As a young mother, I was on a very tight budget, but one thing that was worth every penny was buying the Living Scriptures videos. Many of the Living Scriptures charming animated stories were written by the master storyteller, Orson Scott Card, and are remarkably clever while being historically accurate. Another major figure in bringing the Living Scriptures animated stories to life was animator Richard James Rich. Although the name James Rich might not ring a bell, his work may. He began his career at Disney, working on "The Fox and the Hound" and "The Black Caldron" before breaking off on his own to animate "The Swan Princess". Such talent makes the Living Scriptures videos something you'll really treasure.
The Living Scriptures products cover a wide range of topics from Bible story videos to modern prophet heroes. The Book of Mormon stories are awesome, Alma the Younger was our favorite, and they have a new set of hero classics that I hear are wonderful. Living Scriptures has even come out with a docudrama Visit Israel that I'm dying to see. I've heard Living Scriptures's Visit Israel CD's are informative and fascinating. Honestly, the Living Scripture videos are the best of their kind in the LDS book industry and are available at most Deseret Book Stores.
When I first bought the Living Scriptures series, they had an interesting business model. Sales people, referred by a friend, came to my door and showed me the Living Scriptures line of animated videos. I ordered the Book of Mormon VHS tapes which came once a month. This business model both maximized profits while bringing the Living Scriptures to my home at a reasonable monthly cost.
A strange side effect of owning the Living Scriptures videos was that my children learned the scripture stories incredibly well. Orson Scott Card has done such a remarkable job of including interesting details that make these scripture stories stick in my kids' minds, and the fact that they're beautifully animated by Richard James Rich doesn't hurt.
Through the Bible story videos, my children know and love the Apostle Paul and his travels, they watched a portrayal of Christ calming the seas and every Christmas they sing along with "Tonight A King is Born" from the nativity video. As we read the scriptures as a family, the stories are familiar to them. Having these videos drastically increases my children's love of the scriptures.
For us, the nicest part of owning the Living Scripture animated videos is improving Sabbath worship. In our home we tried not to watch television on Sunday, but with little children it was hard. When we got the Living Scriptures animated videos, we called them the "Jesus" videos. The Living Scriptures were the only thing my children were permitted to watch on Sunday. The coolest part was that it wasn't just the little ones who watched them, so did my teenagers. Often my teens pull out their scriptures to compare the real stories in the Bible or Book of Mormon with what they've watched. Having my teenagers read the scriptures without my prodding is what makes the Living Scriptures one of the best things I've ever purchased.