Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever! Review

Educational Video to Help Preschoolers Learn the Alphabet

May 8, 2009 Renee Carver

One of the Richard Scarry videos adapted from Richard Scarry's Busytown books, Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever! uses gentle humor to help children learn the alphabet

In this charming Richard Scarry ABC video, Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, and the other Busytown schoolchildren enjoy Alphabet Day with Miss Honey at the Busytown Schoolhouse. By watching these 26 short vignettes full of Richard Scarry's trademark humor and sense of fun, preschoolers can learn their alphabet.

Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever! Plot

Its cleverly designed plot helps this educational video teach as well as entertain and overcome the potential boredom that could stem from the repetition of teaching each letter of the alphabet in turn. As all the shows in the Random House series of Richard Scarry videos do, this alphabet DVD opens with the narrator welcoming the viewer to Busytown and introducing the town as a whole before focusing on the characters to be featured in this story, the kids on the Busytown schoolbus (especially Lowly Worm and Huckle Cat) and how they are excited because Miss Honey will be teaching them the alphabet today.

The section of this alphabet DVD focusing on each letter is bookended by segments that serve to focus kids' attention on the alphabet and then assess what they have learned about the ABCs. The Busytown schoolchildren begin their school day singing the alphabet song and the story ends with Lowly Worm forming each letter with his body while the song is sung again. In between, each Busytown school child presents one of the letters by describing a funny situation or story that involves that letter. Popping up in several of these stories is a continuing narrative about Bananas Gorilla and his funny quest for bananas.

Richard Scarry Video Helps Kids Learn the Alphabet

The stories told by each child help a young preschool audience learn the alphabet in several ways. Each letter is clearly pictured and displayed on a card by the character introducing that letter. The narration for each (very) short letter story uses silly and witty alliteration with many words that begin with the target letter so that preschoolers hear how the letter can be used.

Best yet, this educational DVD makes it clear that it is okay to make mistakes when learning the alphabet. One character gets mixed up about the order in which the letters come, and another accidentally holds the letter T card upside-down. Seeing the characters make mistakes and move on will give young viewers the confidence to overcome the mistakes they themselves will make when learning new material.

Richard Scarry DVD Adapted from Richard Scarry Books

The inspiration for the plot of this educational video comes from the classic children's book Richard Scarry's Great Big Schoolhouse [reprint edition Sterling, 2008], which contains similar plot details (Mother Cat walking Huckle Cat to the bus stop, Lowly Worm giving Miss Honey a rose, Janitor Joe accidentally watering the classroom through an open window) and a section titled Learning the Alphabet in which the Busytown school children take turns presenting the 26 letters with words that begin with each letter. The characters and examples used in the educational DVD are almost completely different, however.

What is the same in both the original Richard Scarry book and this educational video is the charm, character design, and humor used to tell the story. Although the animation (from 1989) is atrociously jerky at times, the characters themselves are true to the way they look in the original books. This is most likely because the art director for the most famous of Richard Scarry's books, Ole Risom, is credited as the art director for this Richard Scarry video, too.

The narrator's script channels the spirit of classic Richard Scarry narration as well, often asking the young audience to share their thoughts about plot points (How should Hilda Hippo get home?), answer questions about the content being taught (The octopus is holding eight things that begin with the letter O. Can you name them?), or use visual clues to make predictions (What is in the present Lowly Worm is carrying?) and solve plot mysteries (Who is hiding on the train?). Being asked such questions engages young children's attention, develops their logic skills, and keeps them focused on what they are learning from this preschool video.

Richard Scarry Videos and DVDs

At a running time of approximately 30 minutes, this cute educational video may not be worth the cost a family must currently pay for an out-of-print video or DVD copy. This sweet preschool video is well worth checking out of the library or renting, however, and if a family does buy a copy, the story will hold up after repeated viewings and the repetition will only help a child learn his or her ABCs.

Families with preschoolers who love to learn from this Richard Scarry DVD will also enjoy Richard Scarry's Best Counting Video Ever! and Richard Scarry's Best Learning Songs Ever!, as well as the animated series based on Richard Scarry's books, The Busy World of Richard Scarry.

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

Richard Scarry's Best ABC Video Ever VHS Cover