Diary of a Spider – In Stores May 27
Weston Woods is one of my favorite production companies. I am a life-long lover of the work that Mort Schindel has created. His company’s titles are now distributed by SCHOLASTIC in their STORYBOOK TREASURES™ series. All the titles are literature-based and wonderful. In this latest, Diary of a Spider … and More Cute Critter Stories, all the stories are about creatures both large and small. Featuring more than an hour of colorfully-animated tales and an innovative Read-Along function, it will be available to add to every family home entertainment library on May 27.
The title story, adapted from the best-selling picture book by Doreen Cronin, is a sequel to “Diary of a Worm,” but this time, spider is the star. Kids will learn about the events in the life of a young arachnid: school (where they have vacuum drills, not fire drills), web-spinning and wind-catching lessons and sleepovers at worm’s house, where spider is concerned that he’ll have to eat leaves and rotten tomatoes.
Of the book, Publishers Weekly noted that the story is “filled with verbal high jinks, deadpan humor and visual jokes that offer readers a whimsical glimpse of the world from a small creature’s point of view.” This zany, award-winning animated adaptation is narrated by Angus T. Jones and was directed by Weston Woods Studios’ acclaimed Gene Deitch.
Three more cute critter stories feature the Read-Along option: Roberto the Insect Architect (KIDS FIRST! Best Award Winner in 2006), Norman the Doorman and The Mysterious Tadpole. The DVD also includes the bonus tale, The Story of the Dancing Frog.
The enhanced new line of SCHOLASTIC STORYBOOK TREASURES DVDs offers more digitally-enhanced content than ever before, at least an hour of stories on each release, along with the Read-Along function which highlights words as they’re read, encouraging kids to follow the narration and promoting a love of reading. The DVDs also feature new, kid-friendly authoring for easy navigation plus refreshed, eye-popping packaging.
For more information about the newly-relaunched SCHOLASTIC STORYBOOK TREASURES line, which also includes titles such as KNUFFLE BUNNY…AND MORE GREAT CHILDHOOD ADVENTURES and ANTARCTIC ANTICS…AND MORE HILARIOUS ANIMAL STORIES, please visit http://www.newkideo.com/.
