Because you can only interestedly read Robert McCloskey's "Make Way for Ducklings" to your toddler or silently prop up Ezra Jack Keats' "The Snowy Day" only so many times, Scholastic Storybook Treasures has released a massive DVD set of filmed adaptations of a bunch of classic, Caldecott Medal-winning or nominated children'due south volume classics. Well, adaptation isn't exactly the right give-and-take. They're pretty much stills of the books with gentle transitions from one page to another with warm narration by celebrities. In other words, these are books-on-DVD.

And they're wonderful. The three-disc set of video storybooks (available Nov. 22) is a neat wind-down tool for a vacation-crazed little one. It includes 20 stories, most based on Caldecott-honored children's books. Named for 19th century illustrator and children'due south publishing innovator Randolph Caldecott, they wouldn't be here if the images weren't child-beloved and visually stimulating. None alive up to the award more than so than "The Snowy 24-hour interval," probably the most famous and treasured picture book ever. Scholastic captured Keats' book in that information technology'due south just as gentle, beautiful, and quiet as the book, or a real snowy day.

"Snowy Day" leads off a whole disc of Keats stories, which also includes "Whistle for Willie" and "Pet Bear witness." The second disc is all brute stories, including "In the Small, Small Pond," and the wonderful cap-thieving monkeys of Esphyr Slobodkina's "Caps for Auction." The third disc: all duck stories. Special features: Spanish versions of a lot of the stories, and open-captioning, or as its encouragingly called, a "read-along" option. Information technology's three and a half hours of archetype, innocent, warm toddler books, video versions of a great early library.

Either your kids will recognize and bask these video versions because they know the books, or the videos volition make them want to read the books, which you probably have already. Or you lot should have already. Why don't you own "Snowy Day" or "Caps for Sale"?

At that place are so many Scholastic Storybook Treasures releases that you need a special shelf (or three) only to concur them all, which makes it something of a claiming to review them every bit they come out — but release schedules be damned, this is i production lineup that deserves your attending, no matter how massive it gets. These three titles are the latest Treasures to grace the Scholastic Storybook lineup:

The True Story of the 3 Piffling Pigs! … and More Beast Adventures, featuring five stories and a scattering of extras. The extras are more for parents — your kids probably aren't going to sit notwithstanding for interviews with the writer and illustrator of The Truthful Story of the iii Lilliputian Pigs! — but the main feature includes about an hr's worth of dependably entertaining stuff. The headliner is Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith's 1989 favorite, which gives the wolf's perspective of the classic tale; here, it'south narrated past the suitably wolfish Paul Giamatti.

Batting second is the Zach Braff-narratedWallace'south Lists, adapted from the Barbara Bottner/Gerald Kruglik/Olof Landstrom book virtually a mildly OCD mouse whose need for lists is challenged by a new friend; rounding out the disc are animated versions of Helme Heine'sThe Pig's Wedding ceremony, D.B. Johnson'southward Henry Builds a Motel, and Simms Taback'southward This Is the Firm That Jack Built. They're all fine stories, loosely connected by theme, and offering the aforementioned blend of amusement and education (the box says this title supports "early on reading, trouble solving, and friendship," if you're worried well-nigh that sort of thing), and for less than $xv, it's a worthy addition to your rainy-24-hour interval DVD stash. Continue reading →

Scholastic Storybook Treasures: The Halloween Stories Collection (Weston Woods/NewVideo, 2010)

They've put together so many collections that I can't believe they still take any new ones left to release, just if there's a series that deserves space installments, information technology'due south Scholastic Storybook Treasures — and at that place they go over again, with a three-60 minutes-plus package of 18 creepy (not really), crawly (maybe a little) stories jubilant the Halloween flavour. Perfect for teachers looking for a classroom treat, parents of trick-or-treating youngsters, or kids who become a kick out of seeing their favorite books come to (occasionally somewhat limited) life onscreen, The Halloween Stories Collection is skillful, make clean seasonal fun — and at under $12.50 at Amazon, information technology'due south priced to sell, too.

Synopsis: 18 non-and then-scary stories in a iii DVD collection. From the kid-friendly Halloween stories A Very Dauntless Witch and Past the Lite of the Halloween Moon, to family unit favorites The Teacher From the Black Lagoon and Where the Wild Things Are, kids and parents delight watching their favorite books jump to life on DVD.

Where the Wild Things Are
In the Night Kitchen
Alligators All Around
One Was Johnny
Chicken Soup with Rice
Pierre
A Very Dauntless Witch
By the Low-cal of the Halloween Moon
A Dark, Nighttime Tale
Georgie
The Witch in the Cherry Tree
The Three-Legged True cat
The Three Robbers
Petty Tim and the Brave Sea Captain Go on reading →