Studio Mouse Inc. - Reviewer's Choice

Children's Bookwatch, Sept, 2004

Studio Mouse Inc.

353 Main Ave., Norwalk, CT 06851

Email: info@studiomouse.com

Four quite surprisingly affordable boxed set packages from Studio Mouse pair board books with a CD to provide some exceptional Disney basic learning presentations for the very young. Each set of small board books/cds provides fun learning sets which encourage read-along through musical cd embellishment. Kindness Counts provides a set of six board books with CD (1590693647, $12.99), Disney's First Concepts (1590693655, $12.99) uses Winnie the Pooh and friends to explore the basics of emotions and how to handle them; a related package in the highly recommended First Concepts series (1590693639, $12.99) uses Pooh to teach ABCs, 123s, colors and more; and more stories in Disney's 'Princess: early Learning' sets cover themes from Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and more, covering shapes and colors. If it's a one-volume book you seek rather than a boxed set of mini-books, Disney carries an oversized, thick board book/cd blend of 'musical learn-aloud' invitationals in Princess Colors (1560693701, $12.99), Princess Shapes (1560693698, $12.99) Pooh's ABCs (1590693671, $12.99), and Piget's 1-2-3s (156069368X, $12.99): each are enhanced greatly by the lively audio packaging and sturdy board book presentation. Or perhaps choose the larger packaging--less thick, but no less eye-catching or sturdy--in Disney's slide-open cd/board package My Princess Treasury (15606903736, $16.99), presenting tales from three princesses' who learn valuable lessons on behavior as they move through adventures, Big Book Of Alphabet Songs (1560693744, $12.99), using music and singing to learn the alphabet, or Cindarella's Birthday (1590693752, $12.99), another slide-open surprise package which focuses on birthday celebrations for Cinderella. All are fine packages suitable not for library lending so much as parental use and gift-giving--at attractive prices.