Peep and the Big Wide World

PreS-Gr 1—These eight episodes from PBS's long-running show feature animated characters formed with basic line drawings filled with bright color. Peep, a chick, is a yellow sphere with a red comb and lines for legs and beak. Quack is a blue ovoid duck with a line bill and a sailor hat. Chirp, a robin, is a red sphere with a large orange beak and lines for legs. Joan Cusack provides perfect narration, and the voice actors for the characters are excellent. Taj Mahal performs the theme song. Each story, which very subtly highlights a specific science concept, is followed by a live-action short of real kids playing and experimenting with the concept. In "The Mystery of the Thing That Went and Came Back," Peep learns about moving water (tides) when he floats away in half of a plastic egg during high tide. The bird friends have fun looking at the world through orange-tinted sunglasses, and later, a green bottle in "Peep's Color Quest." The birds and a beaver enjoy "Snow Daze" while having fun sledding down a hill and building snow animals. In "Flower Shower," Chirp and Peep try to keep the spring cherry orchard a secret from everyone, without success. The other four episodes include "Who Stole the Big Wide World?" (foggy day), "M-U-D Spells Trouble," "Quack, Quack," and "One Duck to Many." An excellent tool to introduce basic science concepts to young children.—Beverly Wrigglesworth, San Antonio Public Library, TX