DVD Review: A Child's Garden Of Poetry

My family and I recently received a copy of the new DVD from HBO Family, A Child's Garden of Poetry to review.


A Child's Garden of Poetry is an Emmy winner for Outstanding Children's Program. It features poems by authors like William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes, all set to lyrical animation. Poems are reading by actors and actresses like Claire Danes, Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, and many more. There are also archival readings of the poems by some of the authors themselves, and interviews with children who say what poetry means to them.

Now it might sound like it's a DVD that is hours and hours long, and rather boring to some children, but it's really not! It runs under a half an hour - almost like literary "fast food". The animations are colorful, most of the actors they choose to read the poems fit perfectly, and the interviews with kids tie it all together perfectly. It's a great way to introduce young children to some of the wonderful literary works of art. I suggest following this DVD up with reading a few other poems from some of the authors to broaden your child's knowledge even further. The DVD is also great for homeschooling families to use as a jumping stone for a poetry or literary course.

A Child's Garden of Poetry is available now wherever DVD's are sold. Not rated, it's safe for all ages. The total running time is 27 minutes long. The suggested retail price is $9.97, but Amazon has it available for $8.73 as of this posting.

I received a copy of this DVD in order to view it and share my thoughts on it. All opinions are my own.