Curious George Rides a Bike...and More Tales of Mischief

Scholastic DVD Review for Parents

Scholastic DVDs provide animated adaptations of beloved children's stories. The narration is exactly the words from the story, and the animation looks like the book illustrations. This Scholastic DVD contains the following popular children's stories:

• "Curious George Rides a Bike": This story is not actually animated, but is filming of the actual illustrations from the famous book by H.A. Rey. George is ready for adventure when the man in the yellow hat gives him a brand new bicycle.
• "The Great White Man-Eating Shark": Norvin, a boy who closely resembles a shark, uses his talents to scare away all the other swimmers - except for one female shark in love!
• "Flossie and the Fox": Flossie meets up with a clever fox who has been making trouble around town. can Flossie outfox a fox, even if she's never seen one before?

"Curious George Rides a Bike" is a classic story and the DVD deserves merit for relating it, especially with the option for subtitles (which are beneficial for kids learning to read); however, the DVD would have been better if all of the stories had been animated instead of some of them being just filming of book illustrations.

The stories included in this DVD truly are "tales of mischief," and they are fun and interesting for kids. "Flossie and the Fox" provides a great platform to teach kids critical thinking skills as they analyze her deception and the fox's blindness to it.

• Have kids write or tell a "tale of mischief."
• Help kids analyze the story of "Flossie and the Fox" by asking them questions such as, "Did Flossie really know that fox actually was a fox?" "Why did she pretend she didn't believe him?" "Why did the fox fall for Flossie's trick?"