Puffin Audiobooks: feedback for Magic & Adventure titles…find out what MNers think PLUS non testers - chance to win £75! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

This thread is for the 125 Mumsnetters and their DCs who listened to a Magic & Adventure audiobook. Testers could choose one of the following audiobook titles:

1. The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy read by Gemma Arterton (age 5+)
2. Going Solo by Roald Dahl ready by Dan Stevens (age 7+)
3. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll read by Sheridan Smith (6+)
4. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham - BBC dramatization version (age 6+)
5. George's Secret Key to the Universe by Lucy & Stephen Hawking ready by James Goode (age 7+)

To listen a clip from each of these audiobooks click here

Puffin say "We are absolutely delighted to have so many eager ears listening to our marvellous audiobooks this summer and taking part in our Audiobook Club
We believe that audiobooks are a brilliant way for families to share the laughter, thrill and excitement of a good story. Whether you listened just before bedtime or on those long and winding 'are-we-nearly-there-yet' car journeys.
All we ask is that you use the discussion threads to let us know what both you and your little ones, thought of the experience."

Non testers: Share on this thread what your favourite audiobook is and why and you will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £75 voucher for either iTunes or Amazon so you can buy audiobooks!

Testers: Puffin would love to know what you and your children thought by answering these questions:

1. How old is the child who took part?
2. Which audiobook did your DC choose?
3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?
5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?
6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience?

We'd also like you to add a review of the audiobook on MN (using the links sent to you on email)

All testers who add feedback and post a review will be entered into a prize draw where two MNers will each win a £75 voucher from either iTunes or Amazon so you can buy audiobooks!

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ
Standard Insight T&Cs apply

My daughter is six and chose Alice in Wonderland.
As we are on holiday we have listened in the car on the cd player.
Both my six year old and my elder ten year old daughter have loved it and are now quoting parts. Reading by Sheridan Smith brings it alive.
Would definitely buy more as we already have french and Spanish language cds we listen to.

1. How old is the child who took part? Aimed at 5 yo, but 3 yo and 12 yo listened to.
2. Which audiobook did your DC choose? I chose the Worst Witch for her.
3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook? Morning in the car on way to day out.
4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook? Car CD player and then Xbox in house.
5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it? She absolutely adored it, and was very sad when it finished!
6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? Yes, am currently checking what the library has available.

1. How old is the child who took part?
   7

2. Which audiobook did your DC choose?
   George's Secret Key to the Universe

3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
   In the afternoon, in her bedroom

4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?
   A CD player

5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?
   She loved it. She thought the story was really interesting and would have listened to the whole thing in one go if I hadn't forced her to go outside for a bit. She enjoyed listening while drawing at the same time.

6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience?
   Yes definitely. For some reason I think it must be better than watching TV!

1. How old is the child who took part? My daughter is 5 years old
2. Which audiobook did your DC choose? The Worst Witch
3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook? We listen to it during the day in the car
4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook? On the CD player in the car
5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it? My daughter really enjoys it and she has been asking to listen to it over and over again. It works really well having the story in chapters as we often listen to it on short journeys. She particularly loves the excitement of Mildred escaping and turning everyone into snails! I was also pleased with how much my four year old son enjoyed it and he often asks me to explain certain words so I know he must be listening properly too!
6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? Yes, definitely. We have had several of the Julia Donaldson stories on CD and this was a very nice step on from that. Thank you - we've been really enjoying it!

Testers: Puffin would love to know what you and your children thought by answering these questions:

1. How old is the child who took part? 8,9 and 5
2. Which audiobook did your DC choose? The wind in the willows
3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook? Mid morning in the car
4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook? Cr stereo
5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it? The five year old loved hearing a grow upstairs, the eight year old has dyslexia but has wanted to read it for ages so was very excited and enjoyed it, the nine year old loved it and said 'although I have read it it was nice to relax and listen to. It really is a wonderful story'
6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? Yes definitely!

Our household is a huge fan of Roald Dahl - picture books, paperbacks or audio!
Such fun, imaginative stories that can be read (or listened to!) over & over again.

Georges Marvellous Medicine is a particular favourite!

We received Alice in Wonderland on CD and will start listening to it in the car en route to our holiday. I'll post more on our return...

Wools, added my feedback to the wrong thread so readying it to this one instead.

1. How old is the child who took part?
   5

2. Which audiobook did your DC choose?
   The Worst Witch

3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
   Just before bed

4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?
   Ipod with speakers

5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?
   She loved the book, although when I asked her the favourite bit of the story she just said 'all of it'. Sometimes she is not very tired when going to bed as she has to go to bed at the same time as er 3yo sister so audiobooks are the perfect thing to keep her quietly occupied and thinking until she finally goes to sleep.

6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience?
   Yes, we had been using some from the library before but after seeing the price (appears to be around £4?) for each audiobook we may buy a couple more - other audiobooks I had seen through alternative retailers appeared to me priced much higher.

Non-tester, I don't have one. I remember listening to them when I was a kid- the Flossie Teacake series in particular, but the one's I've tried with my DD seem really sow and with silly voices/sound effects. I do like them in theory though and would try more.

My ds2 was a tester but I haven't received any email with a link to add a review (I came across this thread by chance).

1. How old is the child who took part?
   He is 9 years old.

2. Which audiobook did your DC choose?
   He chose Going Solo. He likes Roald Dahl but had not yet read this book.

3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
   He listened to it at bedtime in his bed

4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?
   He used his CD player.

5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?
   This was his first experience of an audio book and he found it quite strange to begin with. He normally studies the cover of his books and checks through for any pictures before he starts and I think he found it difficult to picture the characters. However once he got into the story he really enjoyed it and found it a very relaxing experience.

6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience?
   Yes, definitely. I'm going to buy him some more audio books. He finds it difficult to fall asleep and doesn't like being upstairs on his own so I think these might help.

Apologies. I have just found my e-mail with the link in my spam folder. That's not where Mumsnet Mail usually goes!

1. How old is the child who took part?
   Nine years old

2. Which audiobook did your DC choose?
   Going Solo by R Dahl

3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
   Several hours over one day at home and in car on trip.

4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?
   My iPod

5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?
   He was totally engrossed and we didn't hear a cheep out of him. He loved the combination of adventure, quirkiness and real life story. He was in awe of Dahl's amazing multi-talented life. As a dyslexic, audio books are a bit of a treat as he has to put less effort in!

6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience?

It reminded me again of the power of audio books. When he was really struggling to master decoding fluency, I bought many of them in order to ensure that his comprehension and enjoyment continued to develop alongside his delayed decoding. He is now much more fluent and I had been concentrating on feeding his insatiable appetite with physical books. I will now try to mix them up more.

As a teacher, I really wish audio books were a bit more accessible to our pupils particularly those who struggle, but without a much bigger budget than I have, it remains really difficult.

1) How old is the child who took part?
DD is 9 but nearly 10.

2) Which audiobook did your DC choose?
George's Secret Key to the Universe

3) What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
Bedtime, after doing reading practice out loud.

4) On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?
Laptop with CD drive.

5) What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?

She and we liked that she could just 'tune in' and then fall asleep listening to it. It has to some extent revolutionised bedtime storytime (at long last!). Sometimes we've been up reading with her for an hour which can be enjoyable but after a busy day can be tiring and cut too much into one's evening!

She liked the story too, as it's not one we've come across before!

6) Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience?

Yes I would but not in CD format. Who wants five CDs taking up space in this day and age? It was an error not opting to download the audiobook instead!

I think the art of active listening (and concentrating) is one that children are losing, so audiobooks have a real value to help the younger generation acquire this skill.

They are a good alternative (and a lot less heavy to 'carry'!!) to books for long journeys too.

And an educational way of combining technology and literature which has got to be a win:win situation!

Tester here. Very excited to receive Alice in Wonderland through the post this week. Question for MNHQ please: when would you like the reviews done? We have a big car trip Aug Bank Hol and would like to save our new story for then if poss.

MarthaMonkeynuts - happy for the review on or about the bank hol - by end of the month ideally!

Thanks AnnMumsnet

1)How old is the child who took part?
DS aged 9
2) Which audiobook did your DC choose?
He chose Dennis the Menace, what arrived was George's secret key to the universe. DS mildly miffed but willing to give George a go.
3) What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
Mid Afternoon, in the car on a regular journey of 1.5 hrs.
4) On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?
CD player in family car.
5) What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?
After 2 chapters he turned it off saying he thought it was going to be scarey and he didn't want it on.
6) Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience?
We have used audio books in the car for years, often on this regular journey. Recently DS has become more interested in music and less in audio books. Fi ding the right audio books for him is becoming difficult. He won't listen to early reader type , like harry and the dinosaurs any more, but , famous five, eagle of the ninth and no George have all been devlred too scarey part way through. He's not engaged enough to want to know how the story ends.

From my point of view listening to George this afternoon, the story started out slow and dull. We were Twp chapters in and nothing has happened yet and we had had a lot of very wordy described scene setting. Georges parents were being depicted as cranks for their vegetarian, thrifty, anti technology attitudes. But we didn't know much about George yet and didn't really care about him as a character yet.
I'll listen to some more on my way to work on Monday, DS may oray not chose to listen to more on Wednesday.

I'm a non-tester but we love 'The Complete Chronicles of Narnia' because it seems to captivate the listener, whatever their age.

I like the Worst Witch, mainly because it reminds me of my own childhood reading the books. My own child enjoys the audio books too, and might pick her up some copies of the original books.

The Faraway Tree, as it is a land far different than our own.

Non-Tester
Awful Auntie by David Walliams is my current favourite audiobook because it gave us all such a laugh on a recent 8 hour drive to Scotland

Non-tester: my 2 love the Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson, my favourite to list en to with them is We're going on a bear hunt.

Non tester
We are massive fans of audio books. My daughter love all the Roald Dahl books. Especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory because I used to listen to them. Another firm favourite is Famous Five and Secret seven. I think these stories are great for the imagination. x

Non-tester

I used to listen to Enid Blytons The twins at St Clares on tape until it was worn out.
My own twin girls love listening to stories at bedtime the current favorite is the David Walliams collection.

Non-tester. My DD insists on Paddington Bear and gets upset when it ends