Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone?/Three Little Kittens

PreS-K—Static shots from these books don't do much to enhance this DVD beyond offering the chance to read along to it. The classic rhymes are slightly changed by the author, Melissa Everett. In Dog, she tacks on, "I looked over here and I looked over there and found him right here in this book." The missing dog is barely hidden in each illustration, allowing viewers to see what the narrator does not. The musical accompaniment is a repetitive bar of piano notes highlighted by strings. The watercolor illustrations are soft and bright, and the narration is adequate, but neither the music nor the voice-over builds to the happy conclusion. In the second story, the kittens' mittens are starting to stick instead of becoming soiled. The tale continues after the kittens wash and dry their mittens and "lay down to rest." They tell their mother that she is the best, and she replies to her kittens, who are, oddly enough, wearing their mittens to bed, that they are the best for her. Kittens has no music, but narrator Erin Yuen is expressive. Illustrator Sharon Holm adds interest to the kittens by making one's coat a brocade pattern like his mother's. Another's coat is denim, and the third is patchwork.