Customer Reviews

The Snowy Day & More Ezra Jack Keats Stories (Scholastic Video Collection)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Some of the reviews have comments about the animation of this DVD. Keep in mind that these stories were books first (with very good illustrations). Children who have grown up with video games may not have the attention span to enjoy these stories.

I especially enjoyed the interview with the author that is included as a bonus.

When I was a child, I loved "Snowy Day," the picture book about Peter, who brings a snowball inside in his coat pocket, and every other Ezra Jack Keats book my parents read to me. Other than "Pet Show" (1992), these were all produced soon after each book was written (1960's -- early '70's) and, I feel, were done very faithfully.
These pieces represent an era when producers didn't have a lot of effects to work with -- just the picture in the book, a narrator (and these narrators are all great), and music -- and couldn't count on licensed character synergies to carry a child's interest. My first video editing assignment ever was to shoot, cut, record, select music for, and edit a children's book. It's not as simple as it might seem. (I set "Where the Wild Things Are" to REM's "Perfect Circle" for the quiet bits of sailing over the sea and such, and something from Hüsker Dü's "Land Speed Record" for the wild rumpus.)
The overall mood of these pieces is very quiet, gentle, thoughtful. "Peter's Chair" would be good for discussing any new siblings that might be arriving in your house.
I believe Loretta Long, the narrator whose voice sparkles in several of these short films, went on to become Susan on Sesame Street.
I am consistently turned off by almost all children's programming. Buy this DVD.

I have used this video/dvd for my first grade classes in the school library after reading the stories to the students first. When presenting the video/dvd stories, I use the captioning option so the students can read along with the stories being presented. I have found that the classes are riveted to the stories, even though they have heard them from the librarian. To children raised in the audio/visual age, these videos/dvds work well. Could they be better and have better animation? Yes, but they are an excellent available resource.

The official write-up of this DVD states that it is a moving storybook. I didn't understand that this means that it is not animation (very few characters actually move) - it is more like looking at pages of a book. Although my 3 1/2 year old twin boys enjoy Keats' stories very much, they had a very hard time paying attention to this DVD.

I searched high and low for stories with images that resemble the my child's world. Once I found this video, everyone new about how great they were. They are timeless beautiful stories. My 5 month old baby watches the images. I can't wait until he is older to really enjoy these. I enjoy watching them also. Great find

My son has the book & I like to get him vhs that follow what we read. Nice. No moving animation - it follows the pictures of the book. He liked it & the other stories too. It was a good way for me to see if I wanted to buy the other books from the same author. Another way of entertaining him that is non-violent. All in all successful.

I grew up in the seventies, with a mom who was a librarian, and who made sure that the library always had a lot of kid-friendly movies to show. This was one of the movies that the library showed, and a book that we had in our home collection, and I was very happy to be able to buy it for my own daughter all these years later. She loves watching it as much as I enjoy revisiting a good childhood memory!

Ezra Jack Keats was one of my favorite children's authors when I was growing up and he still is one of my favorites. I liked this dvd because it tells my favorite stories in a beautiful unpretentious way. The films are very nice and seem in good condition. If you love Ezra Jack Keats and his stories, this dvd is a must.

My grandson, age 3, had been asking and asking and asking for the Snowy Day DVD because the "book" was already one of his favorites. Although we have several DVD's with accompanying books, we didn't have The Snowy Day DVD.
When DVD arrived, it just happened to be a snowy day. Jacob was completely spellbound watching this very special DVD about a boy's experience with snow, while he read along from one of his own favorite books and told me all about the story.