The lost find themselves in an ancient dreamscape

Alphabet of Dreams

Random House/Listening Library

8 CD-set: $50; ages 10 and up

www.listeninglibrary.com

Author Susan Fletcher’s book of juvenile fiction, an inspired intertwining of the coming-of-age of an exiled Persian girl and the star-ordained birth of a new king, comes fully to life in a nuanced reading by stage and film actor Meera Simhan. Disguised as a boy, Mitra and her little brother, Babak -- royals-turned-beggars after their rebel father fails to overthrow a tyrannical king -- are caught up in the ambitions of the wealthy magus Melchior, because of Babak’s odd ability for prophetic dreaming. As Babak loses himself in the dreams of others, his conflicted sister grows into hidden womanhood and yearns for a reunion with her noble family. As the sights and sounds and smells of an ancient world come to life in the telling, the pair’s riveting trek across the desert leads them to the palace of King Herod and the town of Bethlehem.

Escape of the Slinkys

Clever Songs for Clever Kids

A Gentle Wind

CD: $14.95

(888) 386-7664

www.gentlewind.com

Nancy Tucker, a gifted acoustic guitarist, inhabits a deliciously offbeat alternative universe that inspires children’s music to tumble into being with riotous abandon. And Tucker plays her voice as adroitly as she strums her guitar.

A sampling: Can’t sleep? Instead of counting sheep, listen to “Flying Toes” and count “1 dragonfly sneeze, 1 chattering breeze, 1 guinea pig bouncing on springs.” In “Hats on Bees,” you’ll find “flies with pants, suits on plants, glasses on nearsighted ants.” And then there’s “Frank Stein,” a rib-tickling twist on those nighttime, monster-in-the-closet fears, about a little ghoulie who huddles in his coffin, clutches his “teddy snake” and waits for his “mummy” to slither up the stairs and assure him that there are no children with “white teeth and shiny clean hair ... ew!” under his bed.

Choose Your Own Adventure:

The Abominable Snowman

Lean Forward Media

DVD: $19.98; ages 7-12www.leanforwardmedia.comThree kids on a Himalayan adventure end up in a tiger pit. The end. Or is it? Not in this clever update of R.A. Montgomery’s popular “Choose Your Own Adventure” books of the 1970s through the ‘90s, with voice talent led by celebs William H. Macy and Frankie Muniz. A plane has lost an engine. Should the young travelers parachute out over the mountains of Nepal, or ride the plane down? Should they accept the hospitality of a strange old woman, hire a suspicious-seeming Sherpa, see where some very large footprints lead? Will they discover the mythical yeti? Viewers decide with a click of their DVD remote control. If disaster results, they can change the story with more choices. It would be refreshing if the three siblings didn’t relate to each other with formulaic sarcasm and bickering, but getting from A to Z is fun stuff, with educational bits besides. DVD extras include a kid-oriented documentary about life in Nepal.

Mee-Shee, the Water Giant

Screen Media Films/Universal

Studios Home Entertainment

DVD: $14.98; for the family

www.screenmediafilms.net

This live-action/Jim Henson Creature Shop effort about a lovable Loch Ness-type monster in a remote British Columbian lake, the lonely kid who befriends him and oil-company villains who hunt him is a mess, with a hackneyed plot, a cutesy animatronic monster, one-dimensional characters and wince-inducing dialogue. Most jarring of all, immediately after the gratuitously brutal disposal of the evildoers, the good guys, including two children, are ready for arch banter, sappy sentiment and a glib, happily-ever-after ending. This one deserves to sink without a trace.

*

Heidi

Warner Home Video

DVD: $14.95; for the family

www.warnervideo.com

Sweet, innocent Heidi. Gruff-but-soft-hearted Grandfather. Mean Mrs. Rottenmeier. Johanna Spyri’s evergreen 1880 children’s novel receives a picturesque, if simplistic telling in this new live action film, supported by a notable veteran cast led by Max Von Sydow as Grandfather, Diana Rigg as kindly Grandmamma and Geraldine Chaplin as tight-lipped and scary Mrs. Rottenmeier. Although the gorgeous Alpine setting upstages everyone, little Emma Bolger is an appealing Heidi and the story’s message of love shines through.

TippyToeToons: Cowboy

CD: $13.99; ages 2-6

www.TippyToeToons.comBath-time blues? Here’s tuneful help for parents of tykes who turn bedtime cleanup into a battle of wills.

With giggly lyrics and irresistible melodies, cowpoke Jimbo and his horse Rufus, the Warblin’ Wranglers and Fannie Soakley -- the fastest washcloth in the West -- encourage little listeners through scrubbing, shampooing, toothbrushing and pajama donning. The CD ends with a quiet cowboy lullaby that fades into a long, soothing stretch of crickets chirping. Created by veteran film and TV singer-songwriter Geoff Koch, and sung by Koch, country singer Kellie Coffey and other deft professionals, TippyToeToons, subtitled “Bath to Bedtime Musicals,” also include the fairy tale themed CD, “Princess,” starring Sir Washalot, Sydney Scrubbins and Lady Elizabeth.

-- Lynne Heffley