Movie Info:
Studio: Lyons/Hit Entertainment
DVD Release Date: July 14, 2009
Online Availability: Amazon for $13.49
All the Barney haters need to step off the purple guy. Barney was the only thing that would calm down my son who has an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. He never slept, but Barney would calm him. He’d cuddle his big, purple dinosaur. As Barney sang, he’d chime in knowing every word. A teenager now, I relish the memories of how cute he was clutching his Barney. Now, I mention his beloved purple friend of yesteryear and he scoffs. He shouldn’t though because Barney got him (and me) through a lot of critical learning years.
Today, Barney is still teaching children about love, sharing, caring, and learning shapes, colors and other critical thinking skills. Barney hasn’t aged and the concept is still working for a new generation of children. Lionsgate and Hit Entertainment have been putting out DVDs for a while. The latest title is Barney Book Fair. As you might have guessed this DVD teaches children about the importance of books and reading.
On top of thinking Barney is great, I also am a firm advocate of reading. I read, Dom reads, we make our son read, our nephew reads, and so does my brother. Reading helps to expand the mind, explore creativity and take the person reading on a whole knew adventure. As children, both Dom and I read excessively. Neither of us could get enough of the books we read. Our teenage son is like that, though he is a bit more selective in his reading material than we are.
That being said, I was glad to watch this DVD which is about Barney encouraging children to read. My nephew is almost too old for Barney…almost. I made sure he watched this and he loved it. Having watched Barney since he was 2, he knew the formula. There’s singing, happiness and a lesson to be learned. Since Lil B loves to read, he took the lesson to heart and asked me for a book (he’s just beginning to read on his own), so he could do what Barney recommended…read!
The Barney Book Fair Description
The Barney Book Fair DVD comes with a book. Barney shows his audience just how exciting books can be. Kids watching this DVD will get pumped about reading and all the adventures they can find and explore every time they open a book.
The book that is included in this DVD combo set is a Barney Count to Ten Book. Lil B wasn’t as fond of the book, merely because he already knows how to Count to Ten. He looked at it once, read through it and put it to the side. His main interest was in the DVD. In the DVD, Barney’s friends are putting on a book drive at the local park. Barney is very excited about the book drive.
When Barney and friends open up a book, they are surprised to learn that each book leads them on a new adventure. For example, one book is about traveling through space and in no time, the Barney crew is building their own rocket! Through their adventures, Barney and his friends learn to appreciate reading and the kids become very excited about the prospect of reading new books and all the unimagined adventures books hold.
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Audio/Visual:
This DVD looks pretty good. It’s presented in 1.33:1 standard format. This is the same format you’d expect if you were to watch Barney on television. I wouldn’t expect that the distributors wouldn’t have gone out of their way to make this above standard quality. It’s Barney. It’s geared towards a young audience. The kids will not notice if the quality is good or bad as long as it doesn’t affect their viewing pleasure.
The English Dolby track is clear and consistent. Dialogue is easy to hear. The music comes through sounding vibrant and I didn’t need to fiddle with the volume at all. This was pretty much your standard audio offering. As long as the sound works and the kids can hear Barney speak and sing, it would matter that this track isn’t overly dynamic. Closed Captioning is available.
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Bonus Features:
The only bonus feature is the book.
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Bottom Line:
You should know if your child is going to like Barney or not. If they do love Barney, then you should definitely check out Barney: Book Fair. It’s a great way to get your child interested in reading, especially if they are near the age where they are going to start reading on their own!
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Technorati Tags: Barney: Book Fair, Barney and Friends, DVD, Counting to Ten, DVD Review, Children, Hit, Lionsgate, Lyons
Written by Ashtyn Evans – Visit Website
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Ashtyn is in her early 30s. She is a mother, writer, college student, and music lover. Ashtyn has had a successful career as a writer since 2003. She turned to blogging in 2005. Ashtyn attends Wright State where she is getting a degree in Psychology. She has extensive knowledge in SEO and Social Media Development.
