KIDS FIRST! News

The founding inspiration for online store Little One Books (littleonebooks.com) was Joan McCoy and Barney Cohen‘s quest for quality books, music and videos to share with their new granddaughter. The idea percolated for nearly two years before gelling into a purpose, resulting in four years of dedicated development that culminated in last April’s launch of the music-video-bookstore for ages zero to five.

“There are so many classics, we find, especially in the grandparents world,” says McCoy. “People remember books from their childhood and want to get them for their grandchildren.” Which is why Little One Books, while not ignoring the new Disney and “Dora” offerings, is focused more on providing customers “something a little bit different and unusual,” McCoy explains.

And it takes a unanimous two-thumbs-up from both partners for an item to make the select Little One Books list of titles.

With the books, for instance, McCoy explains, the criteria include great artwork and a well-written, compelling story. “We read each book and talked about it,” she says. And the child development specialist for their local library system – the Seattle Public Library – helped them vet their list and understand the behavior of children at different ages.

“Age appropriate” is the common theme among all lines of product. For music, “We want artists who write for children,” explains McCoy, noting that a lot of what’s out there is really for adults but just repackaged for children. Little One Books also carries classical music that’s appropriate for children — works that are not so complicated musically and that feature simpler instrumentation. To this aspect of Little One Books, Cohen brings the experience of his long career in the music business.

And the couple credits KIDS FIRST!’s own Ranny Levy for helping them develop the video selection. Videos must contain no violence, be educational and encourage interaction, such as asking the viewer to repeat words or do some movements.

“Getting good product into the hands of very young children is a passion of mine,” McCoy enthuses. Recognizing that other grandparents (and parents) share that interest, she and Cohen wanted to help them sort through the immense amount of children’s product available. Hence, Little One Books’ select list. “We want to give people choices, but not so much as to be overwhelming.”

And that’s why, also, within Little One Books’ zero-to-five age range, product is organized by specific age. As McCoy points out, there are occasions when people are looking for a gift to give a child they may not know really well — but they will always know the age of the child.

Cohen relates the feedback he received from one customer: “[He] was totally baffled about what to give an acquaintance at a baby shower. … He was dreading shopping, didn’t know what store to go to, and anticipated it would take an hour out of his day. But he went to our site and found something in a few minutes. … He said it was the perfect gift; the person who received it loved it.

“When people tell us they like what they buy or we did something to improve their lives, it’s a real charge.”

The power of friendship lies at the heart of — that of Tink and her erstwhile captor, the young girl Lizzie, spanning the chasm between human and fairy, and that among Tink’s family of fairies who risk their own safety to rescue her.

Disney has given the film its signature special treatment, with a full complement of catchy songs and captivating animation. In fact, the CGI is a draw on its own merits alone, even for those parents who find the story too simplistic to fully engage them.

For children, though, it’s truly the stuff of dreams — not that they’d want an emotionally absent, ultra-pragmatic scientist for a father (like Lizzie’s, the little girl Tinker Bell ultimately befriends), but how cool would it be to find a real fairy in the garden and keep her as a friend!

It was Tink’s curiosity that put her in the predicament, as she joined with her fellow fairies to gather flowers from the springtime English countryside but got side-tracked by a lonely little girl and an attractive, make-shift fairy house. When Lizzie (voiced by newcomer Lauren Mote) finds the sparkly, shimmery fairy in the little house, she decides to take it home and keep it for her own. Tink (voiced by Mae Whitman — Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) tries to appeal to Lizzie, to tell her how terrified she is, but runs up against a huge language barrier — in fact, all Lizzie hears is the sound of tinkling bells. Pantomime eventually works where words don’t, with some amusing miscues on the way to understanding and, of course, friendship.

Meanwhile, back at fairy camp, the Tinker Bell rescue mission is being planned. Little jealousies are put aside for the bigger goal of saving Tinker Bell and, yes, all of fairydom by preventing Lizzie’s dad (voiced by Michael Sheen — Alice in Wonderland) from adding Tink to his butterfly exhibit.

With some lavish strewing of pixie dust that enables even Lizzie’s well-fed tabby to find footing in mid-air as the kitchen crockery takes flight, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue offers a liberal sprinkling of comedy to counter the moments of suspense and emotional highs and lows as it builds to a very satisfying ending.

Directed by Bradley Raymond, who directed the earlier release Tinker Bell, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment includes the voice talent of Kristin Chenowith (TV’s “Glee”), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle) and Raven-Symone (TV’s “30 Rock”). It’s available Sept. 21 on Blu-ray and DVD.

With the familiar whimsy that Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” employed to instill in children a love of reading, PBS Kids’ “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That” is poised to inspire the innate scientist in them.

In the original “The Cat in the Hat” book, the Cat offered Sally and Nick a diversion from a dreary rainy day. In the TV show, he offers them adventures to learn why, for instance, Nick can’t make honey for his ice cream by glopping an assortment of syrups on it.

“Show Me the Honey” was one of the episodes in the debut show Sept. 6. Characters and the environment they inhabit are rendered in the distinctive Dr. Seuss style, and the Cat even talks (taking on the voice, now, of award-winning actor Martin Short) in the same wise and silly manner as he tells Nick and Sally — what else? — “Your mother will not mind at all if you do.” (But they do always check with her before hopping in the thinga-ma-jigger to seek out the answer to their latest “Why?”)

In “Show Me the Honey,” the starting point is one that children (and, let’s be honest, adults, too) can readily identify with: Nick’s rational child-logic of “If bees can do it, so can I; I just need to find the secret ingredient.” When the Cat takes him and Sally to a beehive, they learn not only how it’s really done (science) but that bees are the only ones that can make it (nature). These aren’t one-track-mind kids, though; there’s plenty of play, too, such as when they follow the bees to flowers and bounce around on the petals.

Shorter sketches break up the longer ones, with quizzes such as “What makes it a bird?” Pointing out that whales sing, too, and that not all birds fly, our hero sums up the solution in a Dr. Seuss-style chant: “The mystery’s solved by The Cat in the Hat. All birds have feathers, and that’s simply that.”

Parents, you’re missing out if you don’t watch this show with your kids. Besides enjoying an entertaining review of scientific facts and relationships you might have forgotten about, you can catch a few sly ones that seemingly are written to go a little higher than three to four feet: the “Show Me the Honey” title, for one, and this response from one of a flock identified as Canadian gees — “How should I know? I’m a goose, eh?”

Produced by Portfolio Entertainment Inc. and Collingwood O’Hare Productions in association with Dr. Seuss Enterprises, Random House Children’s Entertainment, Treehouse and PBS Kids, “The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That” was created in response to recent findings that children graduating from kindergarten are less prepared to learn about science than about other subjects. The series supports young children’s science learning by introducing scientific inquiry skills, teaching core science concepts and vocabulary, and preparing preschoolers for kindergarten and first-grade science curriculum — all in whimsical style. “Dr. Seuss was so passionate about science, nature and the survival of the planet, he surely would have loved that the science-based book series he conceived is being brought to television in such a grand fashion,” says Kate Klimo, Dr. Seuss’ Random House publisher and executive director of development for Random House Children’s Entertainment.

Hello from RaeAnne Marsh.

It’s been exciting, starting to work with KIDS FIRST! a few weeks ago as newsletter editor. I’ve had the pleasure of working with Ranny Levy and Ann Church for several years through KIDS FIRST!’s association with Moving Pictures, a publication where I also ply my pen and red pencil as a writer/editor.
 
My career in journalism began during my earlier career as a teacher. I had the opportunity to be involved with the development of a language arts enrichment program that mixed literature, drama and art — and my rendition of Jewish folktale “It Could Be Worse” was one of the series of books distributed through Amazon.com. Not long after completing that project, I became managing editor and lead writer for a start-up local lifestyle magazine. I founded my company, Grammar & Glitz Inc., in 2002, and have taken writing and editing gigs with corporations and publications nationwide. The pleasure is all mine as I continually get to explore a wide variety of subjects and meet a diversity of wonderful people.

Quality programming and arts resonate especially strongly with me. With extensive community service involvement over the years in youth organizations, I currently focus my efforts on Rosie’s House: A Music Academy for Children. I’ve served many years on the board of directors of this nonprofit that provides instruments and free, professional music instruction to the underserved youth of Phoenix.

If Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes is the movie your child wants to review for the KIDS FIRST! Film Critics’ Search competition, then today is the day you’ve been waiting for. Ideal for 6- to 12-year-olds, Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes streets today. And thanks to these two competition sponsors, the Warner Home Video DVD is readily available in-store at Toys “R” Us (on the special KIDS FIRST! Film Critics Search endcap display) and online at Amazon.com.

Academy Award-winning cartoon cat and mouse duo Tom and Jerry take their trademark antics and mayhem to London, where they help the legendary Sherlock Holmes and his helper Dr. Watson crack the burglary case that has befuddled Scotland Yard: A beautiful singer is being framed for jewel heists in the city of London in this first Tom and Jerry direct-to-video film to be produced without its original creators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Featured voices include film notables Malcolm McDowell, whose acting career spans the sci-fi/drama/thriller A Clockwork Orange (1971), for which he earned a Golden Globe nomination, to this year’s comedy Barry Munday; Michael York, whose similarly extensive and varied filmography includes voicing characters in 1997’s A Christmas Carol and current TV show “Family Guy”; and John Rhys-Davies, who has such action-blockbuster franchises as Indiana Jones and The Lord of the Rings on his long list of credits.

KIDS FIRST! has prepared a special discussion guide to help our budding reviewers. Among the talking points for parents to share with their kids are questions about this Sherlock Holmes-ian story that go to details of the plot (Name some of the clues Jerry found and discuss how they led him to the three cats as suspects for the stolen jewel) and others that focus on the relationship between favorite characters Tom and Jerry (How do Tom and Jerry, whose rivalry is recognized as one of the most famous and longest-lived in American film, treat each other in this movie?).

To enter the KIDS FIRST! Film Critics’ Search — which offers kids aged six to 15 the chance to be one of five KIDS FIRST! film reviewers, enjoying a year of attending red carpet events and reviewing films for our website and those of our partners — the first step is to send in a written review by October 10. KIDS FIRST! will then send the applicants instructions for creating a videotaped review. The video entries will be posted on WonderWorldTV.com for public vote, so tell all your friends. And be sure to vote yourself!

Winners of the KIDS FIRST! Film Critics’ Search will be announced the weekend of Nov. 12 – 14. The weekend’s exciting festivities will also include a unique KIDS FIRST! first: We will attempt to set a world’s record of one million kids and a caring adult “viewing and reviewing” a single film (The Velveteen Rabbit). Mark your calendar to share the event with us.