Say It With Song

Thanks to portable DVDs, kids can watch TV just about anywhere but eventually, even the most diehard Shrek fan is bound to get bored. Thankfully, stories, both audio and visual, come from places other than Hollywood. Inspire your customers to let their kids acquire a love of more literary fare with these recent book- or story-related releases that may just turn children into more willing readers.

For the youngest listeners, Down at the Sea Hotel is a storybook and music CD featuring 14 lullabies written by the likes of Neil Young, Carole King, Don Henley, Nanci Griffith and Tom Waits, and performed by contemporary singer-songwriters such as Lucy Kaplansky, John Gorka, Eliza Gilkyson and Lynn Miles. The title song, “Down at the Sea Hotel,” penned by Greg Brown, is illustrated throughout the accompanying book by Mireille Levert. The Secret Mountain, Montreal

Peter and the Wolf, one of the most beloved works for narrator and orchestra, joins the Stories in Music series with help from the London Philharmonic, conductor Stephen Simon and narrator Yadu. In addition to the classic story, bonus tracks spotlight composer Sergei Prokofiev, explain what to listen for in the music and provide examples of Russian folk music. Includes a 24-page program book.Magic Maestro Music, Washington

The audio adaptation of the first in The Babysitter's Club author Ann Martin's Main Street book series, Welcome to Camden Falls, follows two girls as they find new friends and a new home with their grandmother following the death of their parents. The unabridged story, on four CDs, also includes an interview with the author. Scholastic Audio Books, New York.

Set sail for adventure with Greathall Productions' latest retelling of classic literature in audio book form. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea transports listeners on a whirlwind journey beneath the waves in Captain Nemo's submarine, the Nautilus, in Jules Verne's timeless science-fiction adventure tale. Narrated by Jim Weiss. Greathall Productions, Charlottesville, Va.

Three literary favorites come to life in vintage 1970s style in Hanna-Barbera's Storybook Favorites, a collection of made-for-TV productions by animation legends Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera that originally aired as part of CBS's “Famous Classic Tales” series between 1975 and 1979. The three DVD set includes versions of Anna Sewell's Black Beauty, James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans and Johnathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Each story is 50 minutes long. Koch Vision, Port Washington, N.Y.