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

1. 7
2. Going Solo
3. On a long journey in the car
4. Car cd player
5. She really enjoyed it. She's a big Roald Dahl fan but this was her first introduction to an autobiography and she was fascinated by it because it really happened. I really enjoyed it too!
6. Definitely!

Thanks for letting us take part. It helped pass the time on our long car journey and gave us lots to talk about.

My Daughter is 6.
Wind in the Willows.
Before bed over consecutive nights.
Computer.

I think the 2 hour book was a bit too long for her, especially because we paused it often so that i could answer her questions and explain which character was speaking or what was going on. I think she thought the concept was great, and enjoyed the experience, but the subject matter was slightly too advanced for her (Though I found it quite entertaining!)

If I did it again I would choose a more contemporary tale, and one that was "readable" within a half-hour session. I enjoyed not having to make up a story (one of her frequent requests) and would consider using more audio books, especially as she now has her own headphones and could quite easily listen to it herself. I did, however, enjoy the act of listening to it together, and may encourage more family listening time so that her younger sister can participate too.

Thanks!

Just wanted to add, that we are listening to it for the second time already because DD loves it! (The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy)

non tester my girls love Were going on a bear hunt,

I didn't take part but the Audiobook I love the most is the Gruffalo it keeps the kids entertained every time!

non tester my son loves the Horrid henry books and Roald Dahl

1. The tester was my daughter aged 8

1. As she is currently loving reading the Diary of a Wimpy kid we chose this

1. As we have been out and about in the car we have listened to it whilst driving around. This has proving really successful and I would definately continue to do this!

1. Currently using car CD player

1. We have both loved listening to the story, and it has been fun to have someone else reading aloud, and for us both to laugh to the story.

1. Yes I will definately get more audio books to break up travel and also for my daughter to use on her own CD player, but I can see it been used in the car.

Thank you for choosing us to be part of the review, we had used audio books before but I thin my Dd was a bit young then, or perhaps I had not got stories that interested her, this has proven very successful and has made jumping in the car more exciting as we can catch up with the story!

How old is the child who took part? 5
Which audiobook did your DC choose? The Worst Witch
What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook? In the afternoon
On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook? Stereo in the living room
What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it? My DD enjoyed sitting together to listen to the story. We did it in two sittings though, as she found it too long to listen in one go. She loved the narrator's voice (Gemma Arterton)
6) Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? We have a few already at home (Julia Donaldson audiobooks are a firm favourite) and my DD also likes to borrow story CDs from the library whenever possible. We'll definitely look for more audiobooks like this one in future!

Oops sorry, I see that I asnwered this on the wrong thread!!!!! Will need to go to correct thread, (I blame the hacking nonsense!)

1. How old is the child who took part?
   3, 5, and 7

2. Which audiobook did your DC choose?
   Going Solo by Roald Dahl (read by Dan Stevens)

3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?
   In the morning and evening, in the car.

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

5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it?
   The boys all love listening to audiobooks in the car as they say it makes the journeys more fun and interesting.

We have listened to a lot of Roald Dahl before but this was the first autobiography. It was very exciting hearing all about Roald Dahl's adventures during the Second World War and before as young man working for Shell. More so as this was all real! The storytelling, as with all Roald Dahl books was excellent and managed to convey his experiences in a way that kept both small boys and adults enthralled.

We'll definitely look for the other Roald Dahl autobiographies in audio book form as the boys were interested in his childhood and what happened after the war.

6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? Definitely, we own a number of audiobooks and borrow them from the library but are always on the lookout for more. The boys always want to listen to a book in the car no matter how short the journey.

Non-tester - I'm a great fan of Imelda Staunton reading various Julia Donaldson books, not so much for my own benefit (although they're very good I could happily have moved on after we'd listened to them once) but for the peace and quiet it buys me in the car!

1. How old is the child who took part?

7 year old did.

2. Which audiobook did your DC choose?

Alice's adventures in wonderland.

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

In bed, in the evening, 1 cd per night.

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

Personal CD player.

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

She really enjoyed it, she is an avid reader but really enjoyed the different way of enjoying the story. She liked the expression used to make the story exciting.

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

Yes we will definitely look at buying some more.

Thanks for including us in the test.

My favourites are the Harry Potter audiobooks because they're read by Stephen Fry!

It has to be the Worst Witch. I still recall lying in bed listening to those stories, and now my son does the same!

Never listen to an audio book since i was small. But loved Santa claus the movie, and my beatrix potter audio books back then.

If i was a driver i would definitely go buy a few James Patterson on audio as his books are awesome

Non tester - The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl is my favourite cos Stephen Fry reads it & makes it come alive.

Non - Tester we love Julia Donaldson they are not too long and funny x

Non-Tester

The range of Roald Dahl audio books are fantastic. "The Roald Dahl Audio Collection" includes Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James & the Giant Peach, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Enormous Crocodile & The Magic Finger. The best thing about this collection is that they are read out by the author himself. Roald Dahl uses his expressive reading to really brings his own stories to life.

Our favourite is his reading of 'The Enormous Crocodile' ... "This greedy crocodile loves to guzzle up little boys and girls" ... says it all!

1) How old is the child who took part?

9 years old

2) Which audiobook did your DC choose?

We chose Alice in Wonderland

3) What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook?

My child listened to the audiobook in the afternoon while tidying up her bedroom

4) On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook?

She listened to it on her CD player. We will also be playing it in the car.

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

She really liked it. It enabled her to enjoy the story while doing a boring chore. Alice in Wonderland is a favourite story of hers, and it was beautifully read by Sheridan Smith using lots of different voices for the characters.

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

Yes, it stopped the excuses of tidying up being boring! I think an audiobook would be great on long car journeys too.

Thank you for letting us participate in this trial.

1. How old is the child who took part? She's 8.
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? A few different places - mostly in the car on a loooong drive to/through France.
4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook? Mostly on my iPhone.
5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it? She liked it - she's recently got into listening to audiobooks and has noticed stuff that she misses when reading hardcopy. She gets a bit annoyed as it forces her to slow down from the speed she usually reads at.
6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? I think so - they're useful for long journeys, and I can see her listening to them at bedtime too.

Thanks for the chance to test the book :)

1. My daughter is 5 and a half years old.
2. I choose Alice in Wonderland for my daughter as we have read it recently and she really enjoyed the story.
3. We listened to it in the late afternoon at home whilst doing some arts and crafts.
4. We listened to the CD on the laptop.
5. She enjoyed listening to the story but as it was 3 discs long we listened to it over 2 days. She liked learning what happened to Alice.
6. We would listen to more Audiobooks but probably borrow them from the library and listen to them in the car.

My children love the grufallo audiobook because it is a book they love to hear me read as well. (Non tester)

Sorry for the late post but had to get time on the laptop to do this! Thank you very much for the opportunity!

1. How old is the child who took part? The CD was listened to by my 6 and 5 year old DS's
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? Before bed in their bedroom
4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook? A CD player they have in their room
5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it? They liked the characters, and the weasels made a huge impact. The only thing was that they said it was scary and that it was definitely "a daytime book"
6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? Definitely!

1. My daughter is 9.
2. We listened to Alice in Wonderland
3. It was an afternoon on a long car journey
4. We listened on a car CD player
5. She loved it she wouldn't have been able to read it independentlying and has only read abbreviated versions. She thought Sheridan Smith voices were very funny and they really made her laugh.
6. Yes we would definitely buy more audio books, thank you for letting us take part in the trial.

1. How old is the child who took part? DS is 8, DD 11 also listened
2. Which audiobook did your DC choose? Going Solo by Roald Dahl.
3. What time of day and where did your child listen to the audiobook? All day on a looooong car journey from the north of Scotland.
4. On what device did your DC listen to the audiobook? Car stereo
5. What was your child’s overall impression of the experience? What did they like about it? They both became fully involved in the story and it certainly helped pass a long journey. The story was involving enough for DD11 but not too complex for DS 8. DH & I enjoyed it too.
6. Do you think you’d buy or look for more audiobooks in the future as a result of this experience? Yes. I used to get them from the library but have pretty much exhausted their stock of suitable titles. I haven't got on board with downloading them yet so tend to buy them on CDSs. I think they tend to be good value for money as the can be listened to again and the DC can listen on their own.