Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth/And spikes on top of him and spikes underneath/Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose/And realio, trulio, daggers on his toes.
So begins “The Tale of Custard the Dragon” by Ogden Nash, and also the Baby Einstein DVD “Baby Shakespeare:World of Poetry.” In the midst of moving, I lost track of most of my daughter’s Baby Einstein DVDs. Now that I have access to them again, I can continue to write about them. My daughter had not watched “Baby Shakespeare: World of Poetry” in quite a while, so I popped that one into the DVD player for her. She seemed quite content to plop herself down in her princess chair and watch.
“Baby Shakespeare: World of Poetry” focuses on words and poetry — hence the name. There are many first words presented in this video, and each one is followed by a poem involving the word. For example, the first word shown is train. Along with a drawing and video of a train, the following verse is said, “The train is a dragon that roars through the dark…” This line is from the poem “A Modern Dragon” by Rowena Bastin Bennett. Each word is said and each verse read by Julie Clark, founder of The Baby Einstein Company. After showing a flower, Julie Clark begins, “I know a place where the wild thyme grows…” which comes from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Many other first words are featured in this video, such as apple, tree, cow, and snow.
There was one thing I noticed about the poetry while I was researching the poets. As I typed the lines in a popular search engine, I would get instant results. However, I noticed that a word or two from the video was incorrect from the original verse. I don’t know if this has to do with copyright laws, but I just found it interesting.
You and your child will enjoy “Baby Shakespeare: World of Poetry.” Not only does it introduce your child to words and poetry, but the dragon that helps host is a fun character to watch!
In addition to the DVD or VHS, there are toys, books, and other educational supplements to this video available for purchase from The Baby Einstein Company. Wal-Mart, Target, Amazon, and other retailers also sell Baby Einstein products.