Comfort food for the soul

This is a gem, and absolutely carried by Alison Larkin's performance. Her reading is stylised, with a particular tone of voice - and it is utterly wonderful, reminding me of being read bedtime stories as a small boy. Listening to this is warming, comforting and just as exciting as when I was young. The choice of stories is good, too - some familiar, and some I'd not come across before.

This book was given to me for free at my request (and boy, am I glad I did!) and I provided this voluntary review.

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A splendid collection

This is a wonderful collection of around twenty one fairy tales, written by the Brothers Grimm and fairy tales written by other notable names as well as some anonymous writers. The collection is made up of the original tellings of the storIes, spoken in a language that is fairly easy for a young child of ten or eleven years to understand with some brief explanation. I listened to this audio book, primarily for my sister's amusement (she's eleven) as she has become quite a fan of audio books. She likes being able to share the book with others and talk and ask questions with someone who is following it at the same pace.

Together, we listened to the early chapters, and I plan to listen to the later chapters with her soon. For both of us, some of the fairy tales were quite new- the others I had already known, but my sister knew only very small fragments of. We enjoyed the collection, it was read wonderfully, my sister loved the different voices Alison Larkin performed and she loved to imitate the voices of the villains. She never could get them quite right but, it was a good deal of fun. I can't imagine reading the original fairy tales for myself anymore, with the collections as thick and heavy as they are.  I feel this audio book is a far superior alternative: more magical, less burdensome and very enjoyable!

It's also worth mentioning that I haven't always been a huge fan of fairy tales, which is partially the reason that I chose to listen to this audio book. It was the mention of the 'fiercer sex' that appealed to me, and this ties in with one of the reasons I was so opposed to fairy tales: I didn't like how the females were treated as helpless and how they were 'rescued' by princes, and their problems solved by fairies, birds or fairy godmothers. A philosophy that is terribly misleading and something that isn't true of many of the original fairy tales at all- we learn that the characters are deserving of their great rewards for all their help, be that with saving the life of the prince, something that isn't ever emphasised as much in the Disney versions most of us have grown used to, or their families, or being so charmingly clumsy and unintentionally saving the day. Therefore, this  collection of stories teaches the value of hard work, persistence and dedication, and how these help you in life as opposed to sitting around waiting for a nearby fairy to help you out of whatever tiffle you've gotten yourself in.

I received this audio book through Audiobook Boom.

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