Animated vegetables telling biblical stories.

It's a formidable combination that sounds so good for you that it can't possibly be good fun, too.

So, just like I tried to avoid the unadorned broccoli and string beans heaped on my plate throughout my childhood, as a parent I bypassed the "VeggieTales" videos and picked movies for the kids that hid their edu-tainment value behind flashy marketing and merchandise packaged alongside the french fries found in most kids' meals at fast-food joints.

These days, though, I'm a big fan of vegetables, both the edible ones and the animated ones featured in the "VeggieTales" videos. Because yes, while the plots play off biblical stories and the moral lessons aren't sugarcoated (it's a cast of vegetables, after all), they're so gloriously goofy that the whole family loves them.

Case in point: When my 13-year-old found out his little sister and I had watched a screener of "Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella," he groused that we didn't wait for him. Over the next 24 hours, he watched it once, I watched it a couple times and my 6-year-old has replayed it so many times that she has most of the songs memorized.

It's easy to tell from the title that the plot draws from the Noah's Ark story, told in part through a song that includes the lyrics "The Lord told Noah to build him an arkie, arkie ... build it out of gopher barkie, barkie," but it bears little resemblance to the Noah story in Genesis.

The Minnesota Cuke is a veggie version of Indiana Jones, unhampered by a lack of arms. More problematic is his lack of Indy's confidence, as well as the faith that compelled Noah to build an ark and load it with animals despite being taunted for what his peers considered a fruitless endeavor, at least until it started raining.

My daughter needed me to explain Noah's story after watching the movie, but she understood the underlying lesson, that it's important to do the right thing even if it means getting laughed at. Since she can't stand being teased, she was disappointed to discover God doesn't stop people from being mocked for resisting negative peer pressure, but it didn't take away from her overall enjoyment of the story.

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Since it's all about confidence building, Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber offer some back-to-school tips to help children ease into the first day of school (under the parents section at www.bigidea.com). If you can't download the spiffy version, here are the tips, courtesy of Big Idea, Inc.: