Heirloom Audio Productions has done it again! I love to say that. Their audio dramas are spectacular and we {bigfatpuffyheart} listening to them all. Again and again. This time, a young, British gentleman travels to America and experiences the gold rush and the old west. In Captain Bayley's Heir, Frank is accused of a theft at school. He is about to be publicly expelled and humiliated. Unless he confesses. Well, you know how kids are. Be falsely accused of a crime and decide to go to America to clear your name!
This installment of The Extraordinary Adventures of G.A.Henty actually has a bit of a slow seeming start, as it isn't until track 8 when Frank finally heads to America. When I say "slow start" I don't mean the beginning is boring, only that it seems somewhat unrelated to the whole traveling to America thing. Only it wasn't unrelated. We have to meet all those important characters in Frank's life and understand their relationships with him and the kind of young man he is. And though the story is about Frank's coming of age in America, we never leave behind his British family and friends as they struggle to understand *why* Frank ran away and just *where* might he be.
There seemed to be a lot of foreshadowing in this installment. Maybe there always is and I just never noticed it before. I kept thinking, "Ah-ha! I knew it!" It made me feel very smart. Although, I didn't tell the boys certain things, sometimes when we'd pause the CD I'd mention something and ask them why they thought it was included in the story and what they thought it could mean in the future. It was kind of fun to see them thinking through all those hints.
Of course, in a series of amazing coincidences, we do find out just *who* is Captain Bayley's heir. This is where there was a bit of that foreshadowing, because you know all these seemingly unrelated incidents have to tie into the story in some way. Once you figure it out, you just keep waiting for the players to finally piece it all together.
All through the audio, Frank would interact with new people and my "stranger danger" alarms would be triggered. Someone had to be the antagonist, right? Thankfully, most of the people he happened across were good people, even some godly people, and were helpful in ways that it seemed they were put together by providence. At one point, Frank receives $200 for something helpful he did. The boys were shocked to know that was nearly a year's pay for the employment he had at that time. Aside from Frank, my favorite characters (and were they ever characters!), were the trio of Abe, Rube, and Dickens. Abe becomes a wonderful good friend to Frank after he and his friends take him under their wings. They teach him all he needs to know about survival in the west, and surviving the trip to get them there! Their colloquialisms had us rolling!
Mal was very disappointed that they were in the old west, but there were no trains. The timing for that was just a wee bit off, but he quickly decided he could enjoy the amazing adventure even without a steam locomotive!
There was relatively little death in Captain Bayley's Heir (mostly characters we don't actually know), which was a nice change after In the Reign of Terror! But near the end, someone important is said to be dead and the punks and I were all wracked with grief. I may have felt a flash of anger at Henty at that moment.
I promise it all turns out alright in the end!
Brian Blessed, as GA Henty, has become the voice of Heirloom Audio Productions for me. Every time I read one of their Facebook posts, I "hear" it in that voice. The cast, as always, is phenomenal. There are always a few regulars in these Heirloom audio theater productions. Some of the voices, I recognize in each drama. Some actors portray more than one character and they are so incredibly talented, that I never confuse their characters by voice.
This particular Christian audio focuses very much on God's grace and forgiveness and we are treated to listening a bit to Amazing Grace a couple of times. It is hands down one of my favorite hymns. I always prefer it with bagpipes, but any singable version will do. Now that I've heard it on a solo violin, though, bagpipes might have some serious competition.
The bonus content for Captain Bayey's Heir includes
- A study guide
- Captain Bayley's Heir e-book
- A printable cast poster
- The official soundtrack
- The quote poster, which this time features a line from the hymn "Amazing Grace."
- Desktop wallpaper download
- Access to the actual script on Live the Adventure Club.
A Constitution course, a recipe for Hangtown Fry that miners ate (they had me until oysters!), Kids' activities (coloring pages, crosswords, and more, all related to the audio dramas), inspiring stories and devotionals, and an active forum all round out the Live the Adventure Club content.
I highly recommend using the study guide as your children are able. There is so much more to them than just the Listening Well comprehension segment for each track. Some of the things we accomplished because of the study guide
- John Newton and Amazing Grace (Newton was a slave trader for decades, who many years after becoming a Christian, was greatly grieved by his prior career.)
- Important names from the Gold Rush era (These included John Sutter and Wells & Fargo.)
- How the men lived on the gold fields (Miners staked claims and lived in tents or shanties
- The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 (Interestingly enough, it became federal law under Vermont's own Chester A Arthur. Something we can all be proud of. *eyeroll*)
The first section is Listening Well, which is the comprehension segment. While older kids might have no trouble pausing the CD after each track and answering the questions, we still have a bit of trouble with this. I often give the boys an idea of the topics they should be listening for before we listen to the track, then we pause it and answer the queries. The Listening Well segment, is fact based and is mostly not up to interpretation.
Next is Thinking Further. Here, some more abstract questions might be asked that require a deeper kind of thinking and making inferences. The Vocabulary includes words like "incorrigible," "oblige," and "affirmation." Normally, I have the punks put at least a couple words in their ongoing, personal dictionaries after looking them up. This time I was much too slacky for vocabulary. Nobody wants summer to end. The randomly placed boxes for Expand Your Learning have some great topics to research or discuss: such as manifest destiny, money in Victorian England, and mining camps There's also a great book list to learn more about Victorian England and the American West.
Usually, there is a recipe in the study guide, but there was none in Captain Bayley's Heir. It's just as well, I guess. None of the punks would eat beans and I have not found a cornbread recipe I really have liked, though I have eaten good cornbread. I'm not sure campfire food would be a hit here! *smile*
You can even read along with the script and complete the Listening Well section online as a graded quiz.
God's Grace was a major theme throughout Captain Bayley's Heir. The first Bible study in this study guide focused narrowly on the topic of grace. The second study was about becoming a Christian and the third directs children to honor their parents. An abundance of verses is at the heart of each study, making it very sound.
The one thing about the study guide I do not like, and I say this every time, is that the pages are not black on white. You will use a considerable amount of ink if you want to print it, because the pages are a dusty, kind of brownish color this time. I prefer to have paper in hand, not try to juggle the computer while pausing and starting the CDs. I might could try to think up a better way to handle it, but the CD player is in a different area from our school stuff.
The two compact disc set runs for about 2 hours and 40 minutes total. The actors, sound effects, and musical score complement each other so perfectly. Captain Bayley's Heir and the other Heirloom Audio Productions audio dramas are a super fun way to get in some history. Malachi recently told a friend that history is his favorite subject. I'm pretty sure that is, at least in part, due to Heirloom Audio Productions and the immersive style of audio dramas.Find Heirloom Audio Productions on social media.
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2 comments:
Okay, so you have determined that the "heir" referred to in the title was Harry? We thought that was so ambiguous...couldn't quite settle on who that was referring to...it annoyed me a little :)
Sheila, I did. Because he was the only missing heir. But then I read what you wrote and I realized it was sort of up in the air. Maybe it's because all three boys were the Captain's "heirs." Although One of them may not have been... after what he pulled. :)
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