2007

How to make a child's eyes light up this Christmas morning: Buy him a Wii. A more affordable, educational option: this 16-disc set.

 

These shorts adapt 100 beloved children's books and stories to animated format. Chances are several were your library favorites way back when: Crockett Johnson's "Harold and the Purple Crayon," Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" and H.A. Rey's "Curious George Rides a Bike." Others are more contemporary but no less fun: Simms Taback's "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault's "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and Doreen Cronin's "Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type."

 

The kids this collection targets don't care about animation styles as long as it's animated, period, but adults will be impressed at the variations on display "? some are old-school film "? primarily because they really look like the pages brought to life.

 

The read-along function puts subtitles on the screen in white, with each word turning to yellow as it's enunciated by the narrators, including such stars as Meryl Streep and James Earl Jones. You want extras? How about 14 hours' worth of quiet time?

 

 "?Rod Lott

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