It began with what seemed like an ordinary children's birthday party. Friends and family gathered to celebrate. There were balloons and cake, games and gifts. This party, however, was far from ordinary. It was held at Camp David, the presidential retreat. And it ended with a daring kidnapping… which immediately turned into a national security nightmare. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell were not looking to become involved. As former Secret Service agents turned private investigators, they had no reason to be. The FBI doesn't want them interfering.
The big surprise of the title is a party honoring BJ's 7th birthday. After several songs, the kids decide to decorate the tree house, while Barney, BJ, and Baby Bop climb into the Barney-mobile and head for Professor Tinkerputt's toy shop. In the second act, the dino trio makes it back to the tree house via balloon and many a song. Back on terra firma, they are joined by party guests Humpty Dumpty, Old King Cole, Mother Goose and her gander, Clarence--just the excuse for a nursery rhyme medley. BJ gets the red scooter of his dreams, and the kids in the audience--and at home--get to sing "Happy Birthday."
Preschool fundamentals--including shapes, colors, and the alphabet--are the focus of this one-hour program set in the after-school learning center familiar to viewers of Barney & Friends. Today, everyone is preparing for an art show, which provides plenty of scope for Barney's gentle tutorials on circles, squares, reds, and blues, while he incorporates beloved songs such as "Mister Sun." Then it's off to Baby Bop's tea party, a perfect segue into the realm of ABC's. As Baby Bop learns to spell her name, there are plenty of rhyming games and alphabet songs to incite audience participation.
Grade 1-3-Ingenuous Miss Spider can't understand why insects flee in panic at her approach. Being a florivore herself, she only wants to invite them over for cakes and tea. The ironic air wafting through Kirk's rhymed tale will not be lost on young readers, and the insects in the big, brightly colored illustrations bear comically apprehensive expressions as they hastily depart. Miss Spider is depicted as a freckled, green-eyed beauty with a bulbous black-and-gold body; she and her would-be guests are seen in a slightly softened focus that sometimes sharpens to a glossy solidity reminiscent of William Joyce's figures.
