If you ever wanted a book that could withstand the challenges of camping, rainstorms, bathtubs, or even babies, the Waterproof Bible by Bardin & Marsee Publishing might be for you.

I received this rather cute pink KLV Waterproof Bible (NT, Ps & Pv version) and was surprised by how much I liked this product. The pink, of course, was definitely a plus for me, but if you are looking for something you want to send your guys out camping with, they come in blue and camo, too!

The history behind it was that the creators were active outdoor adventurers, involved in a lot of camping, kayaking, and trips in snowy mountains, but often wouldn’t take their scriptures with them because they didn’t want them to be ruined by the rough outdoor conditions. So, the “Outdoor” Bible was born. Soon they realized that there wasn’t just a demand for the outdoor conditions, but even indoor (think- reading a book in the tub, anyone?), and hence the name change to the Waterproof Bible!

Some features of The Waterproof Bible include:

• Extremely durable synthetic pages and binding
• Stain Resistant (I tested it with cola and OJ successfully)
• Ultra clear text
• Size fits well in totes or purses
• Works well with dry highlighters or ballpoint pens (no gel pens 🙁 )
• Synthetic pages help create no bleed through
• Floats in water
• Comes in ESV, KJV, NIV, NKJV, NLT versions of the Bible

Okay, testimonial time. I had a hard time “testing” the product. Jared stayed home from work the day of the conference call with Bardin of Bardin & Marsee because I was pretty sick and needed help to take care of Evie, so he heard the call and asked what I have done with my WB … I hadn’t done much since it’s counter-intuitive for me to destroy books of any kind, much less the Bible! So, to “help out” he promptly took it and threw it into the backyard (as it was conveniently a rainy day!) and told me to get it in a hour or so.

This is after roughly 2 hours out in the backyard during a fairly heavy rainstorm.

After wiping out the pieces of grass that had been wedged into the pages and leaving it upright let the pages dry, the WB was in like-new perfect condition.

Evelyn also “helped out” by chewing on some of the pages, but I was happy to see that she didn’t manage to rip the pages or damage them (though, I am sure if she had really wanted to, she probably could have caused more damage… but she was happy to chew on the book. Happy day for all you with toddlers!)

Even though the product is a little pricey (Between $39.95-$44.95 for the full Bible, and $24.95 for the NT + Psalms and Proverbs versions), considering how incredibly durable this product is, I think it’s worth considering!

After reviewing this product, I have just one question:

When will all books start being made like this?

I recently had the opportunity to review this learning-to-read game, “Ooka Island Adventure” from Ooka Island Inc. This is a reading game aimed for ages 3-7 to help teach younger children how to read using a three-pronged approach:

The reason that this is aimed at a younger age group is that the founders of Ooka realized that if you can teach children early enough on, most significant reading problems you come across later on can be avoided. (Something I noticed time and time again in my 7th grade classroom).

Pricing for this product is as follows:

(The price is the same for homeschooling, too.)

While again, Evelyn is only 10 months old and isn’t quite ready for this product, I did do my best to test it and play with it.

The games are easy and fun to play with, and while some of them take a little time figure out initially, you get the hang of it quickly. The story line is fun and compelling, especially for the targeted age group. It’s easy to see how sounding out sounds in a game and creating words can teach kids to read before they even realize that they are learning!

The setting of the island and the different games and challenges are well done, both in teaching and playing. It’s also aesthetically pleasing.

To put it simply (and to keep the review short!) I am definitely interested in getting this product in about 2 1/2-3 years for Evelyn.

Some other fun facts I learned while reviewing this product:

• Ooka Island was a family affair: The creator was a teacher in a smaller community in Canada. In the 1960s, one of her sons had 5% of hearing and there wasn’t a lot of support set up in school for him. His mother started creating reading programs for him and found the connection between reading well and speaking well. She was super successful and soon had everyone in the community sending her their children with any sort of disabilities or just reading problems. Recently, they brought the technology aspect in with help from another son (who is a teacher), and he created the story line.
• Ooka Island did quite well with a big study done by the US Public Education department when they studied several reading programs out there.
• It was essential to the creator that she didn’t want to lose the “at the table 1×1” aspect with the technology that was so important in helping students in person.
• Why Ooka? They started calling in “Booka” Island, but when the children testing it spoke about, most dropped the “B” and just called it “Ooka”, and the name stuck!

Interested in checking this product out? You can get 30% off if you go through this link! 🙂

http://offers.ookaisland.com/inblog?purl=thBoo