as part of a science or Bible study. The parent-teacher could watch the section on a particular animal, use the study guide for more information about the animal and then study where the animal is listed in the Bible. Children of all ages will enjoy the beautifully photographed animals in the DVD. The narration may be too much for a preschooler, but the production itself will captivate them.

My children and I enjoyed the DVD. We had never seen a Christian DVD of such high quality. The photography was clear and varied. My elementary aged children liked the study guide too. There wasn't the same type of information available for each animal and they liked the variety. The bold subsections helped them to find their area of interest quickly. As the parent-teacher I appreciated the resource guide at the end of each chapter. I found the DVD to capture the attention of preschoolers, elementary aged children and adults.

The only thing that I would recommend would be a more detailed list of children's picture books that featured the animals that the DVD covered. There is a lot of information included in the study guide, but this section could have been expanded for better use with young elementary aged students.

I look forward to including Animals in The Bible: Powerful Lessons From God's Amazing Creatures in my course of study for the year. Instead of watching the entire DVD at one sitting as planned, though, I think that I will watch the DVD one animal at a time and take the time to really study the Study Guide for more in-depth information about the specific animal. Then we can look at where God included the animal in the Bible and let our hearts and minds be stirred "to praise the Creator."

-Product review by: Maggi Beardsley, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, July 2008.