Disney's Read to Me Treasury Volume Two
Written: Jul 18 '04
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great pictures. Easy to read stories. All Disney.
Cons: Strange story mix. Lots of dogs.
The Bottom Line: Buy this to keep kids occupied for hours. The Toy Story pictures are better here than in the stand alone versions.
|
|
|
| dhandforth's Full Review: Disney's Read to Me Treasury |
The Disney’s Read to Me Treasury is a real bargain for parents in the habit of reading to their kids. This second book continues the series’ value proposition of easy-to-read retold stories built around illustrations taken from the animated movie.
This time around, the stories have a much more modern feel. In contrast with Volume One, there are no fairy tales, and every story takes place within the last 150 years.
Both of my children are voracious readers. My seven year old son and two year old daughter go through their books as quickly as they go through their socks.
This series has been a tremendous value and a great find for us. At less than $20 for six stories spread over 400 pages, my kids get hours of reading and fun from flipping through these books. As far as I can tell, this is the second of three volumes so far. My reviews of the other books can be read from the links below.
This has got to be one of the best-undiscovered deals in the children’s picture books!
THE STORIES:
These oversized hardcover picture book features six stories from Disney/Pixar’s best-selling animated films. Volume Two contains:
Toy Story, retold by Ron Fontes and Justine Korman
Toy Story 2, retold by Kathleen Zoehfeld
Lady and the Tramp, retold by Debbie Weissmann
The Fox and the Hound, retold by Marcus Gave
101 Dalmatians, retold by Liza Baker, and
Tarzan, retold by Victoria Saxon
The stories are retold concisely in full color. Four of the stories (The Lady and the Tramp. 101 Dalmatians, The Fox and the Hound, and Tarzan) use illustrations taken from the animated movie. 𣺝 Dalmatians” follows the 1961 Rod Taylor cartoon, rather than the 2000 Glenn Close version. And “The Lady and the Tramp” only misses Peggy Lee. Two of the stories (Toy Story, and Toy Story 2) reprint photo quality scenes from the movie.
The plots match the movie’s storyline and don’t miss much. Each story is around 65 pages long and no page has more than fifty words on it. The words are lively and easy to read. A typical excerpt might read in big print (this one is from 101 Dalmatians):
The friends decided to investigate the mansion. Sergeant Tibs sneaked through a hole in the wall and found a room…overflowing with Dalmatian puppies! The fifteen missing puppies were there, but they weren’t alone. Jasper and Horace had brought a total of ninety-nine puppies to the house!
Almost every illustration is full paged, with at least a quarter of the illustrations spreading over two pages.
The language is easy enough to read that my seven year old can read it to my two year old. With no princesses and mushy kisses compared to Volume One, my son enjoys reading this one much more. He also makes all of the appropriate sound effects for my daughter when reading the Toy Stories.
Like the first Volume, the editors have included a short introduction with tips to parents on how to read aloud to children. The stories have been split rather considerately into chapters so that the reader can stop the story to cater to youngsters with shorter attention spans. Although my kids make me blast all the way through and then make me do the whole thing over again.
THE ILLUSTRATIONS
This is the best part of these books. Did I mention that these are pictures taken directly from the movies? So these are the same pictures that the kids see on the video or DVD.
The heavy book cover is printed with pictures from the six stories. This makes it easy for younger children to point to the story that they want to hear.
Every story is striking colored with bright pictures that may have come from the original film cels. Tarzan offers wilted flowers on one full page. Sid stares in shock at Woody in an almost life size photo. The Pixar computer graphics look as good as photographs on the page.
The pictures are almost always full paged, and sometime spread over two pages for panoramic scenes (such as the rope bridge scene in Tarzan).
These glossy pages shine with Disney’s famous colors, shading, and pen lines. The pictures and text are uncluttered and beautiful to look at.
There is also enough detail in the pictures to keep the kids coming back to their favorite scenes. My son stares at Buzz and Woody for hours at a time, trying to extract every detail from a scene. Then he fires up the DVD player and watches the movie again.
THE CRITIQUE
My two year old girl and seven year old boy have also seen four of these movies, and recognize the characters. My two year old sometimes tries to tell me the story and quickly corrects me when I accidentally/on purpose get some of the story wrong. Having seen the movie does not discourage my children from reading this book in any way. If anything, seeing the movie makes them want to read it more.
Best of all, this is a way better bargain than single movie tie in. We have a battered 36 page paperback copy of Toy Story 2 that we paid $12.99 for. Here, there are 400 pages of better quality graphics, six stories, and all hard bound into a sturdy cover.
My kids love this book. My son sometimes volunteers to read it to my daughter. She likes the 101 Dalmatians. He likes Tarzan and Toy Story.
Unlike the first volume, this book is clearly geared more for boys. There is not a princess to be found and three of the stories are about dogs. Despite their modern tone, the fantasy elements are just as strong in these stories. And by way of warning, my kids started bugging me about getting a dog after reading this book.
My gripes about this book are similar to my gripes about Volume One: Who picks these stories? The story selection is, to say the least, haphazard. Like the editors are trying to please as many kids with just six stories as possible. Or maybe, this is the best deal that they can negotiate from the existing copyright. Why else would anyone put both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in the same book with three dog stories? The copyright license from Pixar must be about to expire. It would have made a lot more sense to make the whole book about Pixar, including maybe Monsters, Inc., or A Bug’s Life. Or made all of the stories about animals, including stories like Robin Hood, Dumbo, or even the Lion King from Volume One (replacing it with Sleeping Beauty).
The high gloss thick covered 400 page book could be very heavy to lug around. It weighs in at over 5lbs.: As much as my laptop computer. It is also big. It sits beautifully on a bookshelf. Great for home reading, but a pain to carry around for road trips.
This book can be bought near new for $12 on various web. This book is a major BARGAIN.
BITS AND BOBS
Disney’s Read to Me Treasury Volume Two(of Three) has no age recommendations. It is for children of all ages: particularly if they are between 2 and 8.
The book is written by seven authors and the illustrations and graphics are stills from the original motion picture animations.
Disney Press published this 400 page hardcover book in 2001. It sells for a cover price of $19.99 US and $27.99 CAN.
ISBN: 078683301-7
Links to other books in this series:
Disney’s Read to Me Treasury Volume One
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
dhandforth
|
|
Member: Dean Handforth
Location: Pasadena, CA
Reviews written: 103
Trusted by: 35 members
About Me:
"Those who would trade liberty for security will have neither..." James Madison
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.