The Tale of Custard the Dragon

by Ogden Nash, Lynn Munsinger

In this humorous poem, Custard the cowardly dragon saves the day when a pirate threatens Belinda and her pet animals.

Genres: Picture Books, Poetry, Dragons, Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tales

32 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Frederic Ogden Nash was an American poet well known for his light verse. At the time of his death in 1971, the New York Times said his "droll verse with its unconventional rhymes made him the country's best-known producer of humorous poetry".

Reviews

[Isobel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent narrative poem filled with inspiring language. The book is full of good figurative language, adjectives, rhyming and repetition. Children would enjoy this poem because the inspiring figurative language would help the children to picture the story that is being told.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this in the store and had to pick it up. Ogden Nash had a real ear for language, I tell you. The story flows along at a nice, bouncy, evocative pace, and the illustrations complement it nicely.

A few reviewers elsewhere have commented that they find the non-dragon characters mean-spirited - they "tickle Custard unmerciful", "rudely call him Percival", and after the danger is past and gone (gotta love a book where a dragon eats a pirate!) they declare that THEY were really braver than Custard after all!

I see the point, though I see their teasing as more familial than mean-spirited. However, if this is a concern to you, you should definitely read the poem before buying the book - it's easy enough to find on Google.

[Bettie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[Uditi Chibber · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Tale of Custard the Dragon" by Ogden Nash & Lynn Munsinger was a pretty cool poem. I remember reading it passionately in 10th grade in 2019. At that point of time, this beautiful poem was close to my heart. I would highly recommend this poem to anyone.

✔️Reading this poem would lighten your mood !

[Vaishali · Rating 5 out of 5]

How heart-breaking ! Poor sweet Custard ❤️
From my favorite poet of all time...

[Anvesha Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dragon can be depicted through two perspectives.

• He cried for a cage because he was a coward. (As the poet suggests)
Or (I think)
• He cried for a cage because he was scared that when he'd be immensely happy/excited, he might burn other animals. Which shows his selflessness and kindness.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The illustrations on the cover got me hooked on this book right away. I could tell that it was a short story with a rhyming narrative and I figured our girls would love it. It wasn't as big a hit as I thought it might be, but they did enjoy listening to me read it.

The dragon was funny and reminded me of Courage, the Cowardly Dog on Cartoon Network. The illustrations are particularly fun and really helped to liven up the story.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an oldie, but a goodie. Originally written by Ogden Nash in 1936, this 1995 edition when illustrations by Munsinger is a delightful read. The rhyming pattern is different but with some practice could be smooth as butter. Plus, I think the story of how brave everyone is but the big giant dragon is a nice change of pace. I loved this story. It ages well. It could get a new illustrator and be an entirely new read for a new generation, and it should be. Maybe in 10 years when it enters the public domain.

[Cheriee Weichel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this poem and book more times than I can count. It has been fun this week sharing it with groups of primary students at the school I am working at.
Custard looks like a regular dragon, but at heart he is a timid creature. The contradiction between his appearance, who he is, and how he is treated by his housemates is what makes this book such a delightful read.

[Dianna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Where has this poem been all my life? I love it!

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would've liked better if the others hadn't continued putting Custard down.

[Julie G · Rating 4 out of 5]

We celebrate the Chinese New Year at our house and part of our family's tradition is to reflect on the new animal in the Chinese Zodiac's rotation and find new titles (or previously forgotten titles) that are centered around that animal. This year, I feel double lucky that both of my teenaged daughters are engaged in dragon buddy-reads with me, and how lucky are we all, that so many stories have been written about dragons?

I asked my girls this week to break out their old picture books, too, and find some of their old favorites. Twelve years ago, when the dragon last roared, they were both so very wee.

Now they are both so very beautiful and so very complicated and they disagree on almost everything, but when they both saw this one, Ogden Nash's classic poem, illustrated beautifully by Lynn Munsinger, they sighed in agreement: “Such a good one, Mom!”



The Tale of Custard the Dragon

Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.
Now the name of the little black kitten was
Ink,
And the little gray mouse, she called her Blink,
And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,
But the dragon was a coward, and she called him Custard.
Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,
And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose,
And realio, trulio daggers on his toes.
Belinda was as brave as a barrelful of bears,
And Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs,
Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.
Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful,
Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him Percival,
They all sat laughing in the little red wagon
At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.
Belinda giggled till she shook the house,
and Blink said "Weeck!" which is giggling for a mouse,
Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age,
When Custard cried for a nice safe cage.
Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound,
And Mustard growled, and they all looked around.
"Meowch!" cried Ink, and "Ooh!" cried Belinda,
For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda.
Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,
And he held in his teeth a cutlass bright,
His beard was black, one leg was wood;
It was clear that the pirate meant no good.
Belinda paled, and she cried "Help! Help!"
But Mustard fled with a terrified yelp,
Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household,
And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.
But up jumped Custard snorting like an engine,
Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon,
With a clatter and a clank and a jangling squirm,
He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm.
The pirate gaped at Belinda's dragon,
And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon,
He fired two bullets, but they didn't hit,
And Custard gobbled him, every bit.
Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him,
No one mourned for his pirate victim.
Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate
Around the dragon that ate the pirate.
But presently up spoke little dog Mustard,
"I'd been twice as brave if I hadn't been flustered."
And up spoke Ink and up spoke Blink,
"We'd have been three times as brave, we think,"
And Custard said, "I quite agree
That everybody is braver than me."
Belinda still lives in her little white house,
With her little black kitten and her little gray mouse,
And her little yellow dog and her little red wagon,
And her realio, trulio little pet dragon.
Belinda is as brave as a barrelful of bears,
And Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs,
Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage.
--Ogden Nash, 1936

[Viola Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since I was a child this has been my very favorite children's book of poetry or should I say my one poem favorite children’s book. For May, the reading challenge required reading a children’s or young adult book. That is one of my challenges for this month. I am also doing a 50-state read/listen to challenge, and whatever is selected by the book club for the month. To comply with the May requirement to concentrate on YA or children’s books. This is my children’s selection. I pulled out my current 1995 battered children’s hardback copy and read it again to add to the month’s list of children’s and young adult selections. My original copy of Custard the Dragon printed in 1936 fell apart years ago. I love Ogden Nash.

[P.K. Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I began what will become a tradition (I hope) of gifting my three grand nephews and their young families a book of children's literature for Christmas. This year I selected The Tale of Custard the Dragon, a verse written by Ogden Nash and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger. I chose this picture book not from personal experience but from online reviews . . . and I'm glad I did.

This book is a sensory delight sure to engage young children. The poem is fun to read . . .

Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,
And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose,
And realio, trulio, daggers on his toes.

And Munsinger's illustrations are charming and bright! I think any person young or old would enjoy the moments devoted to discovery this enchanting tale.

[Meagan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really appreciated the message that sometimes there's something lovely in us (in this case, courage) that we don't see and nobody else sees it either, but our failure to recognize it for what it is doesn't mean that it isn't there.

I liked that the author was unconventional in his rhyming and ambitious with vocabulary- although I think using the word gyrate would make most modern parents raise their eyebrow...

I was a little startled when the dragon ate the pirate and that was that...no burping him back up...but kids imagine those things on their own in their imaginative play and I decided that it really didn't matter to me after all.

[Michael Fitzgerald · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures are amateurish - not really suitable for publication. More importantly, the addition of a page's worth of text to the classic 1936 poem (beginning with "Presently...") was an extremely bad decision. Unfortunately, the Lynn Munsinger picture book also includes this superfluous stanza and a half. Stick with the original, first published in Nash's The Bad Parents' Garden of Verse.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book upon the recommendation of a friend of mine to read to my kids. I cringed through parts of it, mainly the made-up words and mistreatment of Custard. Neither of those things matter at all to my two year old twins though. This book has been requested every night for the past two weeks and I'm pretty sure I have it memorized word for word. It's not perfect but reading it together has prompted discussion about bravery, boasting, and learning to be mindful of how others feel around us.

[Vilma Diaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. It definitely had an older feel to it, and when I checked I found that the text is from 1936 and the illustrations are from 1995. I can see why it has withstood the test of time, though. The art is bright. The rhyming scheme is easy to follow. And the story itself is funny, although I did feel bad for how poor Custard was treated at times. And it really was shocking when the pirate got eaten. I did not see that coming. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable read.

[Asho · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had this poem in an illustrated children's poetry book when I was a kid and I would read it over and over again. I was excited to come across this in the library. My kids read it with their grandma, who loves it as well. The illustrations aren't as great in this book as the illustration was in the poetry book I had as a kid, but the poem is just so fun to read.

[Kaylie Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picture Book
This is a silly book about a dragon that is scared of everything, but ends up saving a princess in the end. This would be just a silly book to read with students, but it could also be used to teach about fear and how to overcome it. Although Custard goes back to being scared even after he is courageous, I think it would still be a good way to open up the conversation about fear and what we can do to overcome fears.

[Martha Trzepacz · Rating 5 out of 5]

PP Pandemic Plunder: Raiding my bookshelves for those forgotten treasurers. Everyone likes dragons, an all time favorite poem with whimsical illustrations. Great read aloud and fun to memorize for those grand kids.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about a dragon by Ogden Nash! Proof (alongside books like Gruffalo) that rhymes for children can be clever and fun. Great pacing!

The copy we picked up is illustrated by Nash's daughter, Linell and was published in 1959.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has nice pictures, but the story is written in poem form, and it doesn't always make sense. The story is a bit odd. Not going to be one of my favorites. Read as part of the St judes April Reads challenge.

[Lee]

Hmm. I thought I'd like it, the story started super cute and continued to a really neat place. But that ending leaves me... conflicted. I'm not sure how I feel about it, and that leaves a damper on the rest of the story unfortunately.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favourite poems from my childhood and I was so excited to see it in picture book form to read to my son. The illustrations aren’t my usual preferred style but definitely complement the quirkiness of the poem.

[Amber Elby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite book to read to my daughters. The illustrations in this edition open conversations about narrator reliability (Is Custard really a coward?). Share it with your family.

[Tabby · Rating 5 out of 5]

So cute and funny! I hope my boys love Custard the Dragon as much as I do because this book is going to become a regular in our house.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a favorite poem from my childhood. I picked up a copy as a gift for my young great-niece, and had to re-read it. Children should get a real kick out of it. Wonderfully illustrated!

[Tim Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Belinda was brave as a barrel of bears.

[Bianca Orellana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adorable