Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

My son likes to watch movies and most of the ones we get are from the library. Usually we pick out Sesame Street ones, but on a recent trip he chose Children's Stories from Africa which includes two volumes of tales from Africa.

The host of this video is Nandi Nyembe and she wears a variety of different dresses and sometimes speaks in Zulu, with an English translation following (given by herself). She is the story teller and she is quite expressive with her story telling.

We learn about a variety of different stories from Africa, most dealing with only animals, but some including humans as well. They all have a moral, like don't let strangers into your house, or explain something, like why baboons have a crooked tail.

There are many different animals in the stories and, I would imagine, they are all found in Africa still. There are lions, hares, honey badgers, swallows, moles, bushpigs, warthogs, bushbabies, hyenas, monkeys, and more. All the stories have a shot, at some point during the story telling, of an illustration of something in the story, but there are no cartoons or live action depictions of the story happening, it really emphasizes storytelling in the classical way just by word of mouth and I think the illustrations are more to give children an idea of the animals she is talking about if they don't already know.

The total of the two volumes is 55 minutes. Each is about 27 minutes. There are six tales on each volume and after each story is a song sung by Nandi and eight dances from the Mahlatsi preschool join her. They are so cute! and they wear traditional (I think) African clothing as well with skirts and beads and little adorable shirts. All the people in the movie are African, both the actors and the illustrations, naturally from the subject of the video.

The background that the stories are told in is like a home from Africa. There are browns in sort of zig zag designs on the walls. There are drums that are sometimes banged on as she tells the stories, and there are chickens wandering around in the background. One time a chicken went a little ballistic and Nandi actually stopped and turned around to look at it during the telling of her story.

My three year old son can really only sit through one of the volumes. After that he starts asking when it will be over. He does like some live action movies, but most of the videos he has watched that are longer are Disney cartoons or have Sesame Street characters in them and seem to keep his attention better. It is nice that they are divided up though, so you can easily just watch for a half hour at a time. The back of the box suggests this video for ages 2-6. I would imagine slightly older children could definitely last the whole hour.

The box cover says it won the Parents' Choice Silver Award, Kids First! Endorsement, and Parents Guide Award. This is a fun little video that has an enthusiastic storyteller, dancing preschoolers, and interesting tales. I think it's a great one.

Extras include info on Africa, info on the animals of Africa, and reading along with the stories told.

This is an entry in captainD's Good Movies Write Off, sleeper54's Lean-n-mean VI write-off, and kamel622's EpiWriMo write-off.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4