Tom T. Hall writes songs for children, he says, because they have a lot of the same interests, including the quest for simplicity. "One day I just found that we got along great. They understood me," he says. And in this compilation of songs from the "70s and "80s, Hall demonstrates his knowledge of the magic between children and animals and the thrill of taking a trip with the imagination, especially to Hall"s own Fox Hollow farm, where such characters as Sneaky Snake, Randy Raccoon, and Ole Lonesome George, the basset hound, await. With the storytelling skills he gleaned as a child in the hills of Kentucky, Hall makes many of his songs into fables. "The Song of the One Legged Chicken," for example, teaches a valuable lesson about disability and difference. While other songs bring soothing comfort or merely raise a smile ("A mink wears a mink coat the whole year round"), and still others encourage play-acting, they all become treasures by the record"s end. Packaged with a sing-along booklet. --Alanna Nash