Best Silly Stories & Songs Video Ever! Review

Educational Preschool DVD from Richard Scarry's Busytown Books

Jun 28, 2009 Renee Carver

The educational preschool DVD Richard Scarry's Best Silly Stories and Songs Video Ever! teaches kids how things work while retelling stories from Busytown books

As entertaining as the Richard Scarry Busytown books from which it draws its stories, the preschool DVD Richard Scarry's Best Silly Stories & Songs Video Ever! is also as educational as these classic works. From watching the stories presented in this kids silly songs video, children will learn about issues ranging from how a library works to how to cross the street safely. As in the original Richard Scarry books, however, the learning never intrudes on the fun.

Richard Scarry's Best Silly Stories & Songs Video Ever! Plot

This educational video opens with Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm going to the library. A catchy, low-key song tells viewers that the books in a library can teach readers knowledge about a subject or how to make something and that "you can find any book from A to Z at the library."

Lowly models how a visitor to the library can find a book to match his or her interests, selecting a funny book because he wants to laugh. This preschool video then demonstrates how a library works, showing the process of using a library card to check out a book.

The framing story established, Lowly and Huckle settle down to read (and, in Huckle's case, narrate) the stories found inside The Silly Story Book that they have checked out.

Richard Scarry Video Teaches Street Safety

The first tale in this kids silly songs video, "Absent-Minded Mr. Rabbit," teaches children street safety through the silly story of a rabbit who never pays attention to his surroundings. Its plot comes from the story of the same name that is collected in Richard Scarry's Funniest Storybook Ever [Random House, 1972] and Richard Scarry's Favorite Storybook Ever [Golden Book, 2003]. An adapted version tailored for beginning readers is also available as Richard Scarry's Watch Your Step, Mr. Rabbit! [Random House, 1997].

To teach kids street safety, the story begins with Gertie the crossing guard helping children cross the street safely and another catchy song about stopping, looking both ways, and listening before entering the crosswalk. The rest of the story follows the plight of Mr. Rabbit, who is so oblivious to his surroundings that he walks onto a brand-new sticky street and gets his feet stuck.

Mr. Rabbit's situation is (as is much of the best Richard Scarry humor) over-the-top, with his rescuers using poles, a fire fighters' hose, and eventually a power shovel to pull him out of the dried street. Children will still learn the lesson that it is important to pay attention when walking anywhere, especially in the street. Mr. Rabbit, however, does not learn that lesson, and ends the story by stepping off the end of a dock into the ocean with his nose still buried in his newspaper.

Richard Scarry DVD Teaches Sounds

The second story, "Mr. Fixit Fixes It," tells how Mr. Fixit the fox is terrible at fixing things, while also teaching kids how certain sounds belong with certain objects. Some of the examples included in this story (talking doll, ceiling-cleaning vacuum cleaner) appear also in the story "Mr. Fixit" from Richard Scarry's Favorite Storybook Ever and Richard Scarry's Funniest Storybook Ever, and the story "A Visit to Mr. Fixit" in The Best Mistake Ever! and Other Stories by Richard Scarry [Random House, 1984] describes another mix-up Mr. Fixit makes when he switches the sounds of Huckle's bike bell and a cuckoo clock.

Basically, Mr. Fixit thinks he can fix anything, but from overinflating tires to creating vacuum cleaners that climb the walls, he mainly causes destruction. Several customers bring objects for him to fix, and Mr. Fixit ends up accidentally switching the sounds on all of them, making fire trucks that say "Mama!" and tricycle bells that say "cuckoo!"

The song for this story asks viewers to think about what it would be like if sounds were mixed-up and not where they belong. Listening to the lyrics will encourage children to think about what sounds match what objects and draw conclusions about the way the world is ordered.

Educational Video Teaches About Wheels

The final story, "Pa Pig's New Car," is an adaptation of the story "Ma Pig's New Car" from Richard Scarry's Favorite Storybook Ever and Richard Scarry's Funniest Storybook Ever. Kids will be entertained by the plotline of Pa Pig leaving his glasses behind and accidentally taking a series of cars that do not belong to him, including Bananas Gorilla's Bananamobile and a fire engine. Kids will also, however, learn from the silly song for this story how to identify wheels (they go round and round) and what their purpose is (to take people from here to there).

Children can enjoy watching the silly stories and songs from this preschool video over and over, all the while learning about how to inhabit safely and understand the world around them. Preschoolers that like this video may also like Richard Scarry's Best Learning Video Ever! and the two television shows based on Richard Scarry's books, The Busy World of Richard Scarry and Busytown Mysteries (Hurray for Huckle!).

The copyright of the article Best Silly Stories & Songs Video Ever! Review in Children’s TV is owned by Renee Carver. Permission to republish Best Silly Stories & Songs Video Ever! Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Richard Scarry's Best Silly Stories & Songs Video	Richard Scarry's Favorite Storybook Ever	Richard Scarry's Funniest Storybook Ever
Richard Scarry's Watch Your Step Mr Rabbit!	The Best Mistake Ever and Other Stories