Embrace the Magic of Disney's First Soundtrack With Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

When I think of my favorite Disney soundtracks, I tend to gravitate toward the 1990s, with a side trip to the 1960s for the wonderful Mary Poppins. However, great music has been a part of Disney all along, as early as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, so I recently took that first soundtrack, which had been lovingly pieced together and remastered, out of the library and gave it few spins.

Naturally, this 26-track album has a rather old-fashioned sound to it, with lots of woodwinds and strings helping to set the arboreal tone, sometimes beauteous, sometimes perilous. Many of the instrumental tracks, such as the eerie Magic Mirror, ominous Queen Theme and whimsical Let's See What's Upstairs, are quite short, while others, like the half-comical, half-alarming There's Trouble A-Brewing and the dark I've Been Tricked, pass the four-minute mark.

The Overture serves as a lovely preview to the rest of the album, while the organ music in Chorale for Snow White, the last purely instrumental track, is fittingly mournful. One of my favorite pieces of music is Why, Grumpy, You Do Care, the flutey tones of which sweetly accompany a wonderful moment in the film that demonstrates the effect this innocent young woman has had on the grumbly Grumpy.

The relationship among those seven endearing bachelors and the naïve princess is the heart of the movie, even more so, really, than the true love that awaits at the conclusion, and the tracks that explore the dwarfs' personalities and reactions are a lot of fun. These include It's a Girl, the longest instrumental track; the upbeat Hooray! She Stays; and the gentle Pleasant Dreams.

Snow White's instrumental tracks reflect her naivety and the beauty of the woodland that surrounds her. Far into the Forest starts off bucolic before turning panicky, while the harp-drenched Just Like a Doll's House is pure delight. By contrast, the tracks involving the queen are unsettling. A Special Sort of Death prickles with malice, while Makin' Pies goes from pretty to urgent as an innocent activity takes a dark turn that culminates in the short but distressing Have a Bite.

While the score by Paul Smith and Leigh Hairline makes for great listening, it's the songs by Frank Churchill and Larry Morey that really capture one's attention. I'll admit that the extremely high voice of Adriana Caselotti as Snow White grates on me a bit at times, but I still enjoy her songs. Animal Friends / With a Smile and a Song and Whistle While You Work complement each other perfectly, demonstrating her ability to be upbeat in the face of challenges and establishing the tradition of Disney princesses to whom animals are magnetically attracted.

Someday My Prince Will Come is a romantic classic, and I like I'm Wishing / One Song even better, though that's mostly because of Harry Stockwell as the prince, whose melodious ditty returns as part of the lush finale, Love's First Kiss. All the romance in Snow White is incredibly simplistic and idealized, of course; she and the prince fall in love instantly without knowing a thing about each other. Still, for what it is, I like it.

Still, I prefer the songs of the dwarfs, given voice by Roy Atwell, Pinto Colvig, Otis Harlan, Billy Gilbert, Scotty Mattraw and Eddie Collins. The distant, malevolent queen never gets to sing for herself, but the dwarfs express themselves quite freely, and their comical, good-hearted camaraderie is my favorite part of the movie and soundtrack alike.

Heigh-Ho is probably the song that has permeated the public consciousness most completely - not so much the earlier, sound effects-laden discussion of their work in the mines, but the cheery chant that accompanies their departure. The largely instrumental Bluddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (the Dwarfs' Washing Song), led by Atwell as Doc, includes lots of silly noises and a great Grumpy moment as his companions force him to clean up for dinner. More silliness follows in the gleefully nonsensical The Dwarfs' Yodel Song (the Silly Song), which allows most of the dwarfs a moment in the spotlight.

This album also includes two tracks omitted from the movie, both of them involving the dwarfs. Music in Your Soup makes a natural follow-up to the washing song as the dwarfs sing their way through dinner, slurping and clanging all the way. The sound quality is definitely sub-par on You're Never Too Old to Be Young, the last track on the album, which starts with the yodeling from the yodel song. This one is a lot of fun and reminds me of Dr. Seuss's You're Only Old Once! Unlike the other deleted song, however, I really can't see it fitting into the movie. For one thing, it really is geared toward seniors, who will best appreciate all the specific ailments mentioned here; for another, it seems an odd song for them to be singing to Snow White, though I suppose the point would be to assure her that they know how to party despite all their creaks. I think this would have made a fun stand-alone short, and I don't think there would have been much reason to have Snow White in it at all.

While there are Disney soundtracks that rank higher on my list of favorites than Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this is still an excellent album that captures an essential piece of Disney history.

Pluto Cleans Up in Mickey Mouse and the Pet Show

I have had two dogs in my life, and neither of them has been at all fond of baths. It seems to be a common trait among dogs, and it's certainly the case for Pluto in the Golden Easy Reader Mickey Mouse and the Pet Show, written by Joan Phillips and illustrated by Darrell Baker.

In this silly story, Mickey Mouse sees a sign for a pet show and decides that Pluto should participate, but first he will need a bath. Rounding him up for this beautification will not be an easy task, however. With some help from Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Minnie Mouse and Goofy, will he be able to get the stubborn pooch to cooperate? And will it be worth all the effort afterward?

Most of the stories that I have read from this series are very much on the light-hearted side, even if they may have a lesson attached. If there's a main lesson here, I suppose it's that cleanliness is a good thing, even if achieving it means being inconvenienced. The book also celebrates the persistence of Mickey and his friends as they attempt to accomplish what they have set out to do. There's a further lesson tied in with the book's conclusion, but that's something readers will have to discover for themselves.

This book is designed for early readers, so it uses a lot of simple vocabulary and repetition. The word "bath," for instance, comes up nine times, and "sign" is in the book five times. Words that are especially important to the story resurface again and again, and if the young reader does not yet know how to spell those words, it's a great learning opportunity.

The characters in this book all look good, and Pluto makes some very funny expressions as he dreads the possibility of getting wet. None of the characters is wearing anything specifically associated with him or her. Donald and Goofy wear sweaters, while Mickey is in overalls and Minnie and Daisy are in dresses, having been interrupted in the middle of a tea party by their friends chasing Pluto down the street. They look a little silly later as everyone runs around the yard trying to corner Pluto, but I guess their willingness to wear inappropriate dog-bathing attire and probably get it all dirty just shows what good friends they are.

This story has a bit of a twist ending that makes all the shenanigans leading up to it even funnier. Kids who love the core gang of Disney characters or dogs in general should find Mickey Mouse and the Pet Show to be good clean fun.

Daisy's Secret Could Cause Some Problems

Secrets are tricky things. It can be very difficult to keep knowledge from people you care about, but sometimes there is value in staying quiet. In Daisy's Secret, part of Minnie 'n' Me: The Best Friends Collection, the secret is a surprise party, and the real surprise is that even most of the guests don't know what's going on. They just know that they've been given cryptic instructions to follow, and they're a little irritated that they're not in on the secret. Will the result be worth the hurt feelings, or will this big surprise be a big bust?

Surprise party stories abound in children's books, and usually it's the guest of honor who feels confused and neglected. In an effort to make that person feel special later, the friends usually first make him or her feel abandoned. Here, instead of one person being in the dark, it's several, except they know that something is going on and that eventually they will be in on it. It's an interesting twist on the formula.

This is not a series that I had encountered before. It has a very 90s look to it, particularly when it comes to the clothes that Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse wear as they square off in basketball. More distinctive than the clothes, though, are the characters, who, instead of being adults, as they usually are, now look like kids.

Along with Daisy and Minnie, who are best friends, we have Clarabelle Cow, Lilly Lamb and Penny, who looks to be a dog of some type - Penny Pooch, maybe? Clarabelle, Lilly and Penny dress much more conservatively than Minnie and Daisy, wearing dresses that seem more suited to the first decade of the 20th century than the last, particularly at school. Minnie and Daisy do have comparable dresses, but they only wear them at the party.

The main idea in this story is that suspense increases enjoyment, so it's good to keep secrets on an occasion such as a surprise party, the whole purpose of which is to bring happiness to someone. One definitely gets the feeling that these five girls are good friends who value each other's feelings. I did notice that there isn't a single male character to be found in this book, and I'm curious whether that's true of all the books in this series.

Author Ruth Lerner Perle does seem to be trying a bit too hard to make this book as overtly feminine as possible; I certainly think boys and girls should be able to intermingle freely. Then again, if I were to venture a guess, it seems like these characters are in middle school, which is often a very awkward age when it comes to mixed-gender friendships. Still, I would hope that Mickey, Donald, Goofy and other male characters show up in other stories in this, which evidently was a mail-order series.

Speaking of mail, the book concludes with Minnie inviting the reader to write to her. It's like a proto-PostSecret: "Don't forget to send me the enclosed letter about a secret you had to keep." Of course, that letter is nowhere to be seen in the library copy I read, nor is Minnie's address printed anywhere. Then again, considering that this book is 20 years old, I highly doubt that letters would still be accepted at that address.

Daisy's Secret is a cute story about friendship, trust and patience. While it feels a bit dated and overly gender-specific, it's fun to see these classic Disney characters as kids with a strong network of friends.

A Spooky Adventure Isn't So Scary After All

The Pixar movie Monsters, Inc. is all about monsters who come into the bedrooms of little children at night, initially to scare them. In the level two Step Into Reading book A Spooky Adventure, fears of such monsters and other spookables have another group of Pixar characters all riled up.

Written by Apple Jordan and illustrated by Alan Batson and Lori Tyminski, A Spooky Adventure is set after Toy Story 3, so it includes not only cowboy Woody, space ranger Buzz and several other members of the classic Toy Story gang - namely, neurotic dino Rex, the Potatoheads, loyal Bullseye and Slinky Dog, vivacious Jessie and practical piggybank Hamm - it also features triceratops Trixie, unicorn Buttercup, hedgehog Mr. Pricklepants and clown Chuckles, their new friends from Bonnie's room.

These new friends are very important in this story because, having lived with sweet, energetic Bonnie much longer, they know how things work around her house. Bonnie's vivid imagination leads her to make up the game Haunted Bakery, where prop ghosts figure prominently, and this gives most of the new recruits a case of the willies. They begin to see sinister beings lurking everywhere, especially when they are left alone on a rainy night, and it's up to these longtime residents to reveal the man behind the curtain, whether it's a pair of bunny slippers they mistake for a monster or a mop that resembles a dragon.

This is a story that could help comfort a child feeling anxious about strange noises or shapes that surface at night. Jordan strikes a good balance here, showing that spookiness of the variety that Bonnie introduces can be fun but urging kids not to let their imaginations run wild at nighttime if the result is anxiety and sleeplessness. It's a Scooby Doo kind of ending, but without anyone being villainous. All we have here are simple misunderstandings.

The pictures are a lot of fun to peruse here. Retaining the computer-animated look of the movies, unlike some tie-in books that recreate the characters in a flat, retro style, it feels like it could be an animated short. Granted, it lacks the rapid-fire banter and sight gags of those shorts, but for the format, it's still a funny read, and the pictures are great fun, with the dark shading making it all feel just a bit scary. While that makes it an especially appropriate choice for October, this is really an any-time-of-year book.

The wording in the story is simple without being particularly repetitive, though it does follow a basic formula throughout most of the book. One member of Woody's gang identifies something scary, and one of Bonnie's toys reveals that it actually is something completely innocuous. There's always a picture that gives us the toys' perception first, so kids can have fun guessing what the object might actually be, which makes the book more interactive.

It seems likely that the Toy Story franchise won't include any more feature films, but I'm glad to see that there is a place for new mini-adventures with these wonderful characters, especially when they are done as well as this book is.

Chasing Off Chipmunks Takes Ingenuity in Donald Duck and the Garden

I've always been very fond of chipmunks, so I love the Disney cartoons dealing with a mischievous Chip and Dale squaring off against an increasingly aggravated Donald Duck. Donald Duck and the Garden, a Disney Easy Reader written by Joan Phillips and illustrated by Francese Mateu, tells one of those tales.

In this summery story, Donald is a gardener, and he looks the part in his red plaid shirt and blue vest. All he wants is to grow some fruit and veggies, but that's hard to accomplish with Chip and Dale thwarting him at every turn. It's an epic battle of the wills, and the rascally chipmunks remind me of free-spirited hobbits Merry and Pippin making off with Farmer Maggot's crops in the film version of Fellowship of the Ring. They do it because they are hungry but also because it's fun to cause a stir.

Like other books in this series, Donald Duck and the Garden uses very simple language and plenty of repetition. The book establishes early on that Donald and the chipmunks are old rivals, which makes the repetition feel more natural. This is a game they've played again and again, just not always in this arena. This time around, Donald keeps coming up with new strategies to scare the duo away, while they keep coming back to try again another day.

"Stop! Stop!" "Help! Help!" "Run! Run!" These exclamations appear several times, as do assertions by the characters that they know each other very well and can anticipate what move the other will make next. Despite their bravado, the chipmunks do react with alarm to Donald's devices, but that doesn't stop them for long. This is a book about creative problem-solving and persistence with a resolution that leaves all three characters more satisfied than I would have expected from the madcap tone.

The pictures are cheerful and fun, with the instantly recognizable main characters getting on each other's nerves amidst several distinctive props. I especially like the robotic chipmunk Donald concocts, though I wonder how in the world he managed to construct it. While Donald often comes across as incompetent in his tales, that isn't the case here. His expressions of exasperation are entertaining, but they stem from the determination of his adversaries, not his own shortcomings.

This is a fun story focusing on three beloved Disney characters and featuring cameos by five others. The basic sentence structure and appealing pictures make it a fine fit for young readers, and the zaniness of the backyard battle is good for a laugh any time of year.

The Dwarfs Show Their Love for Snow White in What a Surprise!

Disney's first animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is a film that continues to delight audiences more than seven decades later. The sweetness of Snow White and the clumsy affability of the dwarfs who shelter her make for a winning combination. That combo is revisited in What a Surprise!, the fifth volume in the Disney Storytime Treasures Library.

Written by Lisa Ann Marsoli and illustrated by Adam Devaney and Diana Wakeman, this story takes place shortly after Snow White's arrival at the dwarfs' cottage. The seven short men want to show the princess how happy they are to have her as their guest, so they decide to surprise her by doing all the chores while she indulges in a nice long nap, dreaming the day away with visions of her Prince Charming.

This is one of the funnier installments in this particular series. Most of the stories have a heartwarming message about friendship and consideration for others, but humor is sometimes lacking. Here, all of the dwarfs, well-meaning as they are, manage to bungle their tasks in comically disastrous ways. The funniest illustrations involve Dopey attempting to bake muffins. There's also a rather alarming pair of pictures showing the chaos that ensues when the dwarfs accidentally bring a swarm of bees into the house with them.

The illustrations feature rustic coloring, with the rosy cheeks of Snow White and the dwarfs heavily accentuated. All of the characters seem to pretty much be themselves, and Doc's spoonerisms are particularly fun. While the woodland animals don't play a huge role in this story, we do see them quietly observing the outdoor tasks of the various dwarfs. The squirrels seem to be especially curious about what is happening.

While Snow White does mention Prince Charming, there is no reference to the queen in this book, so it has a very lighthearted feel to it. The only conflict comes through the dwarfs' clumsiness. How big a mess will they make of things before Snow White wakes up? How will she react to their attempts to keep house on their own? This book emphasizes Snow White's gentle nature, and her tact in the final pages makes me smile as she finds a way to express her gratitude for the dwarfs' consideration.

With seven speaking characters, this is a story with plenty of dialogue, but the narration is well-written as well, with the onomatopoeia on several pages adding a fun touch. In addition to the regular story, this tale, like the others in this series, has a brief poem at the end summing up the main idea of the book. Some of these are better-written than others, and I like this one a lot, as it discusses how touched Snow White is because "she saw how hard they tried / to show her in so many ways / the love they felt inside."

Indeed, there are many different ways to demonstrate love, as the dwarfs' sincere efforts here show. The idea that the end result is less important than the thought put into it is endearing and should encourage children to flex their own creative muscles and not be discouraged if their own expressions of love may be a bit clumsy.

Betsy-Tacy Connects Five Girls As They Yearn to Be Home for the Holidays

There’s no place like home for the holidays, which is why I’m in Erie, Pennsylvania on December 25th, celebrating Christmas with my parents and brother in the same house as always. In Heather Vogel Frederick’s Home for the Holidays, however, none of the five youngest members of the Mother-Daughter Book Club is spending Christmas at home. Instead, each one finds herself missing home while away on exotic vacations.

I discovered the Mother-Daughter Book Club series for intermediate readers last fall, and I devoured the first four books, the last of which gave every impression of being a series finale. I was surprised, then, to hear that 2011 would bring a new novel featuring these girls tied together by their immersion in classic literature. Home for the Holidays is different from the first four installments in several key ways, but it still is very much in the same vein as the others.

The first major difference that fans will note is the fact that Becca Chadwick, the prissy queen bee who is a primary antagonist to most of the girls in the first two books, gets to speak for herself this time around. Aside from her best friend Megan, she still doesn’t feel a particularly strong connection to the other book club girls, and this year, she has a troubling family secret hanging over her head and deepening her sense of distance.

Usually, the books are divided into four sections with four chapters each, but now that Becca is on board, there are five chapters in each section. However, there are only three sections, and the story takes place over the course of about five weeks instead of the typical almost-year. Hence, there are 15 chapters instead of 16, making this book of pretty typical length for the series, though the chapters in the last section are considerably shorter than those in the first two since everything in that section happens on the same day.

This time, the books under consideration are those in Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy series. I was excited to see this because my friend Beth, who has also been enjoying the Mother-Daughter Book Club books, has loved Lovelace since she was little. At her recommendation, I read the first couple books a few years back but stopped when my library’s supply ran out. Reading this made me want to pick up those books again.

I do find that there’s an extra layer of fun to be found in these books when one is intimately familiar with the allusions being made, which is probably one of the reasons that my favorite books so far have been the ones focusing on Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice. Still, I’m familiar enough with Betsy-Tacy that I didn’t feel too out of the loop with the references.

With so many major events occurring and long-running storylines wrapping up in the fourth book, Home for the Holidays feels a bit like a P.S. on the series, though it could also be seen as a sort of transition book. These girls are only sophomores in high school, after all, so there is plenty of potential life in the series still, especially if they deal with smaller chunks of time like this one does.

Here, there are really only two characters facing major changes. Becca’s father is out of work, and tomboy Cassidy could wind up moving back to California if her stepfather accepts a job there. Theirs are the most compelling stories this time around, particularly when it comes to long-term consequences. Megan has a crisis in that her long-distance boyfriend has abruptly ditched her, but as he only entered the series a book ago and didn’t seem likely to be a permanent part of it, the break-up doesn’t have as big of an impact as Emma’s major relationship catastrophe in the fourth book. Speaking of Emma, while this bookworm is my favorite character, she doesn’t have a lot to do in this book. Mostly she just reacts to Jess, whose sledding injury prevents her from going to Switzerland for Christmas and who Emma suspects of getting involved with another boy even though she is dating Emma’s older brother Darcy.

The book introduces a few new characters, but the one who adds the most is Becca’s grandmother. I love the way that Vogel has turned the book club into a three-generation thing, and it seems especially sweet that Becca’s grandmother is the one who selects the Betsy-Tacy books for the girls’ next project. I also love the tea shop opened by Megan’s grandmother, especially all the literary quotes on the walls. It seems like a perfect hangout for the girls, a place as cheerful and welcoming as Pushing Daisies’ Pie Hole.

The book begins with Thanksgiving and ends with New Year’s Eve, but the heart of the story is Christmas, which finds each of the girls someplace rather exotic. Jess and Emma are at a New England lodge run by Jess’s relatives, Megan and Becca are on a cruise off the coast of Florida with their families and Cassidy is with her Mom, stepdad and sisters in California, trying to decide whether she would be okay with them moving back to the state she called home for a dozen years. More than before, it struck me how isolated Cassidy is. Despite having a group of friends, she really doesn’t have a “best friend,” and although she has always been part of a hockey team, in some ways, she is more of a loner than anyone else in the group.

It’s fun to be able to visit with her and the others this time around for such a festive outing. I love Christmas stories, and that’s mostly what this is. As before, I usually found it pretty easy to keep the girls’ voices straight, though I sometimes caught myself mixing up Megan and Becca and, to a lesser extent, Jess and Emma; usually I can tell Emma is speaking because, like me, she’s constantly making references to books (though with me, it’s also TV and movies). Still, I think the characters are definitely distinct from each other, and it will be interesting to see how Becca develops if the series continues, since this is the first time we’ve been able to get her side of the story. As always, it took me a few pages to get used to the present-tense narration, but once I did, I was fully immersed in the story and could barely put it down.

Because this is the fifth book in the series, you really would do best to start from the beginning before opening this one. However, I think it would work as a stand-alone holiday story; you would just be missing some of the significance of certain scenes and spoiling earlier plot developments if you read it before any of the others. While the target audience is girls in middle school and high school, I think anyone who understands the power of books to forge friendships and help us make sense of our lives could easily enjoy Home for the Holidays.

Celebrate Halloween and Christmas With Ichabod and Mr. Toad

The Wind in the Willows and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow are two classic pieces of literature, but I wouldn’t have thought to put them together. Disney did, though, and the result was the 1949 package film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. It’s unusual in that it tells just two stories; the package films typically include several different segments, each of which is shorter than either tale told here. What it amounts to is about half an hour per story, so there’s room for some decent development even though neither one is individually of feature length.

The main thematic tie between the stories seems to be that they are literary classics, one from England, one from America. Other similarities can be found; for instance, both integrally involve a holiday and a horse-drawn cart. Mostly, though, the tie between the two is that these are books that could be sitting on the shelf next to each other. Basil Rathbone is the sophisticated narrator of the first part of the film, which focuses on the reckless Mr. Toad, and his warm voice is perfectly suited to the task. Bing Crosby feels like less of a natural narrator for the second half, which deals with Ichabod Crane, but the role allows him to do some singing, which is the task at which he really shines.

I prefer the first tale, which is much livelier, in part because each of the characters is played by a different actor and there is quite a bit of dialogue. Toads seem to be inherently troublesome creatures, more so than frogs, which have a bit of a reputation in fiction for steady dependability. After all, look at Kermit the Frog (at least, when he’s not blowing a gasket). The contrast is strongest in Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series, and silly, sulky Toad with his peculiar whims would certainly have a kindred spirit in Mr. Toad. They’re not bad fellows, but trouble seems to follow them, and sometimes they bring it upon themselves.

The story of Mr. Toad is set in the idyllic English countryside, where the eccentric millionaire is constantly wreaking havoc with his dangerous obsessions. It’s up to his faithful, long-suffering friends to keep him out of trouble and to try to prove his innocence after he runs afoul of the law. Toad is rather obnoxious but lovable nonetheless. Severe Angus MacBadger (Campbell Scott), who oversees his affairs, is a fun character, particularly because of his pronounced Scottishness, but he is less prominent than the even-keeled Rat (Claud Allister) or my favorite character, mild-mannered Mole (Colin Campbell). Other characters, including Mr. Toad’s horse and a freakish-looking villain named Mr. Winky, come into the picture, but this is the core quartet. It’s a raucous romp and a touching story of friendship set partially against the beauty of a pristine English Christmas, and it’s quite satisfying.

I’m not quite as fond of Ichabod’s story, partly because it’s just plain creepy. It makes me chuckle that in a film that includes a Christmas story, Crosby, who is so associated with the upcoming holiday, narrates the tale set at Halloween. It also strikes me as funny that the Christmas story comes first. The animation of a fiery New England autumn is quite appealing, but the human characters aren’t quite as enjoyable to look at as the animals in the first story. Ichabod in particular is a bit goofy-looking, though this would not necessarily be a drawback if he were a more likable character. Unfortunately, this gangly schoolteacher is a lazy womanizing glutton who can’t wait to hitch his wagon to the richest girl in town so he can live like a king for the rest of his days. Hence, although he’s the protagonist, he doesn’t exactly inspire a great deal of affection from me. It doesn’t help that there’s so little actual dialogue in this story, and what’s there is mostly voiced by Crosby. This makes the characters in this segment feel much more distant, leading to a definite sense of detachment.

The meat of the story is the rivalry between Ichabod and burly Brom Bones, who both want the pretty heiress Katrina Van Tassel for a wife, though love doesn’t seem to be a factor for either of them. They both appear to see her as more of a prize than a person. Brom reminds me a lot of Gaston from Disney’s much later Beauty and the Beast except that he is not quite so immensely popular. Still, he makes a potent adversary, and his dramatic ghost story is enough to give Ichabod a major case of the heebie-jeebies. Me too. The headless horseman scene that follows is truly terrifying, no matter what your interpretation of the incident is.

I’m not sure that this is the most natural pair of stories to put together, but it works well enough, and each is memorable in its own way. While I personally don’t want anything to do with Sleepy Hollow except around Halloween, I’m happy to pay a visit to Mr. Toad any time of year.

Chaos Ensues With Donald Duck at the Toy Store

There’s a wonderful scene in the Tom Hanks movie Big in which the main character, a 12-year-old kid in the body of a 30-year-old, goes to an expansive toy store and simply basks in the visceral delight of playing with just about everything in sight. The owner is so charmed by his enthusiasm that he not only joins him for an unconventional rendition of Heart and Soul on the giant stompable keyboard, he makes him a special consultant.

In the Golden Easy Reader Donald Duck at the Toy Store, the owner has a much less favorable reaction when Donald Duck decides to start trying out the merchandise. While it’s the same-old-toys malaise of his nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie that prompts the excursion, Donald is the one who goes nuts when they arrive at the store, and his idea of testing out the toys seems to involve breaking them and everything in the vicinity. What a calamity for the shopkeeper! What an embarrassment for the triplets! What can be done to make him stop?

This book, written by Joan Phillips and illustrated by Willy Ito, Claudia Mielnik and Roy Wilson, is similar in tone and format to other Golden Easy Readers starring Donald, particularly Donald Duck, TV Star. Basically, it involves Donald making a mess and the boys (or ducklings, I suppose) trying to clean it up. In this book, however, it all starts with him wanting to do something nice for his nephews, so it’s hard to fault him too much. But once he gets to that store, a sort of madness overtakes him. The pictures capture that crazed enthusiasm very well, particularly with the rings in his eyes.

Like other books in this series, it uses a lot of repetition, particularly in the middle section, which involves one of the nephews pointing something out as a good toy, then Donald offering to try it, injuring himself as a result and declaring it a bad toy. It reminds me of the Berenstain Bears book in which Papa Bear takes his son and his fellow scouts on a camp-out and insists on showing them how to do everything, which inevitably leads to disaster and to them using their own expertise to fix the damage he’s done. Donald, like Papa Bear, is a great big kid at heart. While that makes him more lovable, it also makes him more disaster-prone.

The simplicity of the writing makes this book a great one for readers just getting used to a few basic words like “toys” (which appears, in plural or singular form, 15 times) and “try” (which appears eight times). It’s also a bit of a fun challenge to keep the triplets straight; each one is singled out once, and after that, kids can go through the book and point out who’s who based on their clothes. The fact that all of them have both red and blue on them somewhere makes this even trickier.

This is a fun story that doesn’t discourage enthusiasm but does urge a bit of restraint. I think Donald would be a very fun uncle to have – as long as he doesn’t put everybody in traction.

Quirky Castaway Children Seek Their Heritage in Escape to Witch Mountain

Years ago, I saw the Disney movie Escape to Witch Mountain, and it was one of those films I remembered fondly but vaguely. The memory is much fresher now that I just rewatched the 1975 John Hough fantasy about two orphans with strange abilities trying to figure out exactly who they are.

Those children are the adorable and well-mannered Tia Malone (Kim Richards) and her older brother Tony (Ian Eisenmann). Both have telekinetic powers, but Tia’s are keener, and she also has premonitions and a penchant for telepathy. After their foster parents die, they wind up in an orphanage, but their stay is cut short when the sinister Lucas (Donald Pleasence) gets a dramatic demonstration of her powers, which are of great interest to his rich, power-hungry boss, Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland). However gilded their new cage may be, it is still a prison, and a dangerous one at that. They make their escape from their posh adoptive home, but how long can they evade such determined captors?

Young children with magical powers automatically make for intriguing movie fodder, and the mystery of their origins makes their story all the more compelling. It helps, too, that these are such incredibly nice kids, and you really want the best for them. Their powers provide ample opportunity for slapstick, particularly once Tia forges a peculiar kinship with a large bear, but this is really more of a drama than a comedy. The heart of the tale is the deep bond the children share and the development of their relationship with Jason O’Day (Eddie Albert), a crusty vagabond in whose trailer the kids hide out after making their escape from Aristotle and Lucas. Their black cat also plays an integral role in the story, particularly in terms of bringing the kids and the avowed kid-hater together.

The cast is strong all around, but Albert and Richards are the two standouts, and his gruff cynicism and her gentle innocence complement each other well. Their quest becomes not only escape from a megalomaniacal millionaire but also a journey of self-discovery as the children begin to remember their past and find a map that may lead to important answers about their family. Both Richards and Eisenmann are veterans of episodes of Little House on the Prairie in which they played unusually pure-hearted children, and that is a quality they both bring to this movie, while Albert’s ornery antics ultimately only serve to make his character more endearing.

It had been ages since I saw Escape to Witch Mountain, so I wasn’t entirely sure if it would hold up well after all this time. Happily, I loved it just as much this time around. Yes, some of the effects were a bit cheesy and I didn't focus too much on plot details beyond the basic short-term quest story, but it gave me the same fuzzy feeling it did when I was a kid. I haven’t seen the recent remake, so I don’t know if that does this one justice, but the original is a prime example of the charm to be found in the best of Disney’s live-action films.

The Grasshopper and the Ants Learn From Each Other

In the 1998 Pixar movie A Bug’s Life, the members of a colony of hardworking ants are routinely bullied into giving most of their carefully collected food to a thuggish grasshopper and his cronies. Decades earlier, Disney presented another story about diligent ants and a lazy grasshopper. In the 1934 Silly Symphony The Grasshopper and the Ants, the larger insect is not cruel, just irresponsible. Though the ants warn him to prepare for the harsh winter weather to come, he continues on his merry way until he is forced to concede that they are right and that he should have spent some of his time getting ready.

The book version of Disney’s take on this ancient fable was written by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Larry Moore. The paintings have a drab and rather fuzzy look about them. It certainly looks like a throwback to an earlier time in animation. The grasshopper is a jolly soul with bright, enormous eyes and a wide smile. He wears a red shirt and a green jacket that matches his green top hat, and he plays his fiddle merrily, inviting anyone he meets to join in his revelry. The ants are a bit less distinctive; they are black with brown legs, and many of them wear no clothes at all. Those who do mostly wear only a hat or bow; the queen in her regal pink gown and golden crown is the only one fully dressed.

In the original version of the story, after the grasshopper fails to heed the warnings of the ants, winter catches him by surprise and he appeals to the well-stocked ants for mercy, asking them for food and shelter, but they coldly turn him away. The moral appears to be that it is best to prepare for lean times instead of spending all your days goofing off, but the ants’ lack of charity rankles, so it’s hard to really see their industry as a great virtue under the circumstances.

In Disney’s version, the ants have more sympathy for their foolish friend, so instead of simply leaving him out in the cold to freeze and starve to death, they invite him in and he has the opportunity to repent, make amends and turn over a new leaf. In the original version, I think that while the grasshopper is too lackadaisical, the ants are too harsh. Disney offers a better balance, showing that it is important to work hard but that life is also to be enjoyed and that kindness to one’s neighbors is as high a virtue as dedicated self-sufficiency.

The Disney short includes a song that the grasshopper sings, and that appears in the book as well, though of course, you have to imagine the melody as he sings. The World Owes Me a Living is the name of the song, and it’s rather obnoxious, at least until he changes his tune. The lyrics were written by Larry Morey, but most of the words in the book are Brown’s. A prolific writer of children’s books, she moves the story along artfully, a few sentences at a time. The narration and dialogue is set apart in brown boxes, with the illustrations either taking up a full page or a large portion of the page, set against a white backdrop.

With the new year upon us, we are now in the midst of the winter in which this book concludes, or at least I am in Pennsylvania. I can never quite decide if I am the grasshopper or the ant. I’d like to think I have a pretty decent work ethic and that I manage my resources wisely, but I also spend a lot of time in leisurely pursuits. I think the key is to stick to neither extreme. Be more like the cricket, known for its merry music but associated with the making of sound moral decisions. In the end, in this more optimistic version of Aesop’s classic, the grasshopper comes to appreciate the value of hard work and the ants recognize the worth of merrymaking. All of them are able to appreciate that giving of yourself and letting your efforts bless others carries the sweetest rewards of all.

Disney Princesses Celebrate the Season in Winter Wishes

Earlier this fall, I read a couple of books that place various Disney princesses in autumnal settings. Now, with Christmas almost upon us, I perused the level two Step Into Reading book Winter Wishes, which features six of the ten princesses in the midst of wintry activities.

In this book, Apple Jordan writes in rhyme, which gives the story a nice lilt, though the rhythm is not as strong as it could be. The rhyme pattern is consistently ABCB, but some of the lines are short and some are long. While most pairs are pretty close in length, not all are; one that seems particularly clunky is “Cinderella wishes to go on a snowy coach ride. So Prince Charming takes his lovely bride.”

Cinderella is the last princess to appear in the book, as she was in those other Disney Princess books. She seems to have a slightly elevated status among the Disney princesses. She also appears on the title page, as well as the cover, though Belle is more predominant there. Snow White, Ariel, Jasmine and Briar Rose all have a few pages to themselves in this book too.

Ariel’s is a little strange since she’s under the sea, where I don’t think there are seasons as such, but there also aren’t mermaids, so it’s sort of a moot point. At least it isn’t snowing underwater. Jasmine does have snow in Agrabah, but that’s because Genie can do practically anything, including manipulating the weather.

Unsurprisingly, none of the princesses interact with each other. This is not a cohesive story but a series of vignettes. Snow White starts things off with eight pages, and Cinderella finishes them up with five. The rest have four each. Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Cinderella seem to alternate in these books between their pre-prince lives and their Happily Ever Afters, and it’s not always immediately obvious which we’re getting.

Here, though, Briar Rose is still living in the woods with the three kindly fairies, while Cinderella has clearly taken up residence in the castle. Snow White’s section does not mention the prince at all, but given the short time she was with the dwarfs, it seems likely that this Christmas celebration is taking place during a later visit rather than her initial stay.

While Aladdin does not play a part in this book, his presence is implied by Genie, so Jasmine’s portion takes place at least after the first movie, while the Beast is still in his cursed form, so Belle’s takes place before the end of Beauty and the Beast. Ariel, as pretty much always seems to be the case, remains a mermaid, so her segment appears to be a prequel.

All of the sections are pretty similar, with feasting, snow and Christmas trees common to most of the stories. Not everyone has specific winter wear, but those that do look quite elegant, especially Cinderella, the top of whose dress looks like something Mrs. Claus would wear. It’s very fun and festive. While there could have been a bit more variety in the traditions presented, Winter Wishes is a vibrant seasonal choice for young readers who love the Disney princesses.

A Boy and a Goose Need a Miracle in Chester, I Love You

I have spent almost every Thanksgiving at home, usually with a few guests, sometimes with just my immediate family. However, there were a couple Thanksgivings when we celebrated somewhere else. On one of those occasions, we went to my grandparents' house. Oddly, what really stands out from that long-ago year is watching a made-for-TV Disney movie called The Thanksgiving Promise, in which a boy raises a one-legged goose for his neighbor to eat on Thanksgiving. Of course, it doesn't take long for the boy and the bird to bond, and young Travis hatches a plot to teach Chester how to fly before the fateful day arrives. But can it be done?

I couldn't find that special when I looked for it, but I did run across Chester, I Love You, the novel that inspired it. This edition has a photo from the movie on the cover and an acknowledgment to Disney on the inside. Written by brothers Blaine and Brenton Yorgason, this novel, inspired by their own childhood experiences, follows Travis Tilby, a scrawny kid who is always getting picked on by his peers and a bullying gym teacher.

Travis lives on a humble farm with two athletic older brothers and a gentle little sister, but his is a largely solitary life until Chester comes along. He and the goose seem to understand one another, and they soon become inseparable. He's certainly doing a good job of keeping the misfit goose in good health, but his personal goal of helping him escape his fate seems less and less attainable as the months speed onward from May to November. What Travis needs is a miracle.

This book is written with a folksy narrative style, and it is populated with characters who make colorful remarks like "Arid land-o-Goshen!" and spontaneously burst into sermons at every opportunity. The Tilbys are a hard-working, God-fearing family, and matters of faith play an important role in the story. Sometimes of the parents' dialogue comes across as a bit clunky, since it seems that what they are saying is almost aimed more at the reader than the child they are addressing. The book also gets rather repetitive at times, and some of the parental heart-to-hearts slow down the action a bit.

Nonetheless, this is a family you want to root for, and it's particularly easy to sympathize with Travis. Many coming of age stories involve a child killing a beloved pet, and I've always found that rather grotesque. Travis's parents are conflicted as to how to deal with their son's plans. They know that killing Chester will utterly devastate him, but they don't want to teach him to shirk responsibility. I confess I found their sense of honor frustrating, especially after Travis tells Mr. Larson, the landlord who gave him Chester, about his plans and he agrees that there will be no hard feelings if Chester flies away before Thanksgiving. What will really be gained by forcing Travis to kill an animal he has spent months trying to protect?

While Travis is the primary focus of the story, there's also a nice subplot involving his older brother Jason and Sheryl, a sweet girl at school who he believes barely knows he exists. The plot thread showing how they relate to each other demonstrates how easy it is to get signals crossed in matters of romance and follows the theme of not backing away from a challenge, whether it's teaching a one-legged goose to fly or expressing your feelings to a longstanding crush. The youngest Tilby, Jenni, adds sweetness to the tale with her pure-heartedness, while second-oldest child Steve is a fount of unexplained animosity. His main purpose in the tale seems to be so Mrs. Tilby can encourage Travis to try her "kill him with kindness" strategy for winning over adversaries; there's a good lesson in there, but Steve never really feels as fully-formed as the other Tilbys.

Although I occasionally found the writing to be excessively clunky or preachy, I mostly enjoyed this story of perseverance and devotion. It would be interesting to see the movie again; I suspect that this is one of those cases in which I like the movie better than the book, but the novel is still a worthwhile read, especially for this time of year.

Rapunzel and Other Disney Princesses Make a Tasty Treat

When I was a kid, fruit snacks were pretty common inclusions in my school lunches. I don’t often eat them anymore, but every once in a while I’ll feel nostalgic for these little pouches of tasty whimsy. On the latest grocery excursion, I picked up a box of Kellogg’s Tangled fruit snacks, and while the form has changed, the basic gist of these treats remains the same.

The Tangled fruit snacks come in a box containing ten pouches. Each pouch contains several of the small, chewy snacks, which the box proclaims are fat free and made with real fruit, making them a source of Vitamin C. Every pouch will set you back 70 calories. Aside from nutritional information, the box features three simple games on the back. There’s a seek and find, a matching challenge and a small trivia section. It’s quite a lot squeezed into a small space, and it works well aside from the very poorly worded question, “What does Gaston say to Belle to free her father?”

Wait, Belle? I thought this was Rapunzel. Yeah, so did I. The front of the box boldly declares “Disney Tangled,” but that’s really a misnomer. Of the six fruit snack designs, only two – purple Rapunzel (grape) and the orange hairbrush (orange) – relate specifically to Disney’s 50th animated feature. A third, a yellow tiara, is pretty much a Disney princess staple.

Yellow, with lemon flavoring, is also the color of Belle. Like Rapunzel, she’s just a head, and the color works much better for her. Every time I look at a Rapunzel snack, I briefly forget and think I’m looking at Pocahontas. The red enchanted rose looks quite nice too; I think it’s cherry, though the flavor isn’t that strong and I can’t quite tell. Finally, Tiana is green and lime-flavored. Hence, we have three different princesses and three props. The front of the box shows Rapunzel’s pet chameleon and Flynn, but neither of them is inside any of the pouches, which are more accurately labeled Disney Princess.

I prefer fruit snacks that have an unmistakable firmness to them. Super-soft ones don’t do much for me. These ones are a little softer than I’d like, but they’re still fairly firm. While some fruit snacks have different coloring but no real difference in flavors, these are distinct from each other, which makes them a lot more fun to eat. For an occasional snack, they’re pretty good, even though they don’t reflect the movie as much as a quick glance at the front of the box implies.

The Beauty and the Beast Music Box Is a Musical Memory Keeper

When my aunt and uncle took me with them to Disney World earlier this year, I knew that there would be one souvenir I would have to purchase, even if I didn’t get anything else. That was a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, which I would then wear around the parks in order to immerse myself in the experience as completely as possible. I got those ears on the first day, but after that, I found myself pretty overwhelmed by all of the merchandise for sale. How would someone as indecisive as me ever choose?

In the end, I mostly stuck with a few small goodies, and I bought the Belle music box both as a reminder of the trip and an attractive way to store mementos. This box is made of hard cardboard, but it feels more substantive than that. Until I did a little checking, I thought it was plastic or perhaps wood coated with shiny yellow paint. Despite being dressed in blue when we first see her, yellow is the color with which Belle is most readily associated. This shows her in her iconic ball gown twice on the outside of the box and once on the inside, and the box itself is yellow and features a delicate pattern of yellow roses.

For the most part, the outside is flat, but the top of the box is textured, and Belle , visible from about the waist up, stands with a red rose in her gloved hand. Near her is the name “Belle” scrawled in cursive, and it seems we are supposed to see this as her signature. She stands in the middle of a pale yellow heart, and her pose seems rather flirtatious; one side of the collar on her dress is falling down her shoulder as she tilts her head coquettishly. I prefer the head shot on the front, in which she rests her chin on her hand and seems to sigh happily.

On the front of the box is a brass clasp. Lift it up over the knob and open the box, and you will find a yellow interior and a tiny plastic Belle in her ball gown spinning gracefully in front of an oval mirror with brass trim. Three sides of the bottom of the inside of the box are pale yellow with printed hearts. The rest of the box is a brighter shade of yellow and has a slightly fuzzy texture. Assuming that you have turned the key in the back of the box, a tinkly version of Beauty and the Beast will play when you lift the lid. It will also play if you turned the key last time and put the lid down before it wound down again.

This music box is about five inches in all directions, a good size for a jewelry box. I’m sure that there are lots of young girls who use it for that purpose. As for me, I use it to keep trinkets of sentimental significance. I keep the box on my nightstand, so whenever I want to, I can reach over, turn the key and get a snippet of that iconic song. While I actually find the light-hearted Something There to be more romantic, in part because it is more personal, the movie’s title song is definitely the right choice for this music box, and it would make a great keepsake for anyone who loves that Disney masterpiece as much as I do.

Add Some Color to Your Keys With Donald Duck

Keys are very important objects, but they can also be befuddling. Most of them have either a silver or gold color to them, and the general shapes are usually so similar across the board that shuffling through a large set of keys can be a rather infuriating experience. If you’re standing at the front door itching to get in out of the rain, you don’t really want to have to search too hard for the correct key. One thing that has made things easier in my house is buying novelty keys and having them cut into the shape of our house key.

I first ran across these cheerful keys in a hardware store a few years ago. I was so charmed that I had to get one for myself, and with so many different designs to choose from, I encouraged my parents to do the same. Now we have several floating around the house. The spare key hanging above the stove is this particular design, which is Donald Duck.

Donald stands against a backdrop of bright green grass and clear blue sky. In the background are a cozy red farmhouse and a couple of trees. Donald himself is decked out in his traditional sailor suit, and he wears a big smile on his face. I often think of Donald as being frustrated, but that isn’t the case here. In fact, he looks very proud of himself. Given that this is a house key, I might venture a guess that he is proud because he is a homeowner. He certainly looks very satisfied about something as he stands there with his hands on his hips and beams.

The key is sturdy and works just as well as the original for getting into the house. This one simply hangs on the key ring with a couple of smaller keys, and finding the right key amongst them was never really an issue, as it was in with my parents’ much larger sets of keys. In their cases, having a key like this saves time because finding it is so much easier. Here, it just makes me smile to see Donald grinning at me while I turn the key to get into the house. The cheer is infectious.

Since I first came across these keys, I have seen them at multiple hardware stores. Many different designs are available, but Disney seems to be especially well represented. They only cost a few dollars, and getting a copy of your key made with this mold only takes a matter of minutes. Since the main point is making that particular key stand out, I wouldn’t recommend getting more than a couple of them – maybe your house key and car key, if your car key isn’t electronic. Some designs work better with certain key shapes than others, so that is something to be aware of; the person doing the key cutting should be able to tell you whether the design you have selected will be a good fit for your key.

I think that having Donald Duck on that key is a great idea. These snazzy designs make finding the right key in a pinch easier and express your personality and interests at the same time. What a fun thing to have on your key ring!

Enchanted Friends Help With the Beast's Feast

One of Disney’s most iconic scenes is the romantic evening Belle and her hairy host share in Beauty and the Beast as he tries to work up the nerve to confess that he loves her. While what everybody remembers about that scene is the elegant ballroom dance that sends them spinning around the room, it is preceded by dinner, and that is the focus of The Beast’s Feast, a level two Disney’s First Reader written by Gail Tuchman and illustrated by Eric Binder and Darren Hont.

At the end of the story, we see the Beast in his snazzy blue outfit that looks like some sort of Naval dress uniform, and Belle is glowing in her golden gown. Mostly, though, Belle is out of sight, and the Beast wears his purple cape as he consults with his household staff over the particulars of the evening’s entertainment. Both characters are well rendered except when it comes to Belle’s eyes, which appear to be a grayish hazel instead of the rich chestnut brown they usually are. Considering the fact that I am pleasantly accustomed to sharing both hair and eyes with my favorite Disney princess, I find the color change galling.

Other characters featured here include Lumiere, Cogsworth, Mrs. Potts, Chip and the canine footrest, and they are all in fine form. It is their presence that builds the structure of the book, since the Beast asks each in turn how he or she might contribute to his special evening. (Well, he doesn’t ask the dog specifically, but the pooch’s waggling enthusiasm is evident.) The repetitive structure reminds me of both The Little Red Hen and The House That Jack Built. Like the first, it is a series of pleas for aid, but in this case the friends are much more helpful. Like the second, it builds on itself so that by the end, we have a long string of things that will help make this elegant date as memorable as possible.

The structure mostly works well, though I feel like it’s trying to incorporate rhyme and rhythm, but only halfway, so the result is a little uneven. Sometimes it rhymes and sometimes it doesn’t, and the rhythm is not very strong. Still, the repetition is useful for early readers, and it can be fun to try to anticipate what will come next. Which character will the Beast consult? What services will he or she volunteer? The gentle enthusiasm on the Beast’s face throughout the story increases the anticipation for the grand finale.

This is just a quick tie-in book to a classic movie. Those who know the characters will find nothing surprising here, and those who don’t are lacking the prior character development that makes this scene so wonderful. Still, reluctant readers who love Beauty and the Beast may find the familiar characters enough incentive to give this book a whirl, and anything that helps kids immerse themselves in the wonders of reading is a beautiful thing indeed.

Strict Barriers Come Down in the Tween Rom-Com Geek Charming

My friend Libbie invited me over to her house recently, in part because she had noticed that the Keisha Knight Pulliam / Phylicia Rashad movie Polly, a made-for-TV musical adaptation of Pollyanna, was among the Video On Demand choices for the week. I’d gushed about the movie before, and she remembered. Unfortunately, when we went to watch it, the movie wasn’t there anymore. Instead, though, we went with a different made-for-TV Disney movie, the much more recent Geek Charming, starring Sarah Hyland from Modern Family as a stereotypical mean girl who gets thrown into a close association with a nerdy classmate.

This is pretty much your average uber-predictable tween movie about an outcast getting in with a popular crowd and briefly abandoning his friends before repenting in a very public manner (usually, as is the case here, at a school dance). There’s a slight twist here as it’s not just about the geek getting in with the popular crowd but also about the popular girl unleashing her inner geek. In other words, it’s about breaking down barriers. While it’s still pretty cheesy and over-the-top, it has many moments of genuine sweetness.

Matt Prokop is Josh Rosen, an aspiring filmmaker in desperate need of a subject for a documentary contest that could help him get into film school. Hyland is Dylan Schoenfield, who just has to be pronounced Blossom Queen at the upcoming dance. She’s a queen bee with a loyal posse, but she has tough competition, and a film like the one Josh wants to make could just be what she needs to win over enough fans to take the crown.

Josh is generally very likable, aside from his sour attitude about popular kids in general. He definitely comes across as a bit elitist himself in the beginning. As a gal who considers “geeky” to be practically a prerequisite for my own idea of Prince Charming, I didn’t have much trouble sympathizing with him, though he’s far from the most endearing geek I’ve encountered on TV. Meanwhile, Dylan, who lives in a mansion and is waited on by a housekeeper, is never quite as blanketly obnoxious as the mean girls in these types of movies usually are. Even when she’s at her worst, she has a nice streak, so the gulf between these two isn’t as wide as it might be in some movies.

The gradual friendship and sparks between these two is the heart of the movie, and the development is done pretty well. There are a couple of cute scenes with Dylan’s surprisingly down-to-earth dad (Andrew Airlie) and Josh’s wise, supportive mom (Lilli Birdsell), and Josh’s gang of misfits is fun. There’s also an interesting subplot with Amy (Sasha Pieterse), the artsy girl Josh admires from afar who has a past connection with Dylan. My favorite side character, though, is Josh’s film advisor, Mr. Farley (David Milchard), mostly for the incredibly compelling reason that he has a Scottish accent and I love listening to him talk.

Generally, I found neither the writing nor the acting to be particularly noteworthy, but aside from some of the silly jargon Dylan uses – particularly the oft-used “’what’ and ‘ever’” – the dialogue usually feels reasonably realistic. Some of the plot elements are a bit cheesy, but that’s to be expected. One thing I loved and didn’t see coming at all was a scene in which several of the characters see Flight of the Navigator at the theater and discuss it afterward. I mean, what Cineplex is re-running Flight of the Navigator - and where can I sign up? I was so tickled by their discussion I had to watch that Disney classic again for myself.

While the big confessional scenes – there are two in this movie instead of the traditional one – are just as overblown as I would have expected, the quieter moments that get us to that point are enjoyable, and I appreciated that this was not just about a nice kid mingling with the in crowd and returning to his old friends but about a diva remembering she wasn’t always that way and learning how to be herself again. I still much prefer Polly, but Geek Charming is certainly not without its charms.

Super-Cool Saxophonist Charlie Brown Plays a Sweet Serenade

Poor Charlie Brown is the perpetual underdog. His beagle may be Joe Cool, but “cool” is not a word I would usually associate with the round-headed kid in the jaggedy-striped shirt. However, in this year’s Wireless Peanuts Band from Hallmark, he’s lookin’ super-smooth as he cradles his saxophone.

Like the other three figures in this series, Charlie Brown is sturdy plastic, and he stands atop a brown base with a wooden floor pattern on the top. That base is just over an inch high, just under three inches wide and about three and a half inches long. The contrast of the darker brown with the light brown on top adds to the attractiveness of the figure.

Charlie Brown wears brown shoes, but everything else about him is vibrant and Christmassy. His pants and scarf are green, while his coat and Santa hat are red. Against all that bright color, Charlie Brown’s skin looks paler than usual. On his face, two tiny black eyes gaze out, one on either side of his bulbous nose, while the black mouthpiece of his golden saxophone is inside his mouth.

Press the small brown button near the front of the platform, and you will be able to hear Charlie Brown play The 12 Days of Christmas, along with It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, one of only two religious songs the band plays. He bobs forward and backward as he plays, giving the impression that he is putting all of his soul into this performance. If you press the button again mid-song, the music will stop; press it once more, and he will begin to play the alternate tune.

Of course, what makes these decorations so very fun is the fact that they communicate with each other. Charlie Brown can play by himself even if you have all four figures; all you need to do is turn off the power on the other three. You can also turn off the power on one or two of them and experiment to see which accompaniment sounds best with him. I would say the player who stands out least when Charlie Brown is in the spotlight is Lucy, whose flute is higher in pitch but somewhat similar in tone to the saxophone.

If another character is playing, Charlie Brown will jump right in after a few seconds, provided he is on. When we first brought Lucy home, we took her out of the bag and pressed the button. Charlie Brown was in the kitchen, near my brother, and he started playing out of the blue. As he had never seen the interactive quality of these figures before, that startled him. It’s a nifty way to be taken by surprise.

Charlie Brown was the second of the figures that Hallmark released. Like the others, he costs $29.95 if you buy him and nothing else, but I don’t know why anyone would do that. He’s $14.95 with another purchase, and that purchase can be something as inexpensive as a greeting card. He comes with three AAA batteries loaded into the bottom of his base, and unless he’s in display mode, which is activated by holding the play button down for several seconds, he shouldn’t need to have his batteries replaced before the season is over.

Whether Charlie Brown is the lead instrumentalist or the beguiling back-up, he is an undeniably awesome part of this quartet, which is one of the cleverest promotions I’ve ever seen from Hallmark. I always thought Charlie Brown was a jolly good fellow, and it’s great to see him here as a nice guy who doesn’t finish last – except when it comes to providing that long, last note that lingers in the ears when the song concludes.

Schroeder's Piano Playing Helps You Deck Those Halls and Jingle Those Bells

If there is one set of characters I identify most readily with Hallmark, it’s the Peanuts gang. Every year, Hallmark releases all sorts of cute Peanuts figures – plush, ceramic, plastic, you name it. It happens throughout the year, but it’s always most pronounced at Christmastime. This year was no exception, and it brought a charming quartet I found it impossible to resist.

The Wireless Peanuts Band consists of four Peanuts characters, each resting on a brown plastic platform, the top of which resembles a wooden floor. The figures were released gradually, the first in October, the last in December, encouraging multiple visits to collect them all. Each is priced at $29.95, but that cost is cut in half with the purchase of another item. I can’t imagine that anybody would buy one for regular price; even a single greeting card is sufficient to bump the price down to $14.95.

The first figure in the series was Schroeder. His base is three inches wide and four inches long, making him take up more space than any of the others. That’s because he’s seated at his baby grand piano, and the elegant instrument is rather large. Like the rest of the figures, he is dressed in red and green. Specifically, he has a green sweater, while his pants and scarf are red. He also wears a traditional red and white Santa hat. The only part of his attire that is not particularly festive is his footwear, which is brown.

Schroeder is seated with his pudgy hands poised over the keyboard. A shock of yellow hair pokes out from under the white brim of his hat, and he wears a big smile. He doesn’t even seem to mind that he is performing in the same band as his abrasive admirer Lucy. In fact, they sound smashing together as a duo. With him on the piano and her on the flute, it’s a nice blend of earthy and celestial sounds.

It’s the interactive nature of these figures that makes them so fun. Play one, and everyone else joins in – unless you’d rather they didn’t. Hence, Schroeder can play alone or with one, two or three bandmates. If you don’t want to hear a particular character, just flip that switch on the bottom to OFF. It’s fun to experiment with different sound combinations and move the figures around to determine what placement will produce the most pleasing effect.

Schroeder plays jazzy versions of Deck the Halls and Jingle Bells. Naturally, these are fairly short, basically combining the beginning and end of the verse or chorus. He slows the tempo down a bit to allow his fingers the opportunity to roam freely. Of course, they’re not actually touching the keys, but they hover so close to them as he rocks back and forth that it’s easy to maintain the illusion.

To activate this, simply press the brown button near the front of the platform. Once the song is finished, press the button again to hear the other one. If you only want to hear the other song and are impatient, press the button as soon as the song starts. This will stop the song. If you press it again, it will start over with the other song.

Meanwhile, if Schroeder is on but is not the primary musician, he will chime in with his piano accompaniment after a few seconds. For instance, after Lucy plays the opening phrase of Up on the Housetop, Schroeder jumps right in and tickles those plastic ivories, making it sound considerably livelier than it would if Lucy were playing alone. Among the four musicians, there are eight songs, and Schroeder plays back-up on six of them.

These are much heavier than ornaments and are best suited to sitting on a shelf side by side, though if you place them in different corners of the room, they will most likely still work together. Mine have worked at distances exceeding 20 feet. Each comes equipped with three AAA batteries; if you need to replace them, you can do so via the bottom of the platform.

While Schroeder isn’t quite as integral a character as his bandmates Lucy, Snoopy and Charlie Brown, he is the first character I associate with music, so it makes perfect sense to feature him. Right now, I have this little pianist sitting on my piano, leading his friends in a celebration of Christmas cheer. “Oh, what fun” indeed!

Pooh and His Pals Become Cowboys, Pirates and Old-Fashioned Superheroes

Winnie the Pooh and his Hundred-Acre friends generally live very simple lives and go about in the same clothes (or, in most cases, lack thereof) day after day. However, one fun thing about the television series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is its expansive imaginative scope. Some episodes allow these plush pals to venture into more unconventional territory. In Cowboy Pooh, part of the Playtime series of Winnie the Pooh videos, we see three episodes along these lines, each spoofing a specific genre.

The Good, the Bad and the Tigger - This Western spoof, also included in the video Growing Up With Winnie the Pooh: It's Playtime With Pooh, finds Pooh (Jim Cummings), Piglet (John Fiedler), Rabbit (Ken Sansom) and Tigger (Paul Winchell) in Christopher Robin's (Tim Hoskins) bedroom admiring his elaborate train set. When his mother calls him away, he warns everyone not to play with the train while he's gone, but Tigger can't resist, sparking a lengthy imaginative sequence set in the Old West. Tigger is a train robber, Pooh is his unwitting accomplice, Piglet is the sheriff determined to mete out justice however difficult that may be, Rabbit and Eeyore are his faithful sidekicks and Gopher (Michael Gough) is the grim judge eager to hand down a sentence for a "swinging."

This episode is a lot of fun because of the way it uses Western conventions, from dastardly villains to dusty, half-deserted towns. The score seems Copeland-inspired, and the chase sequences along the rickety railroad tracks prickle with excitement. Lots of fun, too, are the outfits, complete with ten-gallon hats (and one sombrero). Of course, this being Pooh, the story ends gently for all concerned, but some pretty harrowing situations precede the satisfying resolution that includes a lesson in forgiveness and fessing up to wrongdoing.

Pooh Marks the Spot - I wish I'd watched this video a little sooner; I could have included its infectious pirate ditty in my list of nautical songs for Talk Like a Pirate Day in September. "Yo ho, everyone knows a pirate's life is free. Yo ho, wherever we go, pirates is what we'll be!" Catchy. The pirates in question are Captain Piglet, Tigger, Pooh and Gopher, who roam the Hundred-Acre Wood in a magnificent pirate ship on wheels. I don't know who is responsible for the construction of that contraption - though I suspect a collaboration between handyman Gopher and creative Tigger - but I wish I had one. And someplace where I could ramble around in it, of course.

Rabbit does not think so highly of their pirate activities, especially once they start digging up his garden in search of buried treasure, so he concocts a plan to trick them and hopefully curtail their revelry. However, when a trippy dream sequence leaves him with a boatload of guilt, Rabbit wonders if he went too far. Aside from the brief dream, which is frankly pretty creepy, this does not take place in a fantastical setting, but there are pirate costumes aplenty as well as that remarkable ship. The conclusion includes a cute twist that emphasizes the kindness and creativity of these forest friends.

The Masked Offender - I'm pretty sure that I've seen this before, but as Tigger's secret identity, the Masked Offender, is all I remember, I wonder if I encountered it in another episode or perhaps a book. The rest of the story doesn't seem very familiar. In any case, this is another entertaining tale that seems to draw from classic heroes like the Three Musketeers and Robin Hood. Part of the episode occurs within a storybook Christopher Robin is reading, and this is where we find the most elaborate costumes and props, but Tigger doesn't do too badly in coming up with an outfit for himself after the story inspires him to follow suit.

There's humor in Tigger's choice of name, unintentionally changing "Defender" to "Offender," since all of his attempts to "rescue" others only serve to irritate them. Poor Piglet, roped into being his sidekick, doesn't know how to tell Tigger his heroics are not welcome. This is another episode that includes a mean-spirited practical joke orchestrated by Rabbit, but in this case, he doesn't work alone. Owl (Hal Smith) is particularly anxious to put a stop to Tigger's stunts. However, when a true emergency beckons, will a chastened Tigger step up to the plate to finally be a true hero? The storybook portions of this episode are great fun, but it's the intense action sequence involving one of those impossibly steep Hundred-Acre Wood canyons that really makes this episode.

Disney has released Winnie the Pooh Halloween specials before. Cowboy Pooh includes none of those, but the three episodes, taken together, feel Halloweenish because most of the characters spend the majority of their time in costume. Thus, this is a particularly good video for October, but any time of year, it may just inspire a creative playtime costume or two.

Tarzan Goes Bananas in a Cute Jungle Contest

Back when I used to play Super Nintendo a lot, one of my favorite games was The Jungle Book, in which jungle boy Mowgli comes stocked with a perpetual supply of bananas to lob at enemies. The picture book Tarzan Goes Bananas, a Disney First Reader written by Judy Katschke and illustrated by Andrea and John Alvin, features another jungle boy with bananas on the brain. This time, however, the bananas are the goal rather than a means to an end.

Like several Disney movies, including The Fox and the Hound and The Lion King, Tarzan shows us three distinct stages in the life of the main character, with childhood being the second. This is the point at which this story is set. Tarzan, the boy raised by gorillas, joins Turk, a gutsy gorilla, and Tantor, a wimpy elephant, in planning a contest to see who can get the most bananas down from a particular tree.

All of the main supporting characters from this phase of Tarzan’s life are present in this book: Tantor, Turk and his gorilla parents, gentle Kala and fierce Kerchak. We also have a few other jungle animals to give the book variety. Other contest participants include a rhino, a baboon, a snake and what looks to be some type of lemur-like creature, all unnamed. Each animal has a different strategy for collecting the bananas that hang high above the ground, but Tarzan suspects that his method may be most effective of all. Will his extra preparation reward him in the end?

The storyline is fun not only because it uses familiar characters but also because of the problem-solving skills that the animals display. Every animal has to come up with a different idea, something dictated by his or her particular skills. While his fellow participants seem to mostly think on their feet, relying on their instincts to help them find the best solution, Tarzan hatches his idea near the beginning of the book and doesn’t implement it until almost the end, so children can try to guess what he’s planning and come up with their own ideas for getting the bananas off the tree.

The writing style is suitably simple for early readers, with about three to five sentences per page, mostly consisting of dialogue. The pictures are richly detailed, with full-color backgrounds and expressive characters, particularly Tarzan. My only complaint on the illustrations end of things is that at one point, hundreds – perhaps even thousands – of bananas fall from the tree, but previous peeks at the tree make it seem that it couldn’t possibly support that many bananas. It does make for a fun picture, with Tarzan and his friends swimming in bananas almost like Scrooge McDuck swims in gold coins, but it’s definitely an exaggeration.

In addition to the story, the book includes an introductory page for parents with an explanation of the reasons behind the series and some suggestions on how to make reading with a child a more memorable and enjoyable experience. For instance, former International Reading Association president Patricia Koppman recommends discussing the movie ahead of time to make sure the child is familiar enough with the characters to feel a connection with them; if there is a lack of familiarity, she suggests taking a few minutes to provide context for the story. She suggests both reading to children and letting the children read aloud, with parents furnishing words when asked instead of stopping the story to sound them out. Every reader is a bit different, but the recommendations included with the book seem helpful.

This is an uncomplicated story, but it’s also a fun tale that encourages creative problem solving and immerses children in a vibrant natural setting. If they liked Tarzan, chances are they that will go bananas for Tarzan Goes Bananas.

Family Bonding and Friendship Come to the Forefront in The Wild

Several years ago, Dreamworks released Madagascar, and shortly thereafter, Disney released The Wild. Both were computer-animated films about a ragtag group of animals who escape a New York City zoo and are forced to fend for themselves in the wild. Both groups included a lion and a giraffe. On the whole, the premises looked so similar that they sort of canceled each other out in my mind and I didn’t watch either of them, but I finally got around to seeing The Wild recently. While I occasionally found it a bit manic for my tastes, for the most part, I thought it was a fun movie.

The Wild, directed by Steve Williams, is a quest story in which daddy issues play a major role. In that regard, it is rather like Finding Nemo, but in this case, the father, a lion named Samson (Kiefer Sutherland), has several plucky sidekicks aiding him in his search every step of the way. Samson delights in regaling the other zoo animals with tales of his early years in the wild, back when the ferocity of his roar sent the most monstrous wildebeests running for cover.

His son Ryan (Greg Cipes), who can’t produce anything more than a kittenish snarl, does not appreciate the tales so much, and after a particularly humiliating incident, he decides to run away and find his roar. By the time he has a chance to rethink his plan, he’s already on a truck headed out to the harbor. Neither he nor Samson, who dashes off to the rescue, can imagine the perilous journey that lies ahead.

The movie’s early scenes showing the rapid transformation the zoo undergoes at night and the amusing ways in which Samson and his companions interact with the big city in which they find themselves are entertaining. While one scene involving a peculiar sport the zoo residents play dragged a bit for me, I loved the homage to Star Wars that accompanies the friends’ arrival in the city at large, and I also found the incorporation of animals reflective of the escapees amusing. For instance, the runaways catch a glimpse of Geoffrey, the Toys ‘R’ Us giraffe, on a sign as they run through the city streets.

Joining Samson on his mission are four close friends. The closest is the squirrel Benny (Jim Belushi), who is annoying but fiercely loyal. He also harbors a not-so-secret crush on Bridget (Janeane Garofalo), a dignified giraffe. I found this plot point pretty odd until I recalled the romance between Donkey and Dragon in Shrek and figured that if I could accept that, this wasn’t too much of a stretch. Ultimately I enjoyed the way their interaction with each other changed over the course of the movie. Many of the stand-alone comedic moments belong to Nigel (Eddie Izzard), a koala from a London zoo who is plagued by the popularity of a plush toy in his image. Of the four, the snake Larry (Richard Kind) made the least impact on me, but he still gets a few good gags in.

The movie includes several prominent nods to The Lion King, from a glimpse of the marquee for the Broadway show in the city to the general prevalence of wildebeests in the plot. The opening in particular offers many visual parallels with that Disney classic, as does the climax, revolving around a deranged wildebeest played by William Shatner – the only voice actor, incidentally, who I recognized at once. Meanwhile, another element of the climax reminded me of one of my favorite scenes in Return of the Jedi, though I don’t think that was a direct homage.

The visuals in the movie are excellent, from the natural landscapes to the bright lights of a New York City night, and most of the animals have a very realistic look to them. The lions and wildebeests often seem as if they were lifted out of The Lion King and given computer-animated embellishment. Some of the smaller characters, particularly the snake and the pigeons, look a bit cartoonish and silly, but in most cases, the animation is impressive. I wasn’t particularly fond of the soundtrack, mostly, I guess, because I tend to find it distracting when songs designed for radio are deposited in animated movies. I suppose I shouldn’t feel that way, since I often enjoy their use in live-action films, but I generally didn’t feel like the songs added much. The exception is the wildebeest song that is essential to the plot, though frankly, I just found that one pretty weird.

Overall, I liked the themes of father-son understanding and self-discovery, along with the importance of having friends who will stick with you no matter what happens. Some of the humor gelled with me and some of it didn’t; at times, I think there was a little too much going on and the jokes got lost in the shuffle. Mostly, though, this is a well-crafted movie whose characters complement one another well and conquer their fears through the power of love. Factor in the top-notch animation, and it’s easy to be wild about this family-friendly film.

Winter White Eeyore Is a Snowy Delight

In my room, I have a sizable collection of plush Winnie the Pooh characters. I bought most of them myself back in the good old days when Erie still had a Disney Store, but I received a few as gifts. One of those was the wintry Eeyore that was given to me by my friend Dan several Christmases ago. I think it is Eeyore's snarky remarks and pragmatic approach to life that make Dan a particular fan of this downcast donkey, but he is unusually cheerful here, and his snowy makeover suits him very well.

I don't think Eeyore was the only character to get a new look for Christmas that year, but because he is naturally bluish-gray anyway, the color scheme is ideal for him. He wears a powder blue sweater with a glittery white snowflake on the front, and upon his head is a matching Santa-style hat with white trim. Instead of his usual thunderhead-colored surface, he is bright white. A Velcro patch on his backside has his tail attached, but it comes on and off, while still being secured to Eeyore by some dark blue thread. The tail also has a blue bow on it, and the pupils in his eyes, as well as his eyebrows, are blue as well.

Obviously, this is a highly stylized Eeyore, and he really makes the most sense for winter. I have another one that has the traditional Eeyore appearance, but in December, this one is just so pretty. He's about nine inches high and nearly as big around; he sits up on his hind legs instead of standing on all fours. Hence, he has a pretty roly-poly appearance, and he's very huggable with that soft material and squishy stuffing. That's good, because Eeyore is a donkey who could really use more than his fair share of hugs.

The major drawback I see to this edition of Eeyore is that it's harder to keep him clean, since any stain is going to stand out against that pristine fur. This Eeyore is probably better for kids who are slightly older and will be more careful about not getting him dirty, though surface washing does help, and if you don't mind a dingy Eeyore it doesn't really matter in any case. Of course, there are no little kids in my house, just one big kid, and I think Winter White Eeyore is grand just the way he is. If you are looking for a cuddly plush pal or a way to add a touch of winter to your decorating scheme, you might just agree with me.

You're Never Too Young to Be Old in Howl's Moving Castle

This fall, I’ve been enjoying the Disney releases of some of master Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s movies. They’re very unusual, rich in artistry and imagination and full of surrealistic images. One of the weirder ones is Howl’s Moving Castle, originally released in 2004.

Sophie (Emily Mortimer) is a young woman who works at a haberdashery. One day, she runs afoul of the Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall), a woman of monstrous girth who puts a curse on her. Sophie soon realizes that she has instantly aged about 60 years. Instead of young and slim, she is elderly and stooped, and she can’t stay at home in this condition. So it is that Sophie, now looking like an old crone (Jean Simmons), makes for the countryside and eventually seeks refuge inside Howl’s Moving Castle.

Howl (Christian Bale) is a mysterious sorcerer who comes and goes at will. He’s mildly intimidating but mostly kind, and he is happy to welcome Sophie into his home as a housekeeper. His household also includes a cheeky but sweet boy named Markl (Josh Hutcherson) and a wise-cracking fire demon named Calcifer (Billy Crystal) who could be the key to restoring Sophie to her former self.

In her travels she also meets a scarecrow with an enormous smile pasted on his face. Although this cursed fellow who she dubs Turniphead is mute and can only get around by hopping, using the post on which he is stuck as a pogo stick, he proves a valuable ally after she earns his loyalty by saving him from a compromising situation. She also comes into contact with the Witch of the Waste again, and how these two continue to relate to one another is one of the oddest but most touching elements of the movie.

Much of the movie takes place inside Howl’s castle, which wanders over the countryside on mechanical legs and features a magical device that allows its door to open upon one of several terrains, depending on which way the dial is pointed. One of the landscapes added into the mix is a glorious meadow, and there are a couple of idyllic moments in which Sophie sits placidly by a lake, so relaxed that the years seem to drop off her.

In these scenes, we see Miyazaki’s love of nature, but overall, that’s not a huge focus here. The movie does not feature as much cold industrialism as Castle in the Sky, but it does seem to encroach, and some scenes are pretty dark. Additionally, there’s at least one subplot that doesn’t quite seem to fit in. The movie is two hours long, and I wonder if he wasn’t cramming a bit too much into it.

On the whole, however, this is an enjoyable movie populated with fantastical characters and celebrating the power of love. It’s also an interesting commentary on the perspective that old age grants; though Sophie is barely an adult at heart, the wisdom she develops as a result of her curse is most beneficial. Themes of redemption and sacrifice also run strong. Meanwhile, Crystal’s excellent voice work helps to keep the movie light-hearted, as most of Calcifer’s interjections are good for a laugh.

While I didn’t like it quite as much My Neighbor Totoro, I think I prefer to Castle in the Sky and would probably put it at about the same enjoyment level as Ponyo. It’s a strange and surreal movie; you’ll have to accept the magical qualities of this world going into it. If you can roll with the strangeness, however, you may just find Howl’s Moving Castle a moving film experience.

Stopping in the Wood on a Snowy Evening With Pooh and Piglet

Every year, I add at least one or two Winnie the Pooh Hallmark Christmas ornaments to my collection. I usually wait until after Christmas to buy any for myself, but this year I decided to go ahead and splurge on Hello, Snow!, my favorite of the 2011 Pooh ornaments.

This ornament, crafted by Hallmark artist Tracy Larsen, is a magic ornament, and it truly has a magical quality about it even before you activate the light and sound. Pooh, clad in a turquoise scarf and festive Santa hat, is trekking his way through the Hundred-Acre Wood, lantern in one orange paw. The other holds a string, which is attached to a sled on which Piglet, all bundled up in a sea green scarf and hat, is taking an exuberant ride. Pooh obviously does not mind tugging his very best friend along; both of them wear enormous smiles.

Pooh’s ear almost brushes one of the limbs on the stately birch that takes up a good portion of this ornament. They stand on a platform that is flat on the bottom and mostly flat but somewhat lumpy on the top, to give the appearance that they are walking in freshly fallen snow. The front of the round platform reads “So much Christmas wonder to discover!” in blue, with blue snowflakes as accents, and the ground up top is dazzling white and covered with glitter, as are the birch branches.

The tree has five main limbs, each of which has two or three branches forking out. This makes Hello, Snow! an especially delicate ornament, and given how nicely it stands on a shelf, I won’t be taking the chance of one of those branches breaking by hanging it on the tree. However, for those inclined to try it, there is a brass ring on one of the limbs, roughly in the middle of the tree.

Meanwhile, hanging from a branch on each of the limbs is a small plastic snowflake attached with thread. These are cute and covered with glitter. Four of the snowflakes, at least on the one I have, look very similar to each other, while another is quite distinct from them, which makes me wonder why the others aren’t more strongly differentiated. They’re so tiny, though, that you don’t really notice what they look like unless you examine them closely.

Having these tiny dangling objects also makes me reluctant to hang the ornament on the tree, where it would be easier for one of the flakes to come off and get lost. While I love the snowflakes, I’m also enchanted by the cardinal who perches on a branch directly above Pooh’s head and gazes down at him. This handsome red bird stands out particularly well against all the white branches with their occasional black stripes.

I love the little poem printed on the box here. Its eight lines capture the wonder of a wintry landscape combined with the warmth of friendship. I especially love the last three lines of the eight-line poem: “The friends kept gazing at the sky, / So warm with wonder and delight, / they didn’t feel the time slip by.” When you’re a bear of little brain and a plush pig, chances are that you have neither promises to keep nor miles to go before you sleep, so there’s nothing to deter you from stopping in the Wood on a snowy evening.

Once the three button batteries have been inserted in the bottom of the ornament, pressing the small white button directly in front of Piglet will activate the “magic,” which means the lantern lighting up and a lush, flutey orchestration of Let It Snow playing. The music and light goes together; both end at the same time, and the lantern light seems to ebb and flow with the melody. It’s really quite lovely, especially in a darkened room.

I know not everybody finds snow as magical as I do, but on an ornament like this, where its beauty can be enjoyed with no plunging temperatures, it’s easy to get caught up in the enchantment of a winter wonderland, especially in the company of such grand pals as Pooh and Piglet.

A Bunny Goes for a Nighttime Stroll in Goodnight, Thumper!

One of my favorite classic picture books is The Poky Little Puppy, a Little Golden Book about a pup whose curiosity causes him to lag behind his siblings and explore the countryside, getting himself rather lost in the process. Another well-worn picture book, though one that I never actually read for myself until adulthood despite my familiarity with the title, is Goodnight Moon, a pretty much plotless book in which a youth bids goodnight to everything within view. That charming youngster happens to be a rabbit, which is the species of the main character in Goodnight, Thumper, a board book that reminds me of both classics.

Goodnight Thumper, written by Kitty Richards and illustrated by Lori Tyminski and Dean Gordon, is a part of the Disney Bunnies series of books for toddlers. Bambi has not appeared in any of the three Disney Bunnies books I’ve read, and my guess is that he is not a part of the series, though I can’t say for sure since there are a few I haven’t perused yet. The focus of the books, however, is Thumper, Bambi’s rambunctious best friend, and to a lesser extent his little sisters. Thumper is distinguishable from his sisters because he is larger and has gray fur, while their fur is brown and they have lashes on their eyes.

Thumper’s four sisters appear in two illustrations in this sturdy square board book. Before that, Thumper encounters a variety of wildlife, while he gets the first and final pages to himself. All but two of the pictures are two-page spreads, for a total of 14 pages. That’s pretty short, but it’s not bad for a book of this type, which is designed for very young pre-readers. The look of the book is a bit muted, since it takes place at night, but the colors still shine through effectively, and the animals depicted in it are adorable. There’s a fullness to the illustrations, particularly the characters, that distinguishes this from the movie; it has more of the artistic computer animated look of Tangled. I especially like the way that we can see all the hairs on Thumper and the other animals.

In my favorite illustration, Thumper gazes up into a tree, where a gray squirrel reclines on a branch, fast asleep and possibly unaware that a chipmunk has turned his tail into a bed. These furry fellows, too, are very lifelike while still retaining the basic look they were given in Bambi. Other animals depicted include a mouse and a family of ducks. The story is short but shows Thumper’s friendliness and yearning to explore as he comes upon various woodlanders and bids them goodnight.

One concern that some may have is that Thumper’s parents don’t seem to have any objection to his wandering the forest on his own. However, he does immediately come running when he is called. What’s more, he is considerably older than his sisters, so a little more independence seems warranted, especially in such a tranquil setting. Still, if children are old enough to understand what is happening in the story, parents might want to caution them against wandering off alone like Thumper does here.

That aside, Goodnight, Thumper is an adorable and well-constructed book with appealing illustrations and simple sentences that make for good naptime or bedtime reading for the very young. Given the choice between Goodnight Moon and Goodnight, Thumper, I think many might just find Bambi’s bestest buddy a little more engaging.