Father's Day is coming up and while fathers don't seem to inspire quite as much kids music as mothers do, there are still a few entries if you're looking to put together a kid-friendly list. You can read last year's list, but there's always new stuff to add. (Along with stuff I've forgotten, overlooked, or cruelly dismissed. Let me know what falls in those categories in the comments.) I'd note, though, that I'm trying hard to limit myself to songs about dads, specifically. Those are tough to find... The list, after the jump:

As part of National Library Week, I thought I'd start a list of library-related songs for your perusal. Now our hard drive crashed a couple weeks back and all the kids' CDs I'd ripped to that drive were lost. (Lesson here, folks -- get a backup hard drive.) Obviously I still have the physical copies, but searching through the hard drive would have been a lot easier. So consider this comparatively short list a work in progress, and if you have more items to add, please leave 'em in the comments. "I Love My Library" - Lunch Money (from Dizzy) "Take Me To Your Library" - Monty Harper (from the album of the same title) "Blast Into Books" - Monty Harper "Get A Clue" - Monty Harper "The Great Green Squishy Mean Bibliovore" - Monty Harper "Hanging Out With the Heroes at the Library" - Monty Harper "Paws Claws Scales & Tales" - Monty Harper (sensing a trend here? Harper writes a lot of songs for libraries, and a lot of them are quite tuneful) "The Books I Like To Read" - Frances England (from Fascinating Creatures) “Rockin’ The Library” - Jim Cosgrove “Library Ann” - Jim Cosgrove

Tonight my University of North Carolina Tar Heels will attempt to win another national championship in NCAA Division I men's basketball. Today is also the first full day of Major League Baseball. As sports days go, I can't think of too many better days. Because the number of kids songs about college basketball is pretty short, however, I've provided this slightly updated list of baseball songs. (Read last year's list here.) Enjoy, and may all your teams have a great season. Except if you're in the National League West, because, you know, I'm a Diamondbacks fan. If any of you have more suggestions, leave me a comment.

I know, I know -- it's April 2009. What in the world am I doing publishing a list of my favorite kids and family songs of 2008? Because I'm compelled to. (It's on my to-do list and has been for 4 months, darn it!) The time frame here is pretty much exactly 2008 -- so some songs which were from albums left off my list of favorite albums from 2008 because they didn't meet the Nov. 1 - Oct. 31 time frame are added here. Not sure how this would work as a mix CD, but it's still a fine collection of music for the whole family. So, without further ado, in no particular order (all links are to sites with the complete track as of this week in early April 2009)... Barenaked Ladies - "Crazy ABCs" (listen here) Laurie Berkner - "Mouse in My Toolbox" Johnny Bregar - "Two Thumbs Up" Central Services Board of Education - "The Lonely Tomato" (listen here) Frances England - "Spring Has Sprung" Tom Freund - "Hug Trees" (listen here) Kay Hanley - "Chim Chim Cher-ee" (Disney Music Block Party compilation) Jenny Lewis - "Barking at the Moon" (Bolt soundtrack -- listen here) Me 3 - "Apple" (listen here) Medeski, Martin & Wood - "Where's The Music?" The Nields - "Who Are You Not To Shine?" Recess Monkey - "Monster Boogie" (listen here) Justin Roberts - "Fruit Jar" The Roots - "Lovely, Love My Family" (listen here) Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could - "Road Trip" Scribblemonster - "Doing the Right Thing Isn't Always Easy, Doing the Easy Thing Isn't Always Right" Secret Agent 23 Skidoo - "Hot Lava" The Terrible Twos - "Old Man Miller" (listen here) They Might Be Giants - "Seven" (listen/watch here) David Tobocman - "Home" (listen/watch here)

You know, I miss recess. I miss taking a 15-minute break two hours into the day and playing on the monkey bars or getting on the swingset. My office totally needs to get a playground. I'm a little sad that it appears National Recess Week is a corporately-sponsored event, because it seems like recess is one of those public goods that should be more than just a tie-in. Play is an important thing, both indoors and out. So I thought I'd put together a list of a few songs celebrating play in the great outdoors especially. And if you've got more to add, list 'em in the comments. Here we go...