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The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate The Wash ..and more back-to-school stories Review by Dena Wood
1-800-724-6527557 Broadway
New York, New York 10012
http://www.scholastic.com/
This Scholastic video collection is available in either VHS or DVD and includes The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash, Shrinking Violet, and Will I Have A Friend? Each story is narrated and uses slightly animated pages from the books of the same title, giving them each a unique artistic style.
In The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash a mother questions her child about that day's field trip to a farm. They child relays the exciting, if unlikely, story of how Jimmy brought his pet boa constrictor and the escapades that resulted. While an amusing story, negative behavior such as egg and corn throwing, and basically destroying the farm fail to receive comment from the mother who simply comments on what an exciting field trip it must have been.
Shrinking Violet is the story of a young girl who is "allergic to attention" but finally has her moment to shine as the unseen narrator in a school play. After being unmercifully teased by a classmate, Violet comes to his rescue by saving him from the embarassment of forgetting his lines. Though his behavior toward her does not change dramatically, Violet gains confidence and is no longer bothered by his remarks.
In Will I Have A Friend? a pre-school boy shares about his first day at school and his concern over finding a playmate. This simple story shares the day's events and the friends he meets.
Scholastic states that these videos are geared for ages 3 to 9. While Will I Have a Friend? was appropriate for a three year old, Shrinking Violet would be more appropriate for an eight or nine year old. This is a wide age range for one video collection. While Scholastic uses award-winning picture books I would caution that the stories include inappropriate behavior, name-calling and palm-reading. Personally, I would choose to read the actual books to my child, discussing these things as I felt necessary.
