Kids

I never read this book as a child. Neither was it read to me and I thought that Peter Pan was a cartoo character until I was an adult. I missed out.

If you have children then buy the book and read it to them. If you can't or won't then the next best thing is to let Jim Dale read it to them for you. His delivery is excellent and carries just the right balance of restraint and enthusiasm.

An excellent presentation of a classic story.

Kipling was a genius of language and everything of his that I have read had poetry running through it. This book is no exception and the characterisation of the different animals is brilliant. The premise and the story of this book are known to most of us and the text is beautifully constructed.

Sadly the narration gets in the way of this superb text. The best narrators are transparent, simply letting the material come through without ever being the focus of your attention. At times this narrator sounds like she is reading a grocery list and at others manages to completely miss inflection and intonation in a way that deflects your attention away from the storyline because it is so annoying. I found myself unable to concentrate on the story

My rating would have been 5 stars but for the narration.

This classic proves that great literature needn't be hard work. It is light, funny, thoughtful, informative and , occassionally , deep. There are magnificent one liners and great characters - especially Montmorency.

The reading is excellent. Martin Jarvis was born to read English humour and when the stuff he is reading is a as good as this the only problem is that there isn't more of it.