FAMILY : Danish Boys Choir Singing Old Favorites a Family Best Bet

With a repertoire that includes Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Matchstick Girl,” big band and swing--”Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing”--the renowned Danish Boys Choir is a family entertainment best bet. The choir, under the direction of Steen Lindholm, is making its only Southern California concert hall appearance on Friday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale.

Martin Kagan, the Alex’s executive director, says the event is perfect for family audiences.

“It’s quite spectacular,” he said. “They are considered one of the world’s finest children’s choirs, their repertoire includes works from [the Danish musical] ‘Hans Christian Andersen,’ they sing in both Danish and English and it’s inspiring for children to see what other children can do.”

The 40-member choir, made up of singers ages 9 to 15, has been touring internationally since 1943. It also performs regularly as the choir of the Royal Theatre of Denmark.

* Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, Friday, 8 p.m.; $12.50-$18.50, (800) 233-3123, (800) 414-ALEX.

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Lizard Legend: What’s a gecko? Ordinarily, an insect-eating, good luck lizard found in Hawaii. But one oversize, six-foot-tall, green-costumed specimen is touring bookstores and schools in November.

Moki the Gecko, who stars in the children’s book “Legend of the Laughing Gecko,” a bestseller in Hawaii, Guam and the Pacific, is accompanying the book’s creator, Bruce Hale, in a series of dramatic storytellings from Hale’s works starring the good-natured, “googly” eyed Gecko with an emphasis on positive values. Other titles are “Surf Gecko to the Rescue!,” “The Adventures of Space Gecko” and a musical video, “The Laughing Gecko.”

* Friday, 7 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Huntington Beach, (714) 897-8781; Saturday, 10:30 a.m., Barnes & Noble, Westwood, (310) 475-4144; Saturday, 3 p.m., Borders Books, Torrance, (310) 540-7000; Sunday, 2:30 p.m., Barnes & Noble, Newport Beach, (714) 759-0982; Sunday, 5 p.m., Borders Books, Mission Viejo, (714) 367-0005.

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Kid Art: Civic-minded artists ages 5 to 17, listen up: It’s time for the annual “Friends of the Junior Arts Center’s Billboard Project,” the contest where creative kids who submit original artwork could be among the four finalists who will have their work reproduced and enlarged on 50 color billboards displayed citywide. This year’s theme is “Imagine a Great City . . . What I Love About L.A.”

Friends of the Junior Arts Center is a private nonprofit organization providing support to the Junior Arts Center in Barnsdall Art Park, a facility of the City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department.

* Deadline for submissions is Nov. 30. For Billboard Project entry form, call (213) 660-3362.