07/04/2016
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. (May.)

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.”—AudioFile Earphones Award Winner

"[There] remains something untameable about these enigmatic stories of cruel parents, brave tailors, cannibalistic witches, enchanted princes and princesses, and big bad wolves...Each tale gets a different narrator, chosen from the starry firmament of the audiobook world...[Roy] Dotrice delivers the only biblically themed tale in the bunch and sounds like the voice of the Lord himself."—The New York Times