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Book-and-record sets are a form of entertainment for children, consisting of apicture storybook (often incomic book format, with drawings or photos) and an accompanying recording (originally in the form of avinyl record, later incassette tape andcompact disc formats) to be played while following along with the book. The record and book complement one another, with the record usually aradio theater-style version of the story or asoundtrack recording, and the book providing visuals and text to the story. As with afilmstrip, a tone or other kind of cue in the recording will prompt the reader to turn pages.
Book-and-record sets are popular as teaching tools and aids to reading, and as a simple form ofmultimedia entertainment. Cartoon characters are common subjects (or stars) of the stories, as are comic booksuperheroes and othermedia franchises, characters and personalities. Occasionally popular children's or family movies are adapted for book and record; the stories may either be re-presented by a new cast of performers, members of the movie cast, or the audio taken directly from the film, with narration added.
Disneyland Records and related companies produced several such works, as didPeter Pan Records (and its offshootPower Records) and others, from well before the dawn oflong-playing records and the45rpm single until the digital age. In the late 1940s and early 1950s,Capitol Records produced many book-and-record sets for children, ranging from everything fromBozo the Clown to the classical music fantasySparky's Magic Piano originally produced on 10-inch and 12-inch 78 RPM records. A "picture storybook" of the 1982 filmE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial narrated byMichael Jackson became a highly prizedcollectible, after it went out of print. Newer sets may still be found among recordings for children.
