Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

In the Product Description it says that this video is for the 3 to 6 year old age range, but having children in that range myself, I can tell you that this is incorrect. For unlike the other Leapfrog videos, this one is really meant for older children who are either on the verge of reading, or who have just started reading.

I say this from observation of my son (3.5) and daughter (5.5) and their friends. Those of them that are almost reading, or who are sounding out short words and sentences, understand the importance of punctuation and 'get' the songs and the points of the story which emphasize inflection and reading naturally (chunking).

For the younger ones it just passes over their heads which is perfectly understandable since they haven't a good idea of what sentences and paragraph structure is all about.

Five Stars. It's short, but for the right kids it's an invaluable tool for teaching about story structure and reading. Young children will watch Lily, Tad and the gang, but don't expect them to learn much.

But buy this video. If you have the other videos (which are amazing) go ahead and get this one to go along with them. When the time is right, your child will just absorb this information like they did their letters.

My son was diagnosed with Pervasive Development Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified when he was 3. PDD-NOS is on the Autism spectrum, and children with this diagnosis often have developmental delays.

My son had a speech delay and other developmental delays. His speech is great now...no one can detect that he has this diagnosis. However, the delays have, understandably, affected his learning in some areas.

While his spatial skills have been way above average--as has his grasp of science (such as planets and their attributes)--he has resisted reading. He gets tired and frustrated.

Well, trying many approaches for helping him, I thought I'd take a chance and get the Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory DVD from Amazon.com, especially since the reviews were so good.

My son IMMEDIATELY took to this DVD and watches it over and over! He's sounding out letters, "chunking", and trying to read on his own. I know that this DVD, along with Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory I, have contributed to his quick progress.

The premise of this DVD is this: Mr. Websley (remember that grumpy duck from the other DVD's?) builds a Storybook Factory to create talking storybooks. Leap, Lily, and their friends act out "The Three Little Pigs", while Professor Quigley captures the scenes and words for the book. Tad, Leap and Lily's younger brother, is the narrator and is frustrated that he's having trouble reading. While he tries to read the script, he learns chunking and inflection and begins to gain confidence in his reading.

The cool thing is that large text appears on the bottom of the screen during the scenes, with the words highlighted as Tad speaks them.

Learn to Read at the Storybook Factory also teaches story comprehension, understanding character and plot, and even punctuation! There's a great section on punctuation with incredibly catchy tunes and visuals about periods ("full stop!"), commas, exclamation points, and question marks. My son goes around the house singing the lively tune "Punc, Punc, Punc Punctuation..." It's great!

I feel this DVD is better suited to children who are ready to read and who have mastered (or are beginning to master) 3 letter words and can sound out words on their own.

Highly recommended!

My daughters enjoy this dvd. My 6 year old is already reading much better. She has learn to pause and stop in all the right places. I am very happy with this purchase.