Gigi's Hugest Announcement (DVD)

About the DVD from the Thomas Nelson's reviewer site:


The Royal Tea Party finds Gigi with a dilemma. She has important news to share with her best friend, Frances, but how best to make such a grand announcement? This slice-of-life peek into the life of God’s little princess reinforces the vital message that each child is royally important to God.


In The Pink Ballerina, Gigi and Frances take their first dance lesson. With reluctant practice and awkward help from Tiara (her new dog) and Lord Fluffy (her not-so-cooperative cat), Gigi struggles to dance perfectly to make God proud of her. But she unexpectedly learns that God is most proud when we show love to others.


My Opinion:


My girls were thrilled to get this DVD from Thomas Nelson - they really enjoy the God's Little Princess items from Sheila Walsh so this was sort of like icing on the cake. Pink and frilly Gigi is God's little princess and wants to share the news with her friend and neighbor but things keep falling apart. She is finally able to do what she knows God would want her to do. In the second title Gigi leans about God wanting us to show love to others.


I'll admit I was a bit bored with this movie but my girls were very much into it - par for the course in this house. I will say neither I, my husband or my oldest daughter thought the use of lord toward Gigi's cat was correct - considering the nature of the DVD - God. This did lead to us discussing the fact that we don't call others lords and there is only one Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, even though Sarah did call Abraham lord in the Old Testament.


Overall, I thought this was a neat way to introduce children to aspects of the Bible, I did think my 8 year old was a bit old for it but my 5 1/2 year old enjoyed it. The DVD sells for $14.99 and can be purchased at Thomas Nelson's website.


**I was given a copy of this DVD from Thomas Nelson in exchange for my honest review, no other compensation was given.

Read and Share DVD Bible Volume I

I love anything that anything that drives home Biblical truths, and when it's done with little one's short attention span and understanding in mind, it's even better. I had the chance to review Thomas Nelson's Read and Share DVD Bible Volume I (you can view it http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=1400313031 )

I was very impressed from the time I put in the DVD until the time that it ended. The short Bible stories begin with Adam and Eve and go through 12 more stories culminating in The Lost Sheep (the wayward son parable). The cartoon style movie was very colorful and allowed for easy focusing for the child, even a child whose focus isn't maintained for long will enjoy it. The narrator spoke slowly and carefully for the child to understand the story and along with titles before each 3 minute story, it was easily understood what the story was about.

The total running time for the DVD is 60 minutes - not including the special features. With each story a length of 3 minutes, a family can watch one and then read the corresponding story from the Bible for even more Biblical applications, or allow the child to watch the whole DVD at a time. If you choose to let your child watch the whole DVD at a time, there are no worries about inappropriate language, behavior or costuming - so it is okay to use it while you get the laundry done or was the dishes.

Like every DVD there are bonus materials: dolby surround sound, widescreen/fullscreen, interviews with "real kids", "behind the scenes", trailers, coloring pages and auto-start. We didn't view much of the bonus materials but from what I did view, it was much like other materials on other DVD's. I must say the best bonus material is by far the coloring pages and auto start. Pop the DVD into your computer and follow the easy directions to get a 10 page coloring book. The images are big and will allow the youngest to the oldest child to enjoy coloring the images. The auto-start allows you (or your child) to put in the DVD into the player and off it goes - no need to press play or other buttons - it's made this way so that children can watch it by themselves.

My children insisted on watching it immediately after me removing it from the package and we were not dissapointed. They were all enthralled, my oldest at 7 years, my middle child at 4 1/2 and my youngest at 2 1/2 years old. Overall, this is a truly well made and Biblically correct DVD that children can enjoy and parents don't have to worry over letting their children watch it. I even learned part of a Bible story that hadn't been told to me in all my years of Sunday school.