Disney Read-Along

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Disney Read-Alongs are a series of illustrated books for children with accompanying recordings of the books being read. The first Read-Alongs, book-and-record sets, were released in 1965 by Disneyland Records (now Walt Disney Records); several hundred titles have been produced.

The books were typically adaptations of popular Disney movies, cartoons, and other stories, running 24 pages. A narrator (or in some titles, a character from the story in first-person) read the story, and dialogue and songs from the original source were included. The sound of Tinkerbell's chimes was the signal for the reader to turn the page. The books always contained the tag line "SEE the pictures, HEAR the record, READ the book." The first editions typically had this introduction:

"This is a Disneyland original Little Long-Playing Record, and I am your story reader. I am going to begin to read the story of [insert title here]. You can read along with me in your book. You will know it's time to turn the page when Tinker Bell rings her little bells like this: (sound of chimes ringing). Let's begin now."

Meanwhile, the second editions (released beginning in 1977), and new titles released thereafter, typically had this introduction (since the second editions were also released on cassette), and still do to this day:

"This is the story of [insert title here]. You can read along with me in your book. You'll know it's time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this: (sound of chimes ringing). Let's begin now."

(Note: Both editions of Peter and the Wolf did not include a chimes ring and thus that part of the introduction was skipped.)

Some titles also had different signals for turning the page, but most were presented in this manner. Also the way the story was presented differed from the first and second editions. In the former, the story was presented in its entirety on side 1 (on some shorter ones, the story was read twice), with one or two songs related to the story on side 2. In the latter, the story was spread out across both sides of the record with the related song(s) playing after the story was finished.

In the late 1970s, Disney started releasing Read-Along titles on cassette in addition to the versions on records. The cassette versions usually had the story in its entirety, plus the songs (if applicable) on both sides making it unnecessary to turn the cassette over to listen to the rest of the story. As such, the sides were not designated. The cassette versions were based on the second editions.

Disney also produced titles based on non-Disney properties, such as the Star Wars films; these were released under the Buena Vista name (one exception was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which was released under the Disney name). They also produced titles based on the Peanuts characters which were told in the form of a Peanuts comic strip, and which had a specialized introduction:

"Hi. I'm Charlie Brown. You can read along in your book as you listen to the story. You'll know it's time to turn the page when you hear the chimes ring like this: (sound of chimes ringing). And now we present [Peanuts-related title].

Currently, Walt Disney Records releases Read-Along book sets in cassette, CD, and DVD versions.

[edit] Titles

Some of the titles released on vinyl include:

301: Sleeping Beauty (1965; new edition, 1977)
302: Mary Poppins (1965; new edition, 1977)
303: Three Little Pigs (1965; new edition, 1978)
304: Peter Pan (1965; new edition, 1977)
305: One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1965; new edition, 1982)
306: Alice in Wonderland (1965; new edition, 1979)
307: Lady and the Tramp (1965; new edition, 1979)
308: Cinderella (1965; new edition, 1977)
309: Bambi (1966; new edition, 1977)
310: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1966; new edition, 1977)
311: Pinocchio (1966; new edition, 1977)
312: Mother Goose Rhymes (1966; new edition, 1979)
313: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966; new edition, 1979)
314: The Seven Dwarfs and their Diamond Mine (1966)
315: Goldilocks and the Three Bears (1967)
316: The Gnome-Mobile (1967)
317: Hansel and Gretel (1967)
318: Black Beauty (1967)
319: The Jungle Book (1967; new edition, 1977)
320: The Happiest Millionaire (1967)
321: Peter and the Wolf (1968; new edition, 1978) (did not have a chimes ring)
322: Heidi (1968)
323: It's A Small World (1968; new edition, 1978)
324: Dumbo (1968; new edition, 1977)
325: How the Camel Got His Hump (1968)
326: Acting Out the ABCs (1968)
327: Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968; new edition, 1978)
328: Little Red Riding Hood (1968)
329: Babes in Toyland (1968)
330: Little Hiawatha (1969)
331: The Grasshopper and the Ants (1969)
332: The Little Red Hen (1969)
333: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1969)
334: Mickey Mouse, Brave Little Tailor (1969)
335: Johnny Appleseed (1969)
336: Pirates of the Caribbean (1969)
337: Gingerbread Man (1969)
338: More Jungle Book (1969)
339: The Haunted Mansion (1969)
340: The Ugly Duckling (1970)
341: The Emperor's New Clothes (1970)
342: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1970)
343: Thumper's Race (1970)
344: The Night Before Christmas (1970)
345: The Bremen Town Musicians (1970)
346: Rapunzel (1970)
347: The Wizard of Oz (1970; new edition, 1978)
348: Mickey and the Beanstalk (1970)
349: The Aristocats (1970)
350: Pecos Bill (1970)
351: Lambert the Sheepish Lion (1970)
352: Suzie, the Little Blue Coupe (1970)
353: The Little House (1970)
354: Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet (1970)
355: The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met (1970)
356: Aladdin and his Lamp (1971)
357: Swiss Family Robinson (1971)
358: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1971)
359: Sinbad the Sailor (1971)
360: Davy Crockett (1971)
361: Treasure Island (1971)
362: More Mother Goose (1971)
363: Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby (1971; new edition, 1977)
364: Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
365: Robin Hood (1973; new edition, 1977)
366: Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974; new edition, 1977)
367: The Rescuers (1977)
368: The Hobbit (1977)
369: Pete's Dragon (1977)
370: unknown title
371: unknown title
372: unknown title
373: unknown title
374: unknown title
375: unknown title
376: unknown title
377: unknown title
378: unknown title
379: unknown title
380: unknown title
381: The Black Hole (1979)
382: The Return of the King (1980)
383: The Fox and the Hound (1981)
384: Tron (1982)
385: Return to Oz (1985)
386: Mickey's Christmas Carol (1982)
387: Counting Fun (Disney Discovery Series) (1984)
388: Baby Animals (Disney Discovery Series) (1984)
389: The Black Cauldron (1985)
390: Manners (Disney Discovery Series) (1985)
391: ABCs (Disney Discovery Series) (1985)
392: Things That Go (Disney Discovery Series) (1985)
393: People at Work (Disney Discovery Series) (1985)