Tell Me Why, Vol. XXIII: Time, Money & Measurement

Based on Arkady Leokum's popular children's reference books, this latest installment in the video series that looks at the questions children ask about various subjects, has the same mix of good and bad found in earlier volumes (see the April, 1990 issue for other reviews). Volume XXIII covers the calendar, months, days, time and time zones, the history of counting, the metric system, and money. Visuals which mix still pictures with older 16mm footage and newer video footage are accompanied by narration that isn't terribly entertaining but is nevertheless interesting. Little tidbits about the names of our days of the week being based on Norse mythology and about Ben Franklin's original conception of Daylight Savings Time (which wouldn't actually be used until WWI) are fascinating in and of themselves and don't require adornment. As in the other volumes, the musical soundtrack is both repetitive and horribly dated. Still, there is nothing really similar to this project in the home video market, and libraries who have been collecting the series will want to add the newest volumes. Recommended. (See THE GEOGRAPHY TUTOR for availability.)