This Brinkman family loves The Brinkman Adventures, and not just because we like their last name!

The Brinkman Adventures is a radio drama, featuring a family of nine. Based on a real family, many of the incidents in the radio drama are based on real-life events. In addition, the Brinkman Adventures has a focus on real, true stories of modern-day missionaries and other Christian heroes, and these tales are told through the eyes of the family.

Currently, there are a dozen half-hour episodes available on four CDs, but you can also listen to them all online for free. Once you have listened to an episode, you can visit the website to learn more about what really happened, and what portions were embellished or changed for the purpose of the story. That has been a highlight for my family.

The CDs include:

1. Dangerous Waters, where we meet the Brinkman family, and learn about a plane crash in the Bering Sea. This plane was returning from a missionary trip to Lavrentiya, Russia, when it went down. 
2. Out of Control, where Mr. Brinkman loses his job and the family has a visit from Aunt Sarah. Sarah tells some stories about her time as a missionary in Africa. There really is an Aunt Sarah, and these stories are based on experiences her team had.
3. Into the Wild occurs mostly in Papua New Guinea, where two of the Brinkman teens participate in a short-term mission project. These stories are actually based on a short-term missionary trip that the real "Mr. Brinkman" took when he was in high school.
4. Unity Bridge primarily takes place in the Sudan, and is based on the Fader family, a real missionary family. The last episode on this disk occurs in Milwaukee at a local ministry.

We listened to these while driving, which meant we couldn't immediately look up what portions were real, and which incidents were fictional. That led to some fun discussions as we tried to guess what really did happen. 

It helped that I had heard the story of the plane crash in the Bering Sea, so I did remember some of those details, but it was fascinating to later learn that the air traffic control conversations were the real recordings.

These stories are well-written, and they really inspired us to learn more about modern missions.  The production is professional, and for the most part, we were easily able to keep track of who was who as we listened, which is one thing I worry about when we listen to radio dramas.

Season Two of The Brinkman Adventures is currently being produced, and we are looking forward to learning more about this amazing, funny family.

Product review by Debra Brinkman, Assistant to the Product Reviews Director, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, January, 2013