Scripture Scouts: Musical Adventures with the Articles of Faith By Janice Kapp Perry, Steven Kapp Perry, Melanie Hoffman, Roger Hoffman, Marvin Payne Deseret Book. 3 audio cassettes. Suggested retail price: $7.95 (US)
Reviewed by: Robin Parkinson

When I was growing up on a ranch in New Mexico, I had a cousin who loved to pretend to be Moses. He would dress up in a bathrobe, take a stick, and lead the children of Israel across the arroyo to the promise land. He couldn't get any of us to play along, so he would gather the dogs and lead them instead. My cousin would have loved the scripture scout tapes. My own children do a lot of role-playing games, but except for Joseph and Jonah, they've never role-played from the scriptures. When I heard about the Scripture Scout tapes on the list, I wondered how my children would like them.

The scripture scouts are a brother, two sisters, and their dog, a puppet named Boo. In an effort to understand the scriptures, they play games and sing songs. My tapes had to do with the Articles of Faith, so one adventure had them learning about Adam and how we are punished for our own sins and not Adams transgressions. The dog takes on an almost adult role, helping the children to discover the meanings of words like transgression and helping all the children to find a role that they can play. The youngest sister is kind of a tag-along, and she keeps being assigned a minor role. This reminded me of my own kids, because of how Eden, my youngest, always would up playing the cat (a non-speaking role) in her older brother and sister's role-plays. On the tapes, the children also sing songs to help them understand the scriptures. The songs have catchy, lively tunes and also serve as memory devices to help children memorize the scriptures.

I liked the music and found the children's type of play believable but found that the tapes didn't appeal to my ten- and eight-year-old. I loaned the tapes to a friend, and she found that her preeschoolers liked them best, though her eight-year-old was willing to listen. I also had trouble sorting out the characters. Eden thought the dog was Cookie Monster and wanted to know why I'd never told her Cookie Monster was a Mormon. I think if the tapes came with a story song book that introduced the characters, children would be able to identify them and get into the story sooner.

The Scripture Scout tapes do their job, and I would recomend them for parents, especially of small children, to help them get through Sundays and other quiet times. Eden sometimes listens to them during the week, usually when I am trying to take a nap. If I ask her to turn it off, she asks me, "Don't you want me to listen to the scriptures?" What better recommendation could you have than that.