Valentines Day

My Bloody Valentine/April Fool's Day
$12.98
MY BLOODY VALENTINE WAS WONDERFUL SO WAS THE REMAKE! BUT APRIL FOOLS WAS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY..THEN AND NOW SO WITH THIS DVD YOU GET THE 2 HEADED COIN,DONT LOOK FOR TOO MUCH IN APRIL FOOLS,BUT WITH MY BLOODY YOU GET YOUR MONEY'S WORTH!

Mr. Potato Head Valentine's Day Sweetheart Spud - Playskool
$13.95
Although they're for kids, getting to most of the packaged PotatoHeads these days is no easy task with modern clamshell packaging. The clear plastic allows for easy viewing, but I prefer the plain cardboard, easy open boxes of the past. The Love Spud packagine was actually one of the easier ones to negotiate. A pair of scissors and a some snips around the edges released the androgynous tater.

I really like this PotatoHead that makes for a great seasonal display with its Steve Martin arrow through the head, hand-held cutie fry heart, and blue bow armed with a heart tipped arrow. The nose, and especially the red lips seem glossier than other Spud parts I've encountered. The barefeet are awesome, the first I've seen on a plastic spud.

Couple Nitpicks: You can't put on arms and wings simultaneously. Too bad there isn't that option. The heart on the arrow tip and the one on the head could pose dangers because of their pointed ends. Limited parts equals limited configurations. Use spare parts of other PotatoHeads to up the ante.

This spud makes a great gift for a human sweetheart any day of the year. For kids, watch out for the pointy hearts.

The Biggest Valentine Ever
$3.99
This is a nice little story for children about working together, that is set nicely during Valentine's Day. Two little boys start to create a valentine for their teacher, but begin to fight about what the other did "wrong" and decide to go it alone. But when they aren't really happy with their solo results either, they decide to give it another go together.

The ultimate message is that while working together sometimes means not having things exactly the way you would have done it, it also means being able to use one another's strengths and talents to make something better than either would be able to create alone. And what they end up creating is bigger and better than either of them would have conceived of on their own.

The story itself is pretty simplistic and the message is very accessible for young school-aged children. Probably best for preschool-age and older as a read-to-me book, or a good early reader book (probably 2nd grade level and up) to read alone.

The illustrations are nice -- nothing spectacular or memorable as a standalone effort, but they tell the story well. I like that the little boys show no issues with using pink hearts and glitter as befits Valentine's Day -- no needless attempt to have them make a "boy" valentine. They even dress their final attempt with lace doily. :-) That does a nice job at making this book accessible for both boys and girls.

The only thing that strikes me as a bit odd is the first page of the book, which says "Once there were two mice who fell in love with the same valentine, but it didn't start out that way." I don't really see what that has to do with the rest of the story and it doesn't really make sense (I've tried to relate it, to no avail), but it doesn't bother me that much, because I had forgotten about it by the end of the story.

Overall, I think this is a nice read for a home story, or for a classroom read.

The Night Before Valentine's Day
$3.99
I bought The Night Before Valentine's Day to be read in my daughter's Pre-K class and it was perfect. They enjoyed the fun, rhyming words and learned some new things about "the big school" (kindergarten), as well as the holiday. The illustrations are sweet and visually appealing.