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.
"Read-Alongs" based on movies which had not originally been made or distributed by the Walt Disney Company were also produced, such as titles related to 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 on record and cassette, 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]."
In many cases, the audio from the actual TV special were utilized on the recordings, with a few newly-recorded voice tracks added as well, mostly to translate mostly visual gags or scenes into audio format. In most cases, these new voice tracks feature Arrin Skelley as Charlie Brown, Michelle Muller as Lucy and Sally, and Daniel Anderson as Linus.
Titles[]
- 81DC: A Charlie Brown Christmas
- 82DC: Charlie Brown's All-Stars
- 83DC: He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown
- 84DC: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
- 85DC: You're in Love, Charlie Brown
- 86DC: Snoopy, Come Home
- 87DC: It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown
- 88DC: You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown
- 89DC: It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown
- 90DC: It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown
- 91DC: You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown
Notes[]
- These shorter versions of the TV specials (and in one case, a movie) were reduced to 8–12 minute lengths.
- In addition to the cassette tapes and smaller 7" records, the following titles were released as LPs (long-playing records) which re-produced the specials in nearly their entire audio forms (with minor cuts, mostly music):
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- Charlie Brown's All-Stars
- It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
- You're In Love, Charlie Brown
- He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown
- The record jacket would also include a gatefold 12-page booklet containing a transcription of the record's dialogue and illustrations.
- Interestingly, Snoopy, Come Home was not made available as an LP from Disney, meaning that the feature film-length story had to be significantly compacted to fit on an approximately 8-minute record or cassette. All of the songs were removed, as was the trip to the beach and the encounter with Clara. The Read-Along does not feature the film's music, instead using the music from It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown.
- The titles Charlie Brown's All Stars, He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Come Home were later reissued in 1987 by Golden Books, under the "Snoopy and Friends" banner on cassette tape only (each as a "Golden Story Book 'n' Tape"). Each had the illustrations redone, though the cassette's content and the text remained the same.
