We love listening to learn. The more adventurous and dramatic the better. We love G.A. Henty books. Our latest review is a perfect fit with our family. Heirloom Audio Productions has made an amazing dramatic audio production of G.A. Henty’s title Under Drake’s Flag. There are various options for purchase from $20.00. The best option is ordering multiple copies (4 or 10) and the really neat bonuses.
The story takes place in the exciting time of the Spanish Inquisition and the hero, Sir Francis Drake. Drake is not the main character in this adventure, but rather a moral influence and voice of wisdom throughout the story. It is a side of Drake we don’t read about in your typical history books. Under Drake’s Flag follows Ned Hawkshaw, a young man who grows physically and in faith throughout the story.
The opportunity to join the Crew of Drake’s ship, The Golden Hinde, is a dream come true for Ned. Along this exciting journey, he faces many things that challenge his faith and fears. Through these events, Ned grows from a boy to a man. A happy ending and illustrations of great character are only some of what makes this production great. Those are the things that make Henty books great. This, the Heirloom Audio Productions version, takes a great book and makes it an extraordinary experience.
This audio presentation is much more than an audio book. It is much more than the audio dramas of old we enjoy listening to. The cast are top-notch. The production team members are experienced – having been involved in many of our favorites for our “Listening Lunches”. The effects are amazing and what blows this version out of the water. There are some scenes that may be too intense for younger listeners – probably why the recommended age is 6 year olds and up. The praise from my more visual children – “It’s like a movie!” Despite not having anything to view, they were just as enrapt as though watching a movie. A few of my children are audio learners; they were equally excited – I expected their high praise. We’ve listened numerous times.
We received a 2 CD set that I quickly imported into iTunes and loaded onto my iPad. We listened to the entire thing during a day of errands. About halfway through our first listening, we realized there was an issue with the order. The numbering and information needed to be adjusted in iTunes for the tracks to play chronologically. The tracks are numbered for each disk, but not initially set up for the disks to be played separately. After track one from one disk, track one from the second disk played. Despite this, we still loved our out-of-order audio. A quick change in iTunes and we were on track. Of course, we listened again the next day – you know, to hear the full production properly.
The subsequent times, we used the study guide. There is an abbreviated guide that comes with the CDs and a longer, more in-depth guide available. This longer guide is where the learning and application come in. There are 19 pages of single-page study sheets and three Bible studies comprising three more pages. The single-page study sheets have three sections – Listening Well, Thinking Further and Defining Words. There is something for all ages the study guide. We all discuss the questions from Listening Well – even the younger children. My older girls tackled the Thinking Further questions. We have not covered them all. I marked the questions as we covered them, so we can cover more the next time we listen. If we had begun our school year, it would have been easy to assign these for the girls to complete individually. Everyone also participated in the Defining Words section. We use this to gain experience with a dictionary – yes, a real dictionary. This is something my middle children (6th, 5th and 3rd graders) especially enjoy.
We are really looking forward to more of these great audio adventures from Heirloom Audio Productions! We won’t have to wait long – a new one is due later this year. In Freedom’s Cause – a great Henty book on William Wallace and Robert the Bruce (a favorite!!) is the next title to be brought to life. We can’t wait!
