Miracle on 34th Street

By: Valentine Davies, Todd Strasser

Narrated by: Carl Reiner

Length: 1 hr and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Do you believe in Santa Claus? You will after you've experienced this magical Christmas classic that pits cynics against Santa-believers.

Miracle on 34th Street begins when a last-minute replacement in the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade claims to be the genuine Santa. Is he the real thing or just a charlatan in a red fuzzy coat? In a classic courtroom climax, the department store's Kris Kringle convinces everyone, including a skeptical little girl named Susan Walker, that Santa Claus really does exist.

This charming remake retains the magic and mystery of the well-known original, showing how the power of faith can prove that miracles really do happen. Originally published in 1994 as tie-in to the 20th Century Fox motion picture remake of the classic 1947 film.

©1994 20th Century Fox Film Corporation (P)1994, 2017 20th Century Fox / Phoenix Books

Wonderful Christmas in July Listen

Who better than Carl Reiner to narrate a story that features New York? This is such a fun version of the classic-movie that was released to coincide with the launch of the remake of the "Miracle on 34th Street" film. Perfect for family listening!

Rare time where movie is WAY BETTER than Book!

you know you so often hear people say oh well the book was way better than the movie. Not in this case!
First off the narrator's voice got on my nerves, I know it takes place in New York but it's such a hardcore New York accent, especially when he's doing the voices of Susan and her mom. I did appreciate the way that they were trying to update the story anymore with some of the name changes you don't hear many people named Doris yet Dory is cute and does sound modern. But there were a number of changes that were unnecessary, I don't know if it's just me loving the original movie so much, but it just didn't have the same impact, for instance in the court case there's no people bringing in mail. in the movie that's a tearjerker.
I don't know it just kind of felt like a short story version of the movie and like a lot of the things that have been changed didn't really need to be.
I think the thing that really missed out on this was the incredible character building and emotional connection you get when you watch the movie. usually books are superior in this case because they have the time to really deeply explore the person's thoughts, background, intentions, things that a movie has to brush over for time. but in this case it felt just the opposite. I was excited to read the book. I've done that a number of times where there's a movie I like, and then I decide to read the book, usually so that you can get a deeper understanding of the thing that you like, in this case it did not feel deep at all.

Prefer the original

I’ve read the original story many times. This updated version attempts to modernize the story however, the story itself looses something in the process. I’ll stick to the original version.

The narrator’s gritty voice doesn’t work well with this story. Made it sound like I was listening to an old detective novel.

Cheap rendition of a classic story

Definitely should have stuck with the original. This was condensed and had no magic. The reader was great though.