- If you have children or grandchildren,

you probably know Larry the Cucumber.

Well, now Larry is about to introduce you

to a couple of his new friends,the Dead Sea Squirrels.

- Hi.

- [Reporter] MikeNawrocki is the co-creator

of "VeggieTales,"

a college professor,

and author of "The DeadSea Squirrels" series.

- I know what you're thinking.

Wouldn't this make agreat animated series?

Yes, it would.

(upbeat music)

♪ Dead Sea Squirrels ♪

♪ Took a vacation ♪

♪ Dead Sea Squirrels ♪

♪ Suffered salination ♪

♪ Dead Sea Squirrels ♪

♪ Dehydrated duet ♪

- [All] We're not dead yet.

♪ Dead Sea Squirrels ♪

♪ Now we animated ♪

- Please welcome to "The700 Club" Mike Nawrocki,

also known as Larry the Cucumber.

Welcome, Mike.

- Hey, Terry, how are you?

Thank you so much for having me on.

- Well, who are the Dead Sea Squirrels

and why did you write thisseries of books about them?

- So the Dead Sea Squirrelsare Merle and Pearl Squirrel.

They're a couple of firstcentury squirrels from Galilee,

and Merle, the husband ofthe two, gets this great idea

to take a vacation to the Dead Sea

not thinking that it's notreally hospitable to squirrels.

So they get all salinated andlook for some shade in a cave

and end up getting trappedthere for 2,000 years

when they're found by alittle boy named Michael

who's on a summer vacationwith his dad there,

his dad's an archeologist, andhe discovers these squirrels

and he takes them backhome with them to Tennessee

and they rehydrate andresalinate and come,

or desalinate and come back to life

and experience a life now

but are able to share withMichael and his friends

the stories of the lifeand ministry of Jesus

in the first century.

- What message do youwant kids to take away

from their time reading these books?

- Well, just that the word of God,

the life of Christ isapplicable to them today.

You know, I reallywanna be telling stories

with a biblical worldview

with the assumption there's aGod who made us, who loves us,

who wants a relationship withus, and that those stories

that kids can read in the Bible are alive

and applicable to them today.

- You mentioned in the promo

that happened just before wecame together on air today

that there is an animated series coming.

How are you bringing the books to life?

- Oh, we're so excited about that.

You know, we've raised enough funds now

for a 13-episode series.

We've finished our pilot.

We're now in current production

of shows two, three, and four,

so we're just super excited about that.

You know, the books, thereare currently eight books out.

I'm now working on book 11,

eventually there'll be 12 books.

So the books in conjunctionwith the animated series,

we're really excited toget that out to kids,

into homes, and these stories told.

- So when do you expect

the animated series is gonna be available?

- You know, animation, asyou know, takes a while,

so each episode takes aroundtwo to three months to animate,

so we're still looking at,you know, another year or two

before the animation is available,

but the books are out now.

- Well, you have a lot of funin the books with language.

You call yourself thecheesy pun title guy.

Does that come naturally for you?

- Oh, it really does, you know.

I think, you know, withobviously "VeggieTales"

and then we launched a seriescalled "3-2-1 Penguins,"

and, you know, obviously"The Dead Sea Squirrels" are,

it's a cheesy pun based offthe Dead Sea Scrolls, you know,

so there's a lot of parallels in there,

but yeah, I just havea lot of fun with that.

I'm a, you know, big fanof parody music, you know,

that was basically, you know,a big part of "Silly Songs"

for all those years, and I just love that.

There's a lot of music as well

in the new animated episodesof "Dead Sea Squirrels,"

so I just think humor is sucha great way to tie into story

and to make kids wanna watch

and make the lessons withinthe stories more memorable.

- So what age bracket would you say

the books are written for?

- So the books are early readers,

so anywhere fromkindergarten to fifth grade.

The main characters in the episodes

are just going into fifth grade.

But if your kids enjoy reading,

if you enjoy reading to your kids

even if your kids are younger,

we've gotten a greatreaction from the books.

Book number one is alreadyon its third printing,

so just, kids are reallyloving to read these,

but in that early reader age group.

- You know, kids today aresubject to so much that's fast

and moving and changing andyour book is actually like that.

I wanna just show our viewers this.

Every page has some new visual on it.

My granddaughter and Iare reading this together.

And as you said, it's a series,

so really, you know, for summer reading,

I'm adding these to the reading list

she's going back to school with this fall,

but where can you get the books?

- The books are availableanywhere books are sold,

Amazon, Christianbook.com,your favorite retailer.

So yeah, just encouragefolks to check those out,

leave a review, leave a rating,

and tell more people about them.

It's been really excitingto see this building

and see kids get excitedabout these books.

- Well, we're gonna enjoy the books

and then look forward to the series

that's coming out.

The book series is called"The Dead Sea Squirrels."

It's a lot of fun to read.

I think your children willenjoy it, so check it out.

Thanks for being with us, Mike.

Great job.

- Thank you so much, Terry. Appreciate it.