‘Where the Sidewalk Ends’ Is Where the Fun Really Begins

Audio

Where the Sidewalk Ends. Shel Silverstein. Columbia/Legacy. CD: $12; cassette: $10. Ages 5 to adult. https://www.legacyrecordings.com.

This reissue of the late poet Shel Silverstein’s 1984 Grammy Award winner for best children’s recording includes 11 previously unreleased tracks. It’s a delicious treat for Silverstein fans of all ages, or for any funny bone-possessing kid or adult who’d be likely to share a giggle over wickedly comic poems that are memorably “recited, sung and shouted” by Silverstein himself.

Among the 47 tracks are “Ridiculous Rose,” who eats with her toes; a first-person account of being swallowed by a boa constrictor; the tongue-twisting “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out”; and a somewhat less uplifting ending than we’re used to for “The Little Blue Engine” who thought he could.

The witty, sly and gloriously silly creations also include some gentle works like these: “Hug o’ War” (“I will not play at tug o’ war./I’d rather play at hug o’ war.”) and the wistful “Forgotten Language” (“Once I spoke the language of the flowers . . . How did it go?/How did it go?”) Pure gold.

Christmas for Kids--From One to Ninety-Two. Nat King Cole. Capitol Records. CD: $12. All ages.

Recorded between 1947 and 1960, this compilation has 14 holiday songs sung with velvety warmth by the incomparable Nat King Cole, who spins such traditional, sacred and contemporary seasonal songs as “Frosty the Snowman,” “I Saw Three Ships,” “Away in a Manger” and “There’s a Train Out for Dreamland” into Christmas treasure. The CD booklet features original illustrations by artist Mark Ulriksen, and a children’s story by Cole’s daughter, Carole. A portion of the proceeds benefits the Children’s Defense Fund.

The Rage of Hercules. Odds Bodkin. Rivertree Productions. Ages 12 and up. Two-CD set: $25; two-cassette set: $20. (800) 554-1333. https://www.oddsbodkin.com.

Storyteller and musician Odds Bodkin, who scored high marks last year for his terrific dinosaur adventure for young children, “Little Proto’s T-Rex Adventure,” offers older listeners the dark and dramatic saga of a tormented and ultimately redeemed Hercules.

Not the Hollywood “good guy,” says Bodkin in his introduction, this is the “real Hercules” of mythology, whose vast strength led him to accomplish great wonders, but whose uncontrollable anger led to the deaths of innocents, including his own wife and children.

Bodkin’s Hercules relates his triumphs and disasters to Hades, god of the underworld, and his wife Persephone, hoping by doing so to be allowed to rise to Olympus to join his father Zeus.

His tale of battles with a nine-headed dragon, killer birds and man-eating horses, a three-headed ogre and other monsters, is also his journey toward mastering his rage, learning to love, and finally, immortality.

Bodkin’s voice for Hercules, sounding like a growly, Smackdown Sunday wrestler, takes a little getting used to, but there’s exciting action aplenty, and the underlying message about the importance of finding safe ways to channel anger is a strong one.

Video

The Ruby Princess Runs Away. Blackboard Entertainment. VHS: $15; DVD: $20. Ages 5 to 10. (800) 968-2261. https://www.blackboardkids.com.

This is the first release in a musical-video series based on the Scholastic books by Jahnna N. Malcolm (the pen name of Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner) about four fairy tale princesses, each identified with a specific jewel.

In the well-written screenplay by Beecham and Hillgartner, Princess Roxanne would rather climb trees and have adventures than attend to her duties as Ruby Princess. Playing truant, Roxanne (appealing young screen pro Michelle Horn) and her loyal, pointy-eared steward, Twitter, meet a friendly flying dragon (voiced by Harvey Korman), fight off ghoulish “darklings” and expose an impostor about to take Roxanne’s place.

Well-produced and sweet-spirited, it’s surprisingly entertaining and filmed in a satisfyingly sumptuous, vivid, fantasy-world setting.

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg. Globalstage. VHS, $27. Ages 7 and up. (888) 324-5623. https://www.globalstage.net.

A town’s smug reputation for honesty is tested and found wanting in this cheery play based on the darker short story by Mark Twain. Performed by the Perskey Ridge Players of Glasgow, Mont., it features actors playing gender-blind dual roles.

While good-natured with some comic scenic touches, the primarily static, town-hall format is exposition-heavy. Feature-disguising heavy makeup, wigs and facial hair are distracting in close-ups.

English academic Elizabeth McNamer, co-hosting with her teenage sidekick Preston Blakely, offers sincere if pedantic wraparound commentary about Twain, scones, honesty and satire.

It’s pleasant enough viewing, but not a match for other dynamic and enthralling Globalstage videos of youth-theater productions from here and abroad.

Just the Facts: Comets and Asteroids. Goldhil Home Media International. $25. (800) 250-8760.

Considering recent headlines, this absorbing video is quite timely and informative, despite its kid-grabbing “prophetic view of our ultimate destiny” premise: It’s not a matter of if a comet will hit us, we’re told, only when.

Otherwise, this contains fascinating commentary from scientists and other experts from the Smithsonian Institution, NASA and the Planetary Science Institute.

Comets and asteroids are put in historical context--how they may have affected not only development of the solar system and life on Earth, but also early human cultures; how they travel; what they’re made of; how their proximity might be used in the future. Do they hold extractable resources? Could they be used as steppingstones into space? The interesting visuals include animation and computer images.