Guess How Much I Love You DVD Storybook Game - NR

Fabulous way to make classic book interactive.

Publisher: Snap TV Games Category/Genre: DVD Games - Preschool Platform: DVD Player Price: $19.99 Online Enabled: No Graphics: Lovely watercolor illustrations look like those from the book. Playability: Simple to play using your DVD controller. Reading Level: None Release Date: 04/07/2007 ESRB Rating: NR

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this DVD game stays true to its source material: the book, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. It adds interactive games to the reading of the book, and even has two that parents and kids play together. This is a fabulous way to bring a classic book to an interactive platform.

Families can talk about which games they like best. The counting games? Or perhaps the one about cloud shapes? Have you ever looked at the clouds and thought you saw a shape up there?

Rate It!

Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Jinny Gudmundsen

The children's book Guess How Much I Love You, by Sam McBratney, has sold over 10 million copies in the United States. Now, this charming story about the love between Little Nutbrown Hare and his parent, Big Nutbrown Hare, comes alive as an interactive game that uses your DVD player and your television.

With GUESS HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU DVD STORYBOOK GAME, kids as young as 3 can enjoy having the book read aloud while Anita Jeram's lovely watercolor illustrations come alive as animations. The pages of the book show up on the TV screen, the words in the book highlight as they are read, and kids use the DVD remote as a controller to play games that are imbedded in the storybook version. Kids can also experience the story as an animated movie. In addition, the DVD offers two games designed for parents and kids to play together.

Guess How Much I Love You DVD Storybook Game stays true to its source. This is a tender story about a little rabbit trying to express his love for his parent. That love comes through in the gentle but charming animations and the use of musical accompaniment.

To progress through the storybook mode, parents or kids use the arrow keys of the DVD remote to turn the pages of the book. Most pages also offer an option to explore an activity.

There are eight different activities within the storybook. Two are counting games involving butterflies and stars, two teach kids about colors and patterns, two are listening games in which kids match sounds to the animals that make them, and two are songs.

When parents and kids explore the games meant to "Play Together," they take turns using the remote. In one, parents choose a cloud shape, and then kids help them find it in the sky. In the other, parents choose a word, and their kids find words or pictures that rhyme with that word.

For families unfamiliar with how to play games by using the DVD remote as the game controller, kids use the arrow keys to scroll through choices and the "Enter" to select. For example, in one of the listening games, kids hear an animal sound and then are asked to select which animal made the sound. Using the arrow keys, kids can scroll over three different animals. The outline around the animal changes color when you are on it so you know which one you are choosing.

All of the interactive activities are well planned for ages 3 to 6. The games are careful to encourage kids to try a different option if they select the wrong answer; and they teach concepts appropriate for preschoolers, including learning colors and how to mix them, counting, early rhyming, and listening skills. We particularly liked the two games designed for parents and kids to play together because they foster social interaction that mirrors how Big Nutbrown Hare plays with Little Nutbrown Hare.

This is a fabulous way to bring a classic children's book to life, and a great example of how to port a children's book into a DVD game.

For other DVD games, check out: JumpStart Frankie's Field Trip PreK-1st and Madagascar Animal Trivia DVD Game.

Reviewed: 06/25/2007

Rate It!

Content		CS	adults	kids
Content
Sexual Content
Violence
Language
Message
	Social Behavior Models a loving relationship between a child and a parent.
	Commercialism Based on the classic children's book Guess How Much I Love You
	Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco
	Educational Value Great read-aloud alternative, and a terrific way to make a classic book interactive.