Kids' stuff

My daughter has been enjoying The Composer is Dead, the narrator and orchestra piece by Lemony Snicket and composer Nathaniel Stookey (the book is illustrated by Carson Ellis and includes a recording by the San Francisco Symphony).  It's fun and a light but welcome addition to the dreaded childrens'-intro-to-the-orchestra genre, giving some long-needed competition to Saint-Saëns's Carnival (best with the Ogdon Nash rhymes), Prokofiev's ad for the NRA, the Poulenc/Francaix Babar, and, of course, Britten's Variations on a Tune from Abdelazar that was doing just fine before Ben got a hold of it.