For the Temple: an Audio Drama from Heirloom Audio
We are all total bookworms in this house, and we have enjoyed multiple G.A. Henty books, so when I was given the opportunity to review For The Temple from Heirloom Audio, I jumped at the chance! We enjoyed it so much that I’m going to purchase more Heirloom Audio productions and download them to my phone so we can listen while we run errands and wait outside music lessons.
This time, however, we all worked on the Study Guide activities at the kitchen table while we listened. It reminded me of the stories my grandma tells about sitting around the radio in the living room as a family, listening to their favorite programs.
I recieved a digital download of ‘For the Temple’ along with the accompanying, 51-page Study Guide. In addition to listening insight, thinking prompts and vocabulary, the chapter-by-chapter study guides include sidebars with fascinating information about Josephus, food in ancient Jerusalem, historical tidbits, a map of the Siege of Jerusalem, beautiful artwork and ends with a Bible Study about our Savior.
Literature is so much more educational when you understand the customs and culture of the period and location you’re reading about. The Study Guide helped us to better understand the story by giving us a broad context for it.
Who is G. A. Henty?
G. A. Henty wrote historical fiction prolifically (122 books!) during the 1800’s. He is a master at creating strong, moral characters and weaving them into fascinating historical fiction.
He was known for using stacks and stacks of primary source documents as he wrote, in order to keep his histories accurate. He has a gift for turning stodgy, dull history into exciting, adventurous tales that children relish.
Heirloom Audio is Bringing the Extraordinary Adventures of G.A. Henty to Life
‘For the Temple’ is an extraordinary historical adventure brought to life by the voice talents of Brian Blessed, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Joseph Reed, Jordan Clarke and Sophia Oxenham. These voice actors are so talented that you will be so immersed in the story you’ll forget about the world around you.
This tale follows the life and adventures of young John of Gamala as he leaves the vineyard and his home and family (and Mary) and enters the service of Josephus, then the governor of Jerusalem. John becomes the leader of a guerilla band of patriots, fighting against the Roman occupation. He fights bravely for the Temple, and after a brief term of slavery at Alexandria, returns to his Galilean home with the favor of Titus, the soon-to-be Roman emperor.
Although fighting an impossible battle, John maintains his integrity and convictions. Through masterful storytelling, the reader is at the heart of the conflict between Rome and the corrupt political groups of Palestine, and later the siege of Jerusalem.
I’d better not tell you how it ends!
I really liked how Henty made each of his characters believable and historically accurate in that they really hated the Romans and believed that God would save their country no matter what.
We all came away with a better understanding of the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the desecration of the temple and the holy city. I’m no historical scholar, so I’m not sure whether Henty took artistic license with the facts. But I will tell you that it made me want to read Josephus’ original writings to see.
About Heirloom Audio
Heirloom Audio is passionate about bringing real history to life. Their self-proclaimed mission is to engage their listener’s imaginations by taking them back in time and immersing them in the story.
They work hard, sleuthing through historical documents and travelling to historical sites around the world, to truly go the extra mile and take their audio dramas to a new level of excellence.
How did I use the audio drama and study guide?
My children tend to be more visual and hands-on learners. The best time for audio books and read-alouds in our household is during road trips and when we are washing dishes together after dinner.
I printed out portions of the study guides for each of my children. I didn’t print the entire study guide, because it was so long. I printed about half of the chapters and made sure to print all of the pages that had additional historical information in the sidebars.
The study guide helped immensely, as it provided each of my kiddos something visual to read and questions to think about while they were listening. A couple of my kiddos chose to write in answers to the questions as we went. The others didn’t want to write, but did participate in our discussions, which were based on the questions.
We didn’t use all of the questions — we just chose a few from each chapter.
The sidebars of the study guide, with interesting tidbits of information, probably provided us the best opportunities for discussion. We especially enjoyed comparing the map of the siege of Jerusalem to what we had imagined it to look like, based on the audio drama.
My Thoughts
This audio production was by far the best we have listened to. Even my visual learners appreciate the talents of the voice actors, the sound engineers and the musicians that have gone into this state-of-the-art production.
There are a few very intense moments, which might scare younger listeners. War isn’t happy or peaceful or fluffy. The audio drama isn’t overly graphic — it accurately presents historical facts, and is very well done. But you might need to be careful with particularly imaginative or sensitive, young children.
I look forward to listening to the rest of Heirloom Audio’s offerings.
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Check out more reviews of ‘For the Temple’ by other members of the Review Crew: