The Penguin Guide to Children's TV and Video: With Reviews of 400 TV Shows and Videos

Denny Manchee is a freelance editor and writer in Edmonton.

It’s Friday night. You’ve ordered the pizza and have just enough
time to dash to the video store for the evening’s entertainment—kids
in tow, of course. As your eyes dart over the just-arrived section,
eliminating 90 percent of it as pure schlock, you wonder if there
isn’t a better way to tackle this choice. Enter two books designed for
conscientious parents who want to ensure that their kids are not wasting
away on the sofa, watching mindless, violent, racist, or sexist shows.

In The Penguin Guide to Children’s TV and Videos, Livesley and Trotz
write fluidly on the subject of TV, both its good and bad effects. The
actual video reviews are broken down into four age categories: 1–5,
5–8, 8–12, and 12 plus. There are no stars to quickly indicate how
the reviewers rate a video; you must read the blurb under each title to
discern a video’s merit, which is not particularly handy when you’re
trying to find an appropriate video in a hurry.

Check It Out! is both more visually interesting and a better
quick-reference tool. The reviews are divided into age groups (up to 3,
3–6, 6–10, and 10–13). As with the Penguin guide, the rating
system is a bit cumbersome for parents on the go. The reviews in this
book begin with a descriptive blurb, followed by sections labeled STOP,
CAUTION, and GO. STOP denotes serious consideration, CAUTION means a
less serious consideration, and GO describes the strengths of the video.
After reading several reviews, I felt stronger opinions would have been
helpful; the STOPs, CAUTIONs, and GOs tended to cancel each other out.

Check It Out! includes a useful glossary of film and video terms, and
is indexed both by subject and alphabetically; the Penguin guide has
just the alphabetical index, but it does cover TV shows as well as
videos. Both books are well intentioned and full of valuable
information.