Mifflin Lowe's The King Who Forgot His Underpants portrays the unique aspect of a "rock opera for kids." A very animated narrator tells stories of mythical creatures that are both silly and scary, but always attached to a lesson and some laughs. The narration melds into eight truly original children's songs, featuring fun character voices, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, keyboards, an organ, piano, and children's voices singing in select songs.

This CD offers plenty of enthusiasm to keep your little ones engaged. Right off the bat, you get animated narration from Mifflin himself, speaking in cadence and rhyme. It is so easy to imagine the story happening all around you. Songs mixed in throughout the storytelling are exciting, unique, and fun to dance around to. There is an up tempo rock song, King of the World; a scary boogey called The Bogeyman Song, which begins very slow and creepy, but then breaks into a full on boogie woogie; the very funny song, I Spit Out My Food Song, (which perhaps your little one can relate to) featuring the fun sounds of an accordion and tooting tuba; and the CD even ends with a gentle lullaby, The Nightingale Song, staring only Mifflin singing and lightly strumming an acoustic guitar. There is even an Elvis-inspired number, Dance, which includes drums, electric guitar, piano, children backup singers, and fun lines like, "All you have to do is let your back bone slip!"

Interspersed between the fun songs are imaginative stories filled with humor your child will appreciate. The title itself is sure to bring a smile to children and adults alike, as will the story of the extremely grumpy king who was too stubborn to admit he forgot to wear underpants one day, so he had to sit on a cold iron thrown without any tooshy protection. Parents can highlight the lesson to be learned, being too stubborn to admit when you made a mistake will not end well (and possibly leave you quite uncomfortable!). Other humor is more subtle; when the different types of creatures in the story are described, there are winkeys who 'are what they eat', so they are the colors of candy and sometimes striped like candy canes. Brumbledinks are all lawyers, so they are just "full of hot air" and always wanted to take the king to court (get it? Court. Ha ha). Another great lesson presented through humor is when the Wendell, the nicest Winkey, told Sid the Sad (who is always crying) that everyone just wanted to be Sid's friend. After a three stooges-esque exchange of "No you don't," "Yes we do,'s, Sid the Sad stopped crying and smiled because he had the most important thing in the world - friends! The message is reiterated immediately with a song with a simple chorus to learn and sing along to.

My four year old niece had a ball listening to this CD. She said she wanted to be a winkey for Halloween. She claims it's "because Winkeys are sweet and nice," but I have a feeling that their candy eating habit may have influenced her decision. She also loved the Zooties, who had big feet, dressed in colorful clothes, and liked to "sing all day and dance all night, then dance all day and sing all night." Overall, any children's album that has me laughing as hard as a four year-old is a winner in my book.

--Audra

Mifflin Lowe is a writer and musician, and has been involved in children's entertainment for more than 20 years. He has published four books including the children's poetry book, Beasts By The Bunches. Lowe has made national television appearances on CNN and NBC and has participated in national radio programming.

16. The Nightingale Song - 2:02