Worlds Together is a new excellent educational film series that explores a number of the world’s most out of the way places seen from the viewpoint of a curious traveler. Each documentary in the series introduces their culture, history, food, geography, and people. The series includes East Africa, Ethiopia, and West Africa. Approximately 25 minutes are included per country. Features include close-captioning and a free Teacher’s Guide.
Awards: 2012 Dr. Toy 100 Best Toys

Conceived by child literacy expert Dr. Brij Kothari, BookBox Series stories are designed for child entertainment while simultaneously improving reading skills. Using scientifically tested same language subtitling (SLS), children are assisted in the improvement of listening comprehension and reading and foreign language skills — while watching fascinating “Stories from Around the World” that bring cultural and educational values to children. The "Animal Stories" DVD features three stories: Based on an ancient Indian fable, "Four Friends" is about animal friends that work together to outwit a hunter and protect each other. "The Turtle’s Flute" is about a turtle that is a gifted flutist. When the turtle played her flute, everyone danced. One day, she is trapped by a greedy man. How will she escape? "Zippy the Zebra" is about a zebra that is bugged by a hide full of fleas. No amount of tail swishing or tree trunk scratching would give him any relief. Finally a pair of birds help him out by making a meal of his unwelcome guests. "This DVD helps children to read in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German or Italian. With three ways to use the program - Read to me, Let me read and Let me listen plus you can print the PDF of the book from a computer," Selina Yoon, President, Master Communications, told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 6, 2009. Awards: Kids First, Dr. Toy's 100 Best Products, Dr. Toy's 10 Best Audio/Video.

Part of the Families of the World DVD series, this title follows the lives of two families, one rural and one urban, as they go about their daily activities. The DVD demonstrates that kids living thousands of miles away in other countries lead everyday lives and participate in daily activities very similar to American children. The series offers a documentary-style “day in the life” glimpse into how people in different countries live from a child’s point of view. Launch date: August 19, 2008.

Developed by child expert Dr. Brij Kothari, this DVD in English and Spanish features five animated stories and employs scientifically tested SLS (same language subtitling) to assist children with listening comprehension, reading skills and foreign language skills. Run time is approximately 30 minutes. It is available in English, English/Spanish, English/French, English/German, English/Italian, English/Mandarin Chinese, English/Hindi, English/Gujarti, English/Russian and English/Portuguese. Launch date: October 23, 2007.

Developed by child expert Dr. Brij Kothari, this DVD features five animated stories, including “The First Christmas” and “The Elves and the Shoemaker.” It is designed with scientifically tested SLS (same language subtitling) to assist children with listening comprehension, reading skills and foreign language skills. Run time is approximately 30 minutes. It is available in English, English/Spanish, English/French, English/German, English/Italian and English/Mandarin Chinese. “This new BookBox DVD series can be used by those interested in educating children to read and get ahead,” Andrea Blain of Andrea Blain Public Relations told TDmonthly. Launch date: October 23, 2007.

“Families of Australia” introduces two children from differing locales and follows them in their daily activities from waking to bedtime, all the while showing young viewers the amazing similarities between their own lives and those of children the same age living thousands of miles away:  chores, school, extra-curricular activities and family interactions. The Families of the World series features families in Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Ghana, India, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico (includes Spanish and English soundtrack), Puerto Rico, Russia, Sweden, Thailand, the USA, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam.  This live-action, close-captioned DVD runs approximately 30 minutes. It’s also available on VHS for $19.95. Launch date: March 6, 2007.  Order Date: February 6, 2007.
— Though there are numerous videos for preschoolers, Master Communications president Selina Yoon told TDmonthly she doesn’t see many films for elementary school-aged children. The PBS broadcast series “really appeals to parents who wish to raise their children to be citizens of the world.”

Meet 12-year-old Zahida as she paddles her boat to attend school in Kashmir in the middle of a lake (“Going to School in the Lake”) and learns about the vegetation and plants of the floating garden that surround her; 12-year-old Ramesh takes us to his desert classroom made of mud, where there is no water and the wind rips through paper flags above his head (“Going to School in a Mud Desert”); and nine-year-old Skarma climbs uphill through biting cold to attend school  on top of a mountain (“Going to School on a Mountaintop”). More than 50 million children in India currently watch “Going to School in India” over POGO, Cartoon Network and National Geographic television networks. Master Communications, best known for distributing the multi-award-winning “Families of the World” DVD series, plans to soon make the program available to broadcast outlets in North America. This live-action, closed-caption DVD includes approximately 76 minutes of stories of children going to school in India. The retail price includes includes noncommercial public performance rights. Launch Date:  March 6, 2007. Order Date: February 6, 2007.