Review: Liberty’s Kids: The Complete Series (DVD)

Wow, this is a cool box set of kids DVDs! The set is released by Shout! Factory. I honestly wish Anastasia was old enough to understand the history that the Liberty’s Kids experience. This amazing set, the complete series (six disks), starts smack dab in the middle of the Boston Tea Party and ends with the drafting of our US Constitution. This box set comes with a booklet which lists the episodes and also includes a timeline of the events and snippets of information about them.

Now, I did watch some of this with Anastasia, at age 2, and it held her attention much better than a live character DVD. The characters are all animated, and voiced by an incredible range of celebrity voices (seriously, from Walter Cronkite to Ben Stiller (in between is Whoopi Goldberg, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Liam Neeson) and more, more, more!). Anastasia watched the action and enjoyed the theme song, but the content is more than her years. I think that, in not too much time, these DVDs will serve her well. And I think, for any child who is inquisitive and interested in understanding the “whys and wherefores”, they will receive a fun and well-rounded history lesson that explains our nation’s past.

We see all these events (a short list: Boston Tea Party, Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, George Washington taking command of the Army, Benedict Arnold’s role, etc., etc., etc.) through the eyes of several fictional young characters who find themselves in the middle of the great events that created our nation. Those that they did not find themselves in the middle of, the kids were placed there by their connections to famous people like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin.

I wish this had been around when I was in grade school. I was a good student, but history was not my thing. If I had had this series to watch, I may very well have retained more of my history classes. As it stands, I learned and remembered a lot in watching these (should I be embarrassed?). For a parent this is excellent: it’s entertainment that is educational for your kids but that does not drive you crazy, all wrapped in one. Can’t ask for much more than that. These disks could also be great for starting dinner time conversations. I can think of handfuls of debates and questions we could have at our table!

My hub, who just completed his degree, finished his courses with early U.S. History. He was totally into these and was quite pleased that the series does not just portray the popular view of history, but that, for example, the Boston Tea Party was referred to as a drunken mob!

This DVD set is coming out just in time for Holiday Shopping, Moms and Dads! To be released on October 14, 2008! You can purchase directly from Shout! Factory.

Now for the formal review, each of four stars:

Functionality: **** - At the risk of being redundant: this is entertainment that is educational for your kids but that should not drive you crazy. It is fun to watch which makes it an excellent learning tool. I’d also like to add that all of my friends with tweens and teens were very jealous that I got to review the Liberty’s Kids set as their kids all love the Liberty’s Kids!

Cost: *** - $59.99 for 6 disks and 40 episodes, Pretty standard per disk ($10), but a lot in lump sum. I would think they are definitely worth the money for kids who are older than mine.

Overall Rating: *** and a half - I see no reason why a parent would not like this series. Nor do I see a reason not to spend money on it. Fun and education in one, tied up with a bow of “not annoying to parents”.