Author Archives: Jaime Egan

About Jaime Egan

Bio has been removed by administrator

Wonder Pets!

Linny, Tuck, and Ming-Ming, too. We’re the Wonder Pets and we’ll help you. We’re not too big and we’re not too tough, but when we work together we’ve got the right stuff! “Wonder Pets!” is all about three preschool classroom pets — a guinea pig, a turtle, and a duckling — who go around helping animals in trouble. At the beginning of each episode, once the classroom is cleared of students, the pets usually get a call on their tin-can phone. Then sing a song about the phone ringing and that there is an animal in trouble. Linny is the … Continue reading →

The Good Night Show

PBS Kids Sprout has something a little different for our nighttime kiddies. Whereas NOGGIN network signs off at 6 p.m. (EST) every night and switches to “The N,” Sprout has a special show beginning at that time. “The Good Night Show” runs every night until 6 a.m. the following morning. Hosted by Emmy-nominated children’s favorite, Noel MacNeal and his friends Star and Lucy, “The Good Night Show” combines Sprout favorites with song, dance, and stories. You may know Noel MacNeal better as the voices of Bear from “Bear in the Big Blue House” and Kako, the best friend of the … Continue reading →

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

My daughter has a new favorite show on Playhouse Disney — “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.” My daughter just calls it “House.” No, it is not reminiscent of the old “Mickey Mouse Club” where you had Mouseketeers shouting their names and performing cute skits. This show is completely animated and involves Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Pluto, and their old nemesis Pete. The show begins with Micky Mouse greeting the viewers. In order to make the clubhouse appear, you have to say the magic words with Mickey — “Meeska, mooska, Mickey Mouse!” The oddly-shaped, Mickey-Mouse-like clubhouse then appears in the middle of … Continue reading →

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle

What story do children know better than that of the famous John Dolittle? I am not talking about the movie character played by Eddie Murphy. I am speaking of the original storybook character created by Hugh Lofting. The 1923 winner of the Newbery Medal is none other than Lofting’s “The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.” I had never read any of Lofting’s books about Doctor Dolittle when I was younger. I only knew that he was a fictional character who could talk to animals. I knew of the 1967 film which starred Rex Harrison as the title character and that there … Continue reading →

Remembering the USS Cole

On September 11, 2006, we commemorated the fifth anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania. But when October 12, 2006 rolls around, will anyone think about what happened just eleven months before that day? On October 12, 2000, an unspeakable act of terror occurred against one of our Navy’s ships. While it was refueling in Yemen, the USS Cole (DDG 67) was attacked by suicide bombers who approached the ship on a small boat. This attack was the deadliest against a US Naval vessel … Continue reading →

Playhouse Disney Mini-Shows

If you found my blog about PBS Kids Sprout mini-shows informative, then this one will be just as interesting for you to read. Playhouse Disney also has quite a few mini-shows that they present in between their regular programming. They have had some regular ones for a while and recently they have added a few more. My daughter loves all of them, so I figured it would be nice to share them with my readers. Go, Baby! This is about a little baby boy and his discoveries of the world around him. For a while, they just showed the same … Continue reading →

Handy Manny

Hola! Handy Manny’s repair shop. You break it, we fix it. This is Manny. There is a new fixer-upper in town and his name is Handy Manny. Along with his little tools, he can fix anything in Sheetrock Hills. Whether it’s fixing a broken horn on a train or assembling a flagpole for a celebration, Manny Garcia always has the right solution. This show is yet a great way for children to learn conflict resolution and help develop problem-solving skills. Wilmer Valderrama is the voice of Manny, but you may know him better as Fez from “That ’70s Show.” Of … Continue reading →

PBS Kids Sprout Mini-Shows

There is a kids television station that we have on digital cable here called PBS Kids Sprout. It is almost like PBS Kids’s version of NOGGIN — it’s television for pre-schoolers. In addition to all of the PBS Kids shows like “Curious George,” “Sesame Street,” and “Caillou,” there are also what I like to call their “mini-shows.” Really what this means is that the shows are only about five minutes to ten minutes long, or they only play about five to ten minutes of the show’s episode. The following are some of PBS Kids Sprout’s mini-shows. Pingu Pingu is the … Continue reading →

The Story of Mankind

We live under the shadow of a giant question mark. Who are we? Where do we come from? Whither are we bound? Slowly, but with persistent courage, we have been pushing this question mark further and further towards that distant line, beyond the horizon, where we hope to find our answer. The winner of the first Newbery Medal in 1922 was “The Story of Mankind” by Hendrick Willem van Loon. It is a book about the origins and rise of mankind and tells all about history. Now, this book has been updated since its original release in 1921. It includes … Continue reading →

The John Newbery Medal

Here we go, readers, on another adventure in children’s books. For those of you who read my reviews on the Caldecott Medal winners, you may enjoy this series even more. The Newbery Medal has been awarded every year since 1922 (16 years before the Caldecott Medal) to “the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children” — to quote the Association for Library Service to Children (a division of the American Library Association). It became the first children’s book award in the world. Although John Newbery was a British publisher and bookseller, he is often credited with … Continue reading →