Sylvester & the Magic Pebble..

We like the Scholastics video collections. We have watched quite a few of them, and my estimation of where this particular video falls, is somewhere in the middle of pack. Not my children's' favorite, nor one of the one's they avoid.

In watching this video, the one surprise we encountered was that we didn't really care for John Lithgow's narration of "Sylvester and the Magic Stone. We have heard this story read on Between the Lions, and expected Mr. Lithgow to do a rip-roaring job - but that wasn't the case. Go figure.

HOWEVER, to make up for this mediocre performance Scholastic let Mem Fox read her own stories. And what a joy. In fact, we liked these video versions of "Possum Magic" and "Princess Furball" better than we liked the books! [How often does THAT happen - that the movie is better than the book?!]

Mem Fox simply does a lovely job. `Princess Furball' was captivating; and Possum Magic was. [Magic, that is.]

The bonus video is the "Magician" which my children have seen before on other Scholastic videos. They never seem to tire of watching it. It's an oldie but a goodie.

Four Stars. [B-]. Not the best of the Scholastic Video's but a solid performer.

This is a video of some stories that also come in book form. The video is exactly the same as the stories. The stories are timeless and teach valuable lessons. My grandchildren love the video.

I use William Steig books in my therapy sessions as a Speech and Language Pathologist in two public schools. I find his books charming, humorous, and full of good language for instruction in vocabulary and grammar. The fact that his books are really good fun makes them prime for painfree teaching and learning.

I love this video of The Magic Pebble. The priceless expressions on all the animals faces as the story progresses never gets old. Especially on Mr. and Mrs. Duncan's faces after Sylvester is refound. I can't help grinning and Mrs. Duncan's silly expression and body language!

This DVD is worth every penny!