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Frequently Asked Questions
Can you give me a quick overview of Paws & Tales?
Insight for Living launched Paws & Tales as a weekly children’s radio drama in September 2001. Every half-hour episode is built upon biblical principles and uses an entertaining and educational format to model Christian values to boys and girls ages six through twelve. Each episode includes a lesson song that encapsulates and reinforces the lesson. Paws & Tales is unique in that it is the only children’s radio series on the air that has an original song composed for each episode.
Do you have a slogan, motto, or unique marketing tag line?
Paws & Tales is the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll . . . for kids!
How did you come up with the idea for the children’s program?
In 1995, Chuck Swindoll wrote a storybook to teach biblical principles to his eight grandchildren. The result was a children’s book published by WORDKids. Chuck decided to cast the characters in the stories as bears — “soft, friendly, fuzzy bears,” as Chuck wrote in the introduction, “because kids of all ages love nature so much and they seem to remember stories better when they’re tied in with the animal world.”
With that, the Paw Paw Chuck character was born. The book, Paw Paw Chuck’s Big Ideas in the Bible, sold more than 100,000 hardcover copies. The Paws & Tales creative team of Dave Carl and Eric Baesel used that as a springboard to develop a place where the adventure and the discovery of the God of the Bible can go on for years.
Can you tell me something about the imaginary setting for Paws & Tales?
Paws & Tales is set in the town of Wildwood, at the base of Wild Mountain and about two miles east of the Bay of Tranquility. The bay, which protects the shore from the unpredictable Triton Sea, is a major source of commerce for the region, and the port of call for new and visiting characters from afar.
Downtown is a bustling center of small-town commerce, where our animal characters are as varied as the shops and trades in which they are engaged. East of downtown is the Wildwood Train Station, where the Cannonball does a five-town loop twice a day. To the north is the towering and mysterious Wild Mountain. The mountain range protects the town from the severe weather coming down from the north, and is also the home to strange and mysterious “peoples,” who offer opportunities for teachable moments in various episodes.
Can you tell me something about the main characters?
Paw Paw Chuck is Wildwood’s handyman, whose day-to-day trade is done at Paw Paw’s Fix-it-Shop. His main occupation, though, is providing guidance and spiritual wisdom to the townspeople of Wildwood. He has been married to Nana Cindy for almost 30 years. Having no grandchildren of their own, they have become “adopted” grandparents to many of the kids of the town.
C.J. Brown is a gregarious, fun-loving, nine-year-old bear cub who loves to be in charge. Unlike all the other cubs, he has one blue eye — his left — through which he has trouble seeing clearly. He’s a sensitive, vulnerable cub who has sought to make the most of his disability by making himself the butt of his own jokes.
Staci Clemmer is a dramatic, rough-and-tumble cub who’s as brave as a lion — afraid of nothing. She has a keen sense of humor, but unlike C.J., she has a more difficult time laughing at herself. Staci is an excellent problem solver, and she is kind and compassionate. She is famous in the town for welcoming new settlers to Wildwood with a plate of homemade chocolate-chip cookies.
Ned Cleaver, a beaver, is C.J.’s best friend and the smartest one of the bunch. His intellect is also occasionally a stumbling block. He and C.J. finish each other’s sentences and stick together as the only boys in The Club.
Pinkie Gongoozler (“Gooz” to her friends) is an insatiably curious weasel. Fascinated by anything out of the ordinary, she is easily distracted. Her off-the-wall observations keep the members of The Club on their toes. Gooz is also a very talented artist, who, beneath her goofiness, has great wisdom and insight.
Marsha Moffet is a young moose calf in the middle of a terribly awkward growth spurt — she’s all legs and not much grace. Marsha is the most tenderhearted of the bunch, and accordingly, she has compassion to spare. She is also a championship-level speller.
Other characters — A short list of the dozens of additional characters includes Police Officer Hunt (a timber wolf), Mr. Crawford (a brown bear who owns the general store), Miss Harbor (a white-tailed deer and Wildwood’s school teacher), Mrs. Daisy Collins (a wealthy and kindly widow of a brown bear), and Timothy Owl (a hoot owl that has friends in dark places).
The Club — The Club is so named because the members can’t seem to agree on one. Charter members C.J., Staci, Ned, Gooz, and Marsha meet in a clubhouse they built themselves with help from Paw Paw Chuck. They have named the clubhouse “The Fortress” because the foundation on which the house is built is called “Fortress Rock.” It overlooks the town below and was once used as a look-out tower. Legend has it that Wildwood was once saved from a fire spotted early from Fortress Rock. The site also looks upon a misty canyon that hides Shadow Valley.
Shadow Valley is a great mystery in Paws & Tales lore. The valley is said to be a physical place, but it can’t be reached from the outside. Its population is made up of those who are imprisoned there by the dark forces of their own sin. Paw Paw Chuck claims to be able to see Shadow Valley from his vista on Fortress Rock, but because most of the residents of Wildwood don’t believe the place even exists, he keeps this information close to himself. He’s deeply committed to one day freeing the captives of Shadow Valley, and this goal has made Paw Paw Chuck the subject of ridicule by some in the town.
The Bible doesn’t teach anything about animals talking. How can you have a program that gives human characteristics to an animal?
In Numbers 22:23-33, the Lord uses Balaam’s donkey to speak audibly to Balaam. Even God used a so-called “dumb” animal to get his message across to a human being. Paws & Tales is not meant to be taken literally. Some dramatic license has been employed in order to enhance the entertainment value for our younger listeners. It might help to view the animals as “humans in animal skin” with some human and some animal characteristics.
Frankly, sometimes animals are much more interesting to the imagination than humans are! We simply chose to present biblical principles through stories of animals interacting with each other.
Are you suggesting that animals have souls and can go to heaven?
Absolutely not! But neither are we suggesting that the animals in Paws & Tales are real animals. They are make-believe characters in a make-believe world where the only things real are God’s Word and the principles taught from it.
Why haven’t you used humans in your kids’ program?
Using animals exclusively was simply a creative decision. The characters of Paws & Tales don’t exist. Wildwood doesn’t exist. People don’t exist in the imaginary world of Wildwood. We are able to convey real truth in an imaginary setting without compromising the message — and in fact, the setting has strengthened the message more than it would have had we been constrained to using only familiar people and settings.
Is it Bible-based? What are you using as the basis for the theology in the program?
Everything Insight for Living, our parent ministry, does is Bible-based! Our purpose as a ministry is to present the truths of Scripture in a clear, accurate, and relevant manner. While our Insight for Living radio program successfully reaches adults with solid biblical teaching, we wanted to create an entirely new type of children’s program that would captivate the next generation of young kids in a format they most enjoy — adventure, laughter, song, and fun.
Our seminary-trained counselors review every script. And before a word is written or a song sung, we identify a specific principle we want to teach through the script and songwriting process. Before each program is produced, we again seek approval from our pastoral ministry for the script and songs to ensure the integrity of God’s Word has not been compromised.
Is Chuck Swindoll “Paw Paw Chuck”?
No. Chuck Swindoll does not record the voice of Paw Paw Chuck. Even though the character bears his name, Paw Paw Chuck is not based on Chuck Swindoll’s life. All characters in the story have been developed by assigning them personalities, histories, and experiences that will shape their adventures in Paws & Tales. None of the characters have been intentionally patterned after any real person.
How does the program tie in with Insight for Living and Chuck Swindoll?
Insight for Living is a Bible-teaching ministry. We have classically accomplished that work through teaching messages aimed at adults, and Chuck Swindoll is our teacher for those programs. But Chuck himself would tell you that the ministry of Insight for Living is not about Chuck. It’s always been about God and His Word. Chuck is simply the instrument. Paws & Tales gives us a brand new tool from which God’s Word can be taught and understood.
We plan to continue producing and airing our adult programs just as we always have. We don’t believe that “preaching” is the only way to present Scripture. For example, we have counselors who have enhanced the ministry of Insight for Living through one-on-one counseling (letters and phone calls) for years. They aren’t preaching, but that doesn’t make them any less effective or important to the mission of Insight for Living. Other organizations have used other tools or media, such as dramatic interpretation, for years to talk about God and His Word.
So Paws & Tales is another vehicle Insight for Living uses to make truth interesting, understandable, and relevant. It’s still about God. But actors and singers, not Chuck, are doing the teaching. In this case the medium of communication is radio and video drama, not preaching.
What age is the program targeted to?
Our main focus is to write for children aged six to twelve. But we also get stacks of letters from older kids and adults who appreciate the humor, adventures, and principles taught in the program.
Do you present characters like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus?
No. Paws & Tales characters are not intentionally based on any character, real or imagined. We teach whatever the Bible has to say about holidays. Christmas is about Christ, Easter is about Christ... Christ is what we teach.
Why should my children listen? What will they gain?
First and foremost, they should listen to learn a memorable lesson about God and His Word. Second, Paws & Tales should prompt discussion between parents and their kids. In order to facilitate this, we have created a study guide for each episode we have called Tools for Parents. Each study guide is free and features Questions for Cubs, designed to help a parent gage their child's comprehension of the story and his absorption of the biblical lesson presented. There is also another section just for parents called, Director's Notes that cover the issues raised in the episode. Finally, we encourage kids and their parents to listen together whenever possible to help children develop a godly foundation and a close spiritual bond in families.
What products are available and where can I purchase them?
We offer collections of episodes on CD including complete radio seasons. We have three CD collections of music from the show, a special collection of episodes that feature a dramatic retelling of the story of Queen Esther, the story of King Saul, the story of Paw Paw Chuck before he came to know Jesus as his savior and a line of animated videos. You may purchase any of these products by clicking on the "General Store" tab above.
We also have a line of clothing, apparel, and other gifts and a store where you can purchase individual episodes as downloadable MP3s. These may be listened to from your computer or MP3 player or burned to an audio CD using any CD burning application.
We are always thinking of new product lines, with the motivation of providing ministry tools for building godly character in kids.
We invite you to take a look around our website. On the site you can find links to learn more about the programs, games, and products we offer. You may also listen to our programs over the Internet. We even have a podcast! We have developed a section especially for parents and teachers, giving them tools to help raise godly children.
Where can I hear Paws & Tales on the radio?
Paws & Tales airs weekly on more than 450 outlets in North America and in several countries around the world. To find out if Paws & Tales can be heard in your area, please call one of our ministry representatives at 1-866-968 PAWS (7297), 24-hours a day, seven days a week. We're always here for you. Our episodes can also be streamed anytime online from our website.
Do you have a video?
Yes! Christian media company, Providential Pictures, is working with Insight for Living to produce a line of animated videos. We currently have two titles: "Seeing the Unseen" and "A Closer Look." You can see a sneak preview of each video here.The videos are available in VHS and DVD formats and sold at Christian bookstores as well as our website.
Seeing the Unseen features Paw Paw Chuck and The Club in an adventure on Wild Mountain helping their new friend, Wally, understand that God exists and guides us every day — even if we can’t see Him.
A Closer Look is a "whodunit" mystery featuring Staci as she uses all of her skills to uncover the identity of the person who gave her a strange but wonderful present. Along the way she and The Club discover that God has given each of us gifts and abilities and we should use them to serve the Lord and one another.
The 3-D animation software used to produce the half-hour feature was also used to make films like Shrek, Ice Age, and The Lord of the Rings. The production team is already at work additional videos, and hope to produce enough for a weekly animated television series. | 
