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Scholastic Storybook Treasures – The Young Artists Collection

September 18, 2011 By

Scholastic Storybook Treasures DVDs bring the best books for children to life with narration, illustration, and music. One collection we’ve recently reviewed is Scholastic Storybook Treasures’ Young Artists Collection featuring the best-selling story Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin. The 3-disc collection features animated adaptations from 17 award-winning and beloved books, narrated by celebrities such as Zach Braff, James Earl Jones, Mary Beth Hurt and a singing performance from Aretha Franklin.

From the musical masterpiece Zin! Zin! ZIn! A Violin to Shrinking Violet, the tale of overcoming stage fright  and the outstandingly original The Dot, kids and parents will be entertained and inspired to tap into their inner artist!  The stories in this collection support lessons on creativity, self-confidence, and art appreciation.

The three DVDs in this collection contain the following Scholastic stories:

Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin…and more stories for young musicians
Includes:
Musical Max
The Star-Spangled Banner
Keeping House
Patrick
Apt. 3

The Dot…and more stories for young artists
Includes:
Art
Ish
Norman the Doorman
Wallace’s Lists

Shrinking Violet…and more stories for young performers
Includes:
Three Cheers for Catherine the Great
Giraffes Can’t Dance
Amazing Grace

BONUS FEATURES Interview with Art Author/Illustrator Patrick McDonnell; Spanish Version of The Dot, Ish, and Amazing Grace; Read-Along feature.

Ryan plays the violin and Nathan plays the clarinet, and we’ve taken Kaitlyn to several Orchestra and Band concerts, so she was already somewhat familiar with musical instruments. But with Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin, she’s learning not just the names of instruments, but words that describe the sounds they make, and how instruments can combine into duets, trios, quartets, and more.  This story does such an amazing job of introducing children to all of that.

In an orchestral hall, two cats and a mouse sit on an empty stage. Then, a single trombone enters, “With mournful moan and silken tone”. He’s followed by a trumpet who in turn is followed by a French horn, a cello, a violin, a flute, a clarinet, an oboe, a bassoon, and (finally) a harp. With everyone in place, and the conductor stationed before them, everyone plays together in perfect harmony. Words like moan, tone, oiled, and coiled describe the shapes and sounds,  and there’s even counting included in the text, like ”Two, now three-o, what a trio!”  All of the stories in this collection are fantastic, but I have a soft spot for the title story :)

Scholastic Storybook Treasures – The Young Artists Collection is priced at $24.95. Visit http://www.newkideo.com to purchase this and other Scholastic Storybook Treasures collections.

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Scholastic Storybook Treasures – Chicka Chicka Boom Boom…and More Fun with Letters and Numbers

October 24, 2010 By

The theme at Kaitlyn’s preschool last week was “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom”, and then coincindentally, Scholastic contacted me about reviewing the Storybook Treasures DVD Chicka Chicka Boom Boom… and More Fun with Letters and Numbers (Scholastic Storybook Treasures)!

“Chicka Chicka Boom Boom” is important to me as a story for another reason though – my Mom was an early elementary school teacher for 30 years, and she collected children’s books for all reading levels. When I got pregnant with Ryan, one of the first baby gifts she bought me was a chunky board book of “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. She passed away in 1997, so now every time I see that book it reminds me of her and how much she loved it :)

The DVD contains seven Scholastic stories related to letters and numbers, and Kaitlyn and I have enjoyed watching them all!

CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM (By Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, Illustrated by Lois Ehlert, Performed by Crystal Taliefero) The letters of the alphabet race each other up the coconut tree. Is there enough room for them all?

WILD ABOUT BOOKS (By Judy Sierra, Illustrated by Marc Brown, Narrated by Catherine O Hara) Librarian Molly McGrew introduces a zoo full of animals to reading and they go simply wild about books.

INCH BY INCH (Written and Illustrated by Leo Lionni, Narrated by Ron McLarty) To avoid getting eaten, a resourceful inchworm must figure out how to measure a nightingale’s song.

FIVE CREATURES (By Emily Jenkins, Illustrated by Tomek Bogacki, Narrated by Kristen Hahn) In a house filled with two parents, one girl, and two cats, counting has never been so much fun!

BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL (Written and Illustrated by Robert McCloskey) A little girl and a little bear mix up their mothers while picking blueberries.
A STORY, A STORY (Written and Illustrated by Gail E. Haley, Narrated by Dr. John Akar) Ananse the Spider Man climbs up to the sky to buy stories from the Sky God in this African Folk Tale.

MILLIONS OF CATS (Written and Illustrated by Wanda Gág) A gentle old man searches for one cat for his lonely wife, but returns with millions and billions and trillions of cats.

If your little one is learning numbers and letters, pick up this cute and educational DVD on Amazon.com for only $8.45!

disclosure: Scholastic sent me the DVD for free in exchange for this review, which contains my honest opinion. Amazon.com links in this post are affiliate links and I earn a commission on any sales.

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Scholastic Storybook Treasures: Five Little Monkeys and more with Sign Language!

September 13, 2010 By

Building upon the popular trend of babies learning to communicate by sign language, Scholastic Storybook Treasures has launched a new American Sign Language DVD series helping to extend sign language learning for children ages 2 to 9. The newest release, FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED…AND MORE GREAT CHILDREN’S STORIES brings beloved children’s books to rich life with voice narration, sign language and catchy musical scores. Stories include the title tale about everyone’s favorite primates, along with “Little Quack” and Mercer Meyer’s “There’s Something in My Attic”. The DVD also includes sign language vocabulary, comprehension quizzes, alphabet finger-spelling and read-along.

Studies show that when children learn sign language at an early age they have increased language acquisition and educators often recommend sign language to help children develop fine motor skills. The new DVD series has been created to enhance sign language learning and increase comprehension skills through vocabulary lessons and an interactive quiz for each story.

From one of the most trusted brands in entertainment and education, this new series was developed by parents Missy Keast and her husband/partner Dave Victorson who are also ASL and education experts. Keast was born deaf and is known as the “Shakespeare of Sign Language” because of her eloquent storytelling and communications skills.

Our Review:  This is one of Kaitlyn’s favorite stories, so I knew she would enjoy hearing it read with the accompanying illustrations.   I think even for kids not learning sign language, it’s a good way to introduce them to the idea that there’s a language that deaf people know, and they can tell a story with their hands. I appreciate Scholastic giving me the opportunity to introduce Kaitlyn to the idea of sign language. Who knows, she may want to learn it some day!

Pick up Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed…And More Great Children’s Stories where Scholastic DVDs are sold. Suggested retail price is $12.95.

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