Moving, Exceptional ‘Booker’ Comes to Home Video Market

Some of the best family TV dramas have been seen on public television’s “WonderWorks” series, so it’s good news that the films are finally being released on home video. “Booker,” out this month, is the exceptional film about a pivotal year in the post-Civil War childhood of Booker T. Washington.

The moving story, with a sterling cast that includes LeVar Burton, Shelley Duvall, Judge Reinhold, Marian Mercer and, most memorably, Shavar Ross as Booker and “ER’s” C.C.H. Pounder as his mother, resonantly depicts the hunger to learn that helped shape the young ex-slave’s future as a leader, educator and advisor to presidents.

* ‘Booker,” Bonneville Worldwide Entertainment, 58 minutes, $14.95.

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Storytelling Gold: Carmen Agra Deedy’s audio release, “Growing Up Cuban in Decatur, Georgia,” is another family treat. Deedy’s funny and touching tales--you may have caught them on National Public Radio--tell of a childhood begun in Havana and relocated with a jolt of culture shock for her parents in the U.S. South.

This unforgettable collection of stories, beautifully accompanied by the “Afro-Cuban Lullaby,” is a tribute to some of the remarkable people who influenced Deedy’s life.

Her strong and stubborn Mami, a terror behind the wheel, mortifies her daughter and delights spectators in “Traffic Court.”

The “Peanut Man’s” melodic call to customers, a treasured memory from Deedy’s Cuban past, is comfortingly rekindled at her first American baseball game.

Papi, Deedy’s father, creates a poignant symbol of his marriage in “Bending Steel”; Deedy discovers that the secret ingredient in her Tia Coralia’s rice pudding has more to do with love than anything found on a grocery shelf; and, throughout, Deedy learns the value of her parents’ wise life lessons.

* “Growing Up Cuban in Decatur, Georgia,” Peachtree Publishers, 49 minutes, audio cassette: $10.95, plus shipping. (800) 241-0113.

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Acting Up: The Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal State Los Angeles is introducing a series of performances for children and their families, beginning Oct. 20 with “Doctor Dinosaur,” a musical comedy with giant dinosaur puppets, presented by Dinorock Productions. Other shows in the series include Japanese American taiko drum troupe Kinnara Taiko (Jan. 11), ODC/San Francisco’s dance version of Margery Williams’ “The Velveteen Rabbit” (March 22) and the acclaimed Anderson Quartet (May 3).

Tickets are $7 per performance; a series subscription for all four shows is $20.

Tickets: (213) 480-3232. Information: (213) 343-6610.

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The Alex Theatre in Glendale is including a “family friendly” performance series in its 1996-97 lineup. Suitable for ages 8 and up, the “Chaplin” series kicks off on Oct. 11 with “Pirates! The Ballet,” with Australia’s Queensland Ballet. Other offerings are the musical “Always . . . Patsy Cline” (Nov. 29-Dec. 1), the zany Flying Karamazov Brothers (Jan. 25), the Paul Taylor Dance Company (April 26) and B.J. Ward’s comic “Stand Up Opera” (June 7).

The series price for all five shows is $69 and $99.

Information: (800) 422-9440.