Highlights: School Cool!

Highlights has been entertaining and educating youngsters for more than 70 years. School Cool! maintains the periodical’s "Fun with a Purpose" philosophy through 10 animated stories and eight live-action shorts. Each story begins by announcing the title, author, and illustrator. The selections loosely revolve around a school theme and some—including "Swim to School," "Greenfoot Gus," and "Kittengarten"—feature animal characters. The opening tale is "Bella’s First Day," in which a young girl declares that her outfit is a ball gown, her sneakers are dance slippers, and the family car is a pumpkin, before proclaiming, "Today I am Kinderbella." The animated illustrations are mostly color-washed drawings backed by clear narration from various readers. The live-action segments include "Ask Highlights Kids," in which an ethnically diverse group of youngsters answers simple questions, such as what to do if a classmate is cheating off your answer sheet or school assignments aren’t challenging enough. Other live-action snippets find children telling funny jokes and demonstrating simple projects. The animated stories seem to be geared more towards younger viewers than the live-action features, but a menu allows users to choose age-appropriate chapters. Likely to be popular due to the Highlights connection, this is recommended. Aud: K, E, P. (S. Beauregard)