TOS CREW Review: Hank the Cow Dog

Hank the Cowdog has been an award winning line of books, audios, and games (among other products) that has been around since the 1980's. I had not heard of them before I received my review package from them. In it contained Hank the Cowdog: The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud horse, Tales and Tunes from Hank CD, and Tornado game.

The stories are told from the perspective of Hank the Cowdog. He is from northern Texas and is a little ruff and gruff around the edges. The tone of the stories are reminiscent to me of what I would have listened to growing up in the 70's and 80's. The stories lean on the silly to nonsensical. Although children tend to love these kind of stories, because we tend not to read these type of stories, my husband and I screened them together.

Hank is the "Head of Security" on the ranch. He tells different stories of his encounters and stories involving several of the main characters: Sally Mae (the human,) Drover, Wallace the Buzzard, and Pete the Barncat. Other characters are also briefly mentioned. All the books are also available in audio format.

The CD contains a sampling of the stories and songs from the books. My husband enjoyed them somewhat, for every time I tried to skip ahead to the next story on the CD, he would make me wait until the end of the story. Like I said, Hank is a little rough with his speech and likes to use words and phrases such as darn, ninny, "little snot", "what the heck," and calls people moron, dumb, and stupid. So I was not comfortable reading this to my children or letting them listen to the CD.

The Tornado game is similar to "Sorry" or "Trouble" games. Your goal is to get your men around the board first while sending other players back to start. My children did have fun playing the game. The game is simple enough that non-readers as well as readers can enjoy the game together. It is compact and folds nicely so you can take it with you when you travel. The pieces are the characters from the books and stories.

You can hear samples of the story: The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse HERE.
You can hear samples of the CD: Tales and Tunes from Hank The Cowdog HERE.

You can find out more about the Tornado game HERE.

Online Euducational Share

There is a great list of education links available at:

http://homespunlife.blogspot.com/2009/08/online-education-share.html

Always "surf" at your own risk! There will probably be sites you don't agree with, so beware! Children should never "surf" alone!

The American Patriot's Bible

The American Patriot's Bible:

The Word of God and the Shaping of America.

General Editor: Dr. Richard G. Lee

The American Patriot's Bible is a hardcover study bible containing the complete Old and New Testaments in The New King James translation. Interspersed throughout the bible are 48 beautiful color and black and white photos on glossy paper of heroes past and present of the United States, including our current president, Barrack Obama, and United States landmarks, such as the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. Chapter openings of each book of the bible give a brief description of the book with author, date written, key verse, key chapter, and theme of the book. There is also a subject index, a concordance, and colorful maps in the back of the bible.

Contained in the book are 254 articles that discuss our Judeo-Christian heritage. You will read about the "Great Awakening" and prayers for our nation, about the Emancipation Proclamation, Martin Luther King, and various other times and events in US history. You will find little snip-its of quotes by presidents and others reminding us of our Christian heritage and what verses various presidents laid their hands on while taking their oaths of office.

The themes of the writings included in the bible are sanctity for human life, respect for our country, and turning hearts of our country back to God. The print throughout the bible is larger then most bibles, making reading the bible more comfortable and enjoyable.

Overall, this bible is beautiful. I did feel the supplemental readings were disjointed and did not flow as nicely as I would have liked. I do wish there was more details about the history and not just snip-its here and there. Otherwise, the extra material does not interfere with the reading and flow of the bible itself, which is most important.

I highly recommend this bible as gifts to you our nations leaders and future leaders (no matter how little or big a role they play in our society) and for our US military personnel.

A You Tube video featuring The American Patriot's Bible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjHaNCre6do

Purchase this bible at:

Amazon.com

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