Grimm's Fairy Tales

Opening with Katherine Kellgren's stately, measured reading of "Rapunzel," this collection presents these tales in all of their original, macabre splendor. Handsome princes in love with beautiful princesses, wicked stepmothers, enchanted animals, and gruesome ends to wicked folk--they're all here in a delightful package. From Jim Dale's fully voiced reading of "Rumpelstiltskin" to Kate Rudd's formal narration of "Little Snow-White" and Dion Graham's lightly accented rendition of "The Twelve Huntsmen," these are stellar performances. A mixture of short and long tales provides a nice blend of listening experiences with whimsical musical interludes. Many of your favorite narrators are here, with January LaVoy, Simon Vance, Grover Gardner, Alfred Molina, Janis Ian, Scott Brick, Bahni Turpin, Davina Porter, Edoardo Ballerini, Jayne Entwistle, Luke Daniels, Roy Dotrice, Julia Whelan, Kirby Heyborne, Mark Bramhall, and Robin Miles rounding out the award-winning cast. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine

July 4, 2016
A talented cast of veteran audio narrators brings this classic collection of fairy tales to life. For generations, children have been captivated by the tales set down by the Grimm brothers. Twenty-one classics are represented here. Some, such as “Rapunzel,” “Cinderella,” “Hansel and Gretel,” are well-known, while others such as “The Goose Girl,” “The Six Swans,” and “The Sea Hare” are not. But each story is given star treatment by the eclectic roster of readers. Jim Dale is delightful bringing his vocal talents to bear in the retelling of “Rumpelstiltskin,” giving the story’s namesake a perfectly evil, raspy, wizened voice, and Janis Ian provides a simple but effective reading of the shortest of short stories, “The Riddling Tale.” Scott Brick, Simon Vance, Bahni Turpin, Alfred Molina, and the other readers present these stories of talking animals, wicked stepmothers, evil queens, shoe-making elves, and princes and princesses with professional aplomb. Each brings their own unique storytelling skills to their respective stories, making for a captivating listen. Ages 10–up.

August 1, 2001
Old-fashioned, often broken typeface and Arthur Rackham's gloriously reproduced original artwork accompany 22 stories in a new edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, originally published in 1909. A sepia-toned illustration for "Red Riding Hood" shows the cloaked girl meeting the bristly wolf, dwarfed by endlessly tall, bare trees. A caption in "The Bremen Town Musicians" recalls the bygone era: "They came upon a Cat, sitting in the road, with a face as long as a wet week."

British actress Laura Paton reads fairy tales, including "The Frog Prince," "The Elves and the Shoemaker," "Hansel and Gretel," "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Cinderella." Paton reads at a comfortable pace in a clear, versatile voice. She gives a quiet, deft reading without intrusive overdramatization, which allows listeners to become involved in the stories. The stories are introduced with brief musical passages taken from Tchaikovsky, Strauss and Grieg, which enhance the presentation. Whether listeners know these classic stories well or are hearing them from the first time, they'll enjoy this collection. C.R.A. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine