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The Snail and the Whale  By  cover art

The Snail and the Whale

By: Julia Donaldson
Narrated by: Imelda Staunton
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Publisher's summary

One tiny snail longs to see the world and hitches a lift on the tail of a whale. Together they go on an amazing journey, past icebergs and volcanoes, sharks and penguins, and the little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world.

But when disaster strikes and the whale is beached in a bay, it's the tiny snail who saves the day.

©2004 Julia Donaldson (P)2004 Macmillan Digital Audio

What listeners say about The Snail and the Whale

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

1 minute story interrupted by 10 minutes of music

The story is OK and the reader does well voicing and developing the characters. But after every line the story is interrupted by the same annoying line of music and it gets old fast. At the end of the story my 7-year old said "we could have finished this story ten minutes ago". He didn't like it either.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Perfect!

The audible book is wonderful and lends to the imagination for my 3 and 5 year old! The music is an added bonus!

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Cute

My kids liked it. Lots of music and rhyming. I will put it in rotation for my kiddos to listen.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Captivating but repetitive

Overall a story told well, with accompanying sound effects and music. This captivates younger children, but the repetitiveness of the music does distract older children (and adults) from the story too much. Less is more, especially with the theme they've chosen to repeat again and again. Cute story that kids will love listening to.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Cover image only. it good for children.

Cover image only... Audio only, no page turning, very disappointing purchase. Not good for children.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Kids don’t need to hear babyish voices

The narrator applies a tiny voice to the snail. It is endlessly irritating. My kids couldn’t stand it, and I gladly shut it off asap.

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Profile Image for MISS A M HASSAN
  • MISS A M HASSAN
  • 12-29-19

Please no more Imelda Staunton

These are meant to be stories most often read at bedtime - therefore, they should be calming and relaxed - Imelda Staunton as talented as she is plays every book in a slightly manic, loud and over the top manner.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jana
  • 12-26-12

children's favourite

Like all Julia Donaldson's books this one was instant favourite with my two boys and I like listening (and reading ) these books too

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Allthebmores
  • 05-02-20

Ideal for young children

Resorted to listening to an audio book after a week of our 3 year old becoming stressed at bedtime. We just tagged it on to our normal routine so where we’d normally be silent and he’d fall asleep, instead we put this on. It’s one of his favourite books and he loved listening to it. He was instantly calm and fell asleep quickly afterwards. Will definitely listen to more.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Caroline
  • 04-24-18

this is a great story, well read . would greater

this is a great story, well read . would be greater if it had an activity section at the end

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • melbel
  • 12-04-23

Peacefully Peaceful

This story calms me down because it’s a peaceful calming story so much calm-fullness forever.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • scott
  • 11-21-23

Lovely story

Myself and my children love Julia Donaldson books, this book is one of our favourites. Just like the snail; no matter how small you are dream BIG!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Sarah Knott
  • 01-06-22

By Harry Freddie rose

I love it so much 😎😍😎😍😂😃😂😂😂😂😂😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 🤔 🤔 🤔 😇 🤗 🙂😇 😇 🤔 😀😀😀😀😀😀🤔😇😋😋😊☺🙂🤗😂😁😃😃😍😎🎃😀😁😂🍖🍐🍓🍅😁😅😘😋😘😁😘😋😘😁🤔😘🤔😅😐😉😎😐😋😗😁😗 😁😅😋😐😋😆😗😁😐😁😗😁😐😁🇦🇪🇧🇭🍐🐹😗😎😗😄😘😘😘😘😘😘😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Anonymous User
  • 04-29-20

Lovely calming story

We love this story and song. Ideal for my 2 year old and 4 year old.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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  • josh
  • 07-17-19

good audio ..

well made audio book and performed.. story could have been better to much music in the story

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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  • UG
  • 01-31-18

Hi

It was absolutely terrible and horrid and horrifying and defiantly boring and bad and other things.

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  • Elaine Whale
  • 12-23-18

grandchildren love this.

beautiful story. a favorite for bedtime. 5 times now. many more times to listen too

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  • Anonymous User
  • 08-10-23

Great story but...

The music was too much and too loud. Distracted my children from the story. Only because I wanted them to settle down and listen to an audio book.

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