Alan Bennett Reads Childhood Classics

By: Kenneth Graeme, Lewis Carroll, A A Milne

Narrated by: Alan Bennett

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

Alan Bennett narrates five much-loved stories by Kenneth Grahame, Lewis Carroll and AA Milne.

The Wind in the Willows is the classic story featuring Ratty, Mole, Badger and Toad (of Toad Hall).

In Alice in Wonderland, when Alice follows a white rabbit down a hole, she embarks on a series of adventures with some of the most weird and wonderful characters ever encountered. In Through the Looking Glass, Alice sees another world in the looking glass and wishes she could go there.

In stories from Winnie-the-Pooh, Pooh goes visiting and gets into a tight place, Eeyore loses a tail, Piglet meets a Heffalump, Eeyore has a birthday, and an 'expotition' to the North Pole is mounted. The House at Pooh Corner finds Pooh and Piglet building a house for Eeyore whilst Tigger comes to the forest and has breakfast. Piglet nearly meets the Heffalump again, Pooh invents a new game, and Owl moves house.

Portraying each character in his own inimitable fashion, Alan Bennett's distinctive narrations of these much-loved stories have become classics in their own right.

©2017 BBC Worldwide Ltd. (P)2017 BBC Worldwide Ltd.

An Incomplete Collection

You should know that these stories are abridged. I am not familiar enough with "The Wind in the Willows" to know what was cut, but there were a number of poems omitted from the Alice stories, including cutting out 2/3 of Jabberwocky. Several whole chapters were omitted from the Pooh books, and the chapters that remained were shortened, including the removal of several of Pooh's poems and songs.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Not just for Children

I really enjoyed listening to these children's classics. They brought back some pleasant memories. I will have my great grandchildren listen to them.

However...

i'm loving this "book" (Note: 3x5 stars ratings abv). HOWEVER (as noted abv) unless you're willing to set it to 'play' and let it roll on, one has a hard time navigating the various books to locate different sections, chapters or parts.

The recording is presented in twenty-three "chapters" with no hint of what's there in each (Audible) chapter.

For instance, "The Wind in The Willows" is presented in Chapters 1-10 (3.25 hours) with no indication of the relevant chapters in the book.

Each chapter begins with a statement like "Chapter Two, The Open Road. "Ratty, said the Mole suddenly one bright…" which helps but later we find that the narration skips the book's Chapter 7: The Piper at the Gates of Dawn and Chapter 9: Wayfarers All. So that the narration's "Ch 7" is actually the books Ch8: "Toad's Adventures" and the recorded "Ch 8" is the book's Ch10: "The Further Adventures of Mr Toad"

Hey, it's 5:30am and i'm about to end my night shift, gotta go...

i hope to continue this project over the next few nights. Stay tuned (i hope)

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Great reading, poor planning

Would you try another book written by the authors or narrated by Alan Bennett?

Yes

What did you like best about this story?

Wonderful stories, wonderfully read. But as it has been recorded as one single 7 hour narrative it is impossible to select which story to listen to, or to navigate the content other than to listen to it beginning to end. Very poor planning.

Have you listened to any of Alan Bennett’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Yes - as always a wonderful storyteller.

What character would you cut from Alan Bennett Reads Childhood Classics?

None

Any additional comments?

This is a wonderful recording spoiled by poor technical execution.

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

enormous amount of material and Alan Bennett fab

Alan Bennett is a fabulous narrator, doing many different characters with ease. this package has an enormous amount of material, although the book divisions aren't marked so a little difficult to navigate. My son (4 years) preferred the Winnie the pooh stories to the rest but that still covered more than an hour of car time