The Rosemary Wells Collection featuring Max and Ruby {Giveaway}

If you are already familiar with the adorable bunnies Max and Ruby of literary and television fame, you will be excited to add this Scholastic DVD set to your collection. With eight stories, two of which have Spanish versions, it features classic illustrations and animated narration. Each story lasts for about 5-10 minutes and includes subtitles, which are intended to support early reading skills.

The short duration of the stories is the best thing about them. Every few minutes, new characters (thus, new voices) and a new plot appear. I love the format of the DVDs – the fact that I can choose to play one quick story or all of them consecutively. Because of this option, these could serve equally well as bedtime stories that incite conversation or quick, wholesome entertainment for your kids while you’re preparing a meal or making an important phone call. Calm music, quiet commentary, and smart details (i.e. “BNN, the Bunny News Network”) make these far more interesting and bearable for parents than the average cable network cartoon.

I was happy to find that the two stories in Spanish, La Navidad de Max and Nora, la bulliciosa, are clearly and accurately narrated. They offer great exposure for children with any level of Spanish knowledge, because the visuals directly support the conservatively paced narration and the creators include an advanced combination of grammatical tenses and vocabulary. The Spanish subtitles promote bilingual literacy, which is not always fostered by even the best bilingual toys available.

While Max’s and Ruby’s episodes convey positive messages about cooperation and problem solving, they proceed slowly and include less catchy music than the average children’s show. The DVDs are recommended for ages 2-7, but they did not hold the attention of my 2.5-year-old. Because of the emphasis on reading along, these are ideal for children ages 4-7. They would also be perfect for those of you with more than one child, or for young groups of friends that would be likely to discuss the stories as they watch.

The DVDs include extras: interviews with author and illustrator Rosemary Wells and a cute music video. In true Scholastic fashion, the Max and Ruby adventures do not disappoint. Enter to win these now or snag them from La Tiendita to provide your kids with educational end-of-summer entertainment.

The Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner:  Amber G.!

We have one copy of The Rosemary Wells Collection featuring Max and Ruby DVD for a lucky winner.  To enter this giveaway just tell us if you prefer for your children to watch entertainment in Spanish and why.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you´ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to our feed via email or RSS and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post.

3. Blog about this giveaway making sure to include our link, and you’ll get TWO additional entries.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, August 10 at midnight EST and you must have a valid U.S. address to enter.

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Chelsea Morales is a 23-year-old single mother with a 2-year-old son, Isaiah. She lives in Orlando, works as a private tutor (www.habitofexcellence.com), and uses the ML@H method, although she is not a native Spanish speaker. She maintains a blog at 20SomethingMom.