Two things about kids: 1) They love animals; and 2) They love anything with their name on it.

CJ will point out C’s and J’s anywhere she sees them.  When she sees me at the computer, she hops onto my lap and starts pestering me to type her name.  Never mind that she thinks C-J spells “Mousie”; she’s a big fan of her name in any incarnation.

Likewise, she loves animals.  She’s more fascinated by them than Tacy was at this age.  On one of our trips to the zoo, she and a baby baboon stared at each other through the glass - until the baboon’s mother leaped at CJ, screeching in alarm.  Startled me more than it did her.

So even though I was a little dubious about this blue-haired main character named Billy, I figured a DVD filled with animal facts and several mentions of her name would be right up CJ’s alley.

Billy Blue Hair: Why Do Giraffes Have Long Necks? is an award-winning DVD (2006 iParenting Media Award, for one) hosted by Billy Blue Hair himself - an animated character whose blue hair and casual style is intended to appeal to kids.

CJ definitely enjoyed the DVD, but I’m not sure Billy deserves the credit.  I think she really dug all of the animal footage.  Oh, and hearing her name.  Not even Blue’s Clues or Dora address her by name.

For my part, I liked all the animal footage too, as well as the facts and figures.  The style of the script was a bit inconsistent though.  Billy’d be going along just fine, speaking at a kid’s level, and then all of a sudden he’d launch into a description that sounded like it was straight out of Encyclopedia Britannica.  I got the gist of it, but I’m pretty sure it would go right over most kids’ heads.

Even so, I’d rather have her watch something that she might not fully comprehend yet than something that’s completely dumbed down.  With Billy Blue Hair, Tacy can watch and not be bored out of her gourd.  Plus, it’s one of the few items that I can hand down from CJ to Oliver - as long as he doesn’t start thinking that his name is CJ, or that C-J spells “Olliepop”.