Customer Reviews

Harry the Dirty Dog & More Terrific Tails (Scholastic Video Collection)

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4 star:		(2)
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This DVD has three wonderful dog stories as well as three bonus stories.

Harry the Dirty Dog is about a small white dog with black spots. One day he get so dirty that he becomes a black dog with white spots and finally agrees to a bath. Nicely done and narrated. Very close to the original story.

Officer Buckle and Gloria is about a safety conscious police man who finally manages to get his message across with the help of the talented police dog Gloria. John Lithgow dos a great job with this one. The story includes a scene of Officer Buckle testing Gloria's training. Otherwise it is right on with the book.

Angus and the Ducks is about a curious Scottie who finally finds out what is making the quackity quack noises on the other side of the hedge. This one is live action and includes Angus with his siblings and being taken to his new home, walks in the park and other small differences from the original book.

The Beast of Monsieur Racine is about a champion pear-grower who finds a mysterious beast in his garden one night and stuns the scientific community. I am not familiar with the book but found the narration choppy and the animation crude.

14 Rats and a Rat-Catcher is a two-sided story about an old lady in her cottage and the rats that live underneath (or the rats' cottage and the horrible lady who lives above). Another book I am not familiar with but nicely done.

John Brown, Rose and the Midnight Cat is about an old lady, her jealous sheep dog and a cat that visits the garden at night. Another book I do not know. The animation was a series of stills (no actual movement anywhere in the story).

I bought this one as the three main stories are all favorites in the family.

My son (just-turned-three) and I had just picked up Harry the Dirty Dog from the library when my mom purchased this video for us. It is a WONDERFUL, magical way to enhance the reading experience! The video animation is a direct copy of the book's illustrations--so it really feels like the illustrations have magically sprung to life. My son and I cuddled up in bed together with the book before bedtime, reading and watching simultaneously. My son LOVED it so much that we bought the other books featured on the video and have made this a regular bedtime ritual.
The narrations are first-rate and slowly paced so that you can easily read along and turn pages as you watch.
I highly recommend this and the other video (the one with Good Night Gorilla, which is just as excellent) to any parent or educator in search of a way to enhance and enrich a child's reading experience. Research has shown that children who hear words and see them at the same time can improve their reading abilities--and this is a FUN way to do this!

This DVD is a read-along, gently animated package with six stories: two are Harry the Dirty Dog stories, but the surprise discoveries were a great Canadian-produced story "I want a dog" about a girl named May who wants a dog more than anything and the lengths she will go to in order to convince her parents, and "Dot the Fire Dog" about a dalmatian and fire safety. Just enthralling for my 3.5 y.o.

Bottom line: Come for the Harry the Dirty Dog, stay for the rest!

This gift for my five (5) year old granddaughter was a hit. She has watched it several times and loves it just as much each time. I would recommend it to others.

This is a "you don't have to worry about the contents" sweet video with three cute stories
I am an Officer Buckles fan and this is well done.

This is a charming DVD based on a very sweet story. My daughter loves it.

My three year old loves the book "Harry the Dirty Dog", so I thought he might like this dvd. What a surprise and joy it was to find this! The stories are faithful to the books they are based on, the animation is wonderful, and best of all, there is MINIMAL advertising at the start of the disc!! There is only one very brief "ad" you are forced to watch and that is simply an ad for the product you are already watching, the scholastic video series. What a relief after other kids fare, where I have to fast forward, or skip over 10 to 20 minutes of movie trailers, advertisements, and other junk. Plus, I love that these are just based on good books (that you can go find at the library together) and there are no product tie-ins etc. (well, except for the books themselves, but they're certainly not actively marketed or anything). You are not going to watch these and then have the kid whining at the store for the Harry the dog licensed character toy/snack food/etc.
I'm so happy to have found these and plan to buy more from the series.