Review: Strawberry Shortcake - Moonlight Mysteries

Strawberry Shortcake and Friends have been entertaining children for 25 years now. New mothers, that loved the show as little girls, can now sit down and share the experience with their own daughters. The colorful and brightly animated cartoon is obviously targeted to young girls, but little boys can also learn some valuable lessons about honesty, openness and friendship in this latest DVD entry entitled Moonlight Mysteries from the "berry" successful American Greetings company. The disc has a 45-minute runtime and includes two episodes: "Ginger Snap's No-Light Night of Fright" and “The Blueberry Beast". The DVD comes with both English and Spanish language tracks as well as English and Spanish subtitles, so it's perfect for families raising bilingual children.

"Ginger Snap's No-Light Night of Fright"
The first episode on this disc finds Strawberry Shortcake planning a camping trip for all her friends, which includes a diverse cast of characters that have sugary-sweet names like Ginger Snap, Orange Blossom, Angel Cake and Huckleberry Pie. Ginger Snap does not respond to Strawberry's invitation because she's afraid of the dark and wants to avoid a camping trip in order to keep her friends from discovering her phobia. Ginger Snap eventually agrees to go camping, but loses all the flashlights the group packed for the trip. It turns out that she's not the only one afraid of the dark. It's a lesson in honesty and the importance of trusting friends. It's also a perfect story if you're working on helping your little one overcome his or her own fear of the dark. It teaches children that it's ok to be afraid, but also that there's no reason to be scared of the dark.

"The Blueberry Beast"
The second episode continues with the theme of confronting your fears. The whole gang goes on a hike and discovers a dilapidated "haunted house" in the woods. When Strawberry confronts her fear and explores the house she discovers that the rumored "Blueberry Beast" is actually a little girl named Blueberry Muffin. "Blue" recently moved into the old house and was in the process of fixing it up. Needless to say, the whole crew becomes great friends. In addition to the lesson of confronting fear, this episode also teaches the importance of making new friends. As with the best children's stories it has an important lesson for adults as well. Don't pre-judge, face your fears and make new friends.

Article Author: Robert Burke

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