Where's Spot?

Eric Hill's beloved picture books come to life in this series of five episodes featuring the curious puppy Spot. Aimed at pre-schoolers, the Spot stories exhibit a wacky inventiveness while encouraging children to be curious. In the opening segment, for instance, Spot's mom Sally looks high and low for her little tyke but finds a menagerie of other critters instead. Tracking tell-tale noises, Sally discovers a hippo hiding inside the piano, a snake in the grandfather clock, and more, before a helpful turtle points the way toward Spot. In other segments, Spot takes his first unaccompanied walk and meets new friends, plays hide and seek with the other animals at his birthday party, frolics in the mud (and then in the bathtub), and finds a mysterious key. The animation is simple but effective, the voices well assigned, and the bridging music warm and soothing. The interactive video box (with three flaps to look under for Spot) won't get much use in libraries that cut up the box for processing, but fortunately it's not connected to the program content in any way. A companion volume Spot Goes to the Farm is also available. An excellent choice for young children. Highly recommended. (Available from most distributors.)