By Lynne Heffley

Independent and small-label children’s and family recordings, without much radio play or high-profile promotion, offer a wealth of enjoyment to take listeners out of the passive TV mode and into an active, positive world of the mind. The following releases, though varied in approach and content, offer family values in the best sense of the term and a celebration of the imagination.

Gone Fishin’: Catfish Hodge has a message for kids too. The veteran blues artist and his Endangered Species Orchestra serve up lessons in nature preservation and friendship in "Adventures at Catfish Pond," featuring feel-good, toe-tapping R&B, bluegrass and jazz tunes such as "Down Where the Bluegrass Grows," "1 to 10 Blues" and "Skippin’ on Rainbows."

The songs accompany a tall tale of a pancake feast for critter friends in the Southern backwoods—alligators, raccoons, birds, toads—and if the lessons are a bit ponderous at times, the music is a romp.