Veggie Tales: Esther . . . The Girl Who Became Queen

Okay, I'll admit it: The first time my kids begged me to watch a video with talking vegetables, I balked. Wise-cracking cucumbers? Dancing tomatoes? Didn't your mama tell you not to play with your food?
But after one taste of Veggie Tales, I was asking for a second helping.

It's a miracle - a video series that makes raving fans of toddlers, teens, and parents alike. No wonder this celebrity produce is showing up everywhere: on Christian radio, in USA Today, even in Chick-Fil-A kiddie meals. (If the Bell can have talking Mexican dogs, why can't the Chick have singing French peas?)

The veggie-vids serve an uproarious casserole of first-rate 3-D animation, witty dialogue, catchy tunes, Bible stories, morality tales, and social satire. My favorite was the spicy spoof on psychotherapy called "I Love My Lips" - until I met the latest character to come out of the fridge, Esther . . . The Girl Who Became Queen.

In this fourteenth installment of the series, the familiar produce pals take on roles from the scriptural account of the famous Jewish heroine who saved her people from destruction. Of course, the story has been freely adapted. (After all, the ancient Persians didn't grow potatoes.) So your preschooler won't risk being frightened at the gallows that appeared in the original version.

What danger threatens the garden gang this time? I won't spill the beans - you'll have to experience the Veggie phenomenon firsthand to find out. But watch out: You may soon find yourself singing along with your salad.

36-minute video from Big Idea Productions; suggested retail price $14.95 at your local Christian bookstore and other retail outlets.

A Change of Heart: A Convert Looks at Conversion

For Catholic apologists, the goal is both to convert others and to become more truly converted ourselves. But what exactly is conversion? What contributes to it? How does it take place?

With his usual warmth and depth, Marcus Grodi offers thoughtful answers to those questions in the three-tape audiocassette series A Change of Heart: A Convert Looks at Conversion. Grodi is well known to many of our readers as the founder and director of The Coming Home Network and host of the EWTN show The Journey Home. Drawing on personal experience and scriptural study, he explores the reasons why some Catholics leave the Church, shows how we can help them come back home, and offers practical advice for raising faith-filled children.

"A Tale of Two Conversions" (Tape 1) tells about Grodi's own journey to Christ and then, later, to the Catholic Church. "The Foundations of Conversion" (2) is a look at the common elements of conversion: divine grace, the human will, prayer, love, struggle with sin, and growth in holiness. "The Stages of Conversion" (3) approaches this topic in the context of John chapter 6. In every way, it's an insightful presentation from the winner of this magazine's 1998 Envoy of the Year Award for excellence in evangelism.

Set of 3 audiocassettes, $19.99 from Basilica Press; call 888 396 2339; website www.basilicapress.com.

My Favorite Prayers and Spiritual Reflections

Imagine your favorite book of prayers set to the music of your favorite hymns and chants, spoken and sung in rich, reverent tenor and contralto voices. Add peaceful meditations on organ and piano and a reflection from the Holy Father. The result would be My Favorite Prayers and Spiritual Reflections collected by Fr. Michael Barrett, C.Ss.R.

All my favorites are certainly here: the prayers of the Rosary, Mary's Magnificat, St. Patrick's Breastplate, the Guardian Angel and St. Michael prayers, Prayer to St. Joseph, Veni Creator Spiritus, Anima Christi, the Memorare, the Prayer of St. Francis, and too many others to mention. Lesser-known but equally beautiful prayers find their way here as well: St. Augustine's petitions to the Holy Spirit, St. John Neumann's prayer for conformity to the divine will, St. Alphonsus Liguori's prayer to the Blessed Virgin.

"The path of prayer," said Archbishop Ullathorne, "is the King's highway from earth to heaven." This album illustrates the point well: Drawn upward by these magnificent prayers and melodies, the mind ascends to God and finds a resting place. Take time to enjoy My Favorite Prayers first thing in the morning, or last thing at night, or any time you need a little refuge of peace.

CD $15.95, audiocassette $10.95 from 3rd Millennium; call 888 311 5441; fax 970 493 8781; website: www.3MIDistribution.com.