The Pokey Pup is a sweet online resource for parents looking to expand their kid-friendly music and media collection. Don't roll your eyes - you won't find any heinous "Music Together" or Barney sing-alongs here. What you will find is cool for all ages, and maybe even something for the hard-to-buy-for dude in your life for Father's Day: classics like The Electric Company Greatest Hits and Bits, and thoughtfully selected discs like The B-52's Time Capsule: Songs for a Future Generation, Bruce Springsteen's The Seeger Sessions, and Shonen Knife's Let's Knife - music that is not made with kids in mind, but that kids can appreciate, enjoy, and even learn from.
The media section boasts oldie-but-goodie books on CD like Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Dr. Seuss Presents: Greatest Hits, and Casey at the Bat, as well as DVDs like They Might Be Giants Here Come the ABC's and several Pancake Mountain selections, which rock so hard, I watch them without my kids. There area also some really intriguing "world music" selections that don't include Enya - stuff like New Orleans Playground, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Los Lobos. You can search the site by age or category, and everything that pops up is virtually guaranteed not to make your ears bleed. Pretty cool, right?
I had no earthly idea that Johnny Cash made a children's album but, thanks to Pokey Pup, it's what my girls are getting their dad for Father's Day! Check their selection out, and tell me what you were happy to find.
