Read Mumsnetters' feedback on the Rastamouse audiobook from Audible.co.uk. Non-testers: Try the free download and you could win a £200 voucher NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

This thread is for the Mumsnet Insight Panel members who were recruited to test the Rastamouse audiobook from Audible.co.uk

Audible.co.uk say "Join Rastamouse, Scratchy and Zoomer in a unique audio adventure that takes Da Easy Crew and friends on a musical journey to perform at a very special Carnival for 'likkle ones'!

With music composed by Andrew Kingslow and featuring the voices of Reggie Yates, Cornell John, Sharon Duncan-Brewster and William Vanderpuye, Da Big Carnival Fi Likkle Ones is an exclusive experience that brings the magic of Rastamouse to Audible.

Rastamouse is an award-winning British preschool television show created by Genevieve Webster and Michael De Souza. Rastamouse has a positive message for young children, promoting the need to understand what is right from what is wrong and why in a meaningful context."

Find out more about the Rastamouse audiobook by watching the video below and :

Non-testers: you can get a free download of the Rastamouse audiobook from Audible.co.uk here. By downloading the audiobook and then returning to this thread to let us know what you thought of it, you would be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 Love2Shop voucher.

Testers, please let us know:

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?
• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

All testers who add feedback will be entered in to a prize draw, where one winner will receive a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

- How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?
3 years, but his brother of 8 and sister of 6 were also in the room.

- When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?
In the living room on Saturday afternoon

- What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?
6 year old and 8 year old loved it, 3 year old was a tad confused as there were no pictures.

- Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?
Yes I loved this and would love to introduce all of the children to something i cherished as a child.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 2 years and 6 years
• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? Just before bed
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? The music was fun but I felt it went on for too long and they soon lost interest.
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? Yes most definatley, it was a new experience for both me and my children and we would be keen to try out some new exciting stories.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

4 years old

When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

After school on the sofa.

What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

She wasn't hugely interested and took herself of to play quietly with her dolls whilst it was on. She seemed to miss the visual element of a paper book - when reading we spend a lot of time looking at pictures and talking beyond the text so this is very new to us.

I think the accents and language were quite difficult for her without the visuals to pick up what was going on.

I enjoyed it though

Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Yes - I would like to try it on a longer car journey as I think she may concentrate on it more, rather than having distractions.

Fantastic and attention grabbing but my 4 month old was a little too young for the audible book format. She needs more interaction and was quite confused about where the story was coming from... That said, it had a good mix of talking and singing with very enthusiastic voices so I can see her enjoying it when she's a bit older.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

4 year old DD with 11 year old DD eaves dropping!

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

At bed time in place of her normal bedtime story

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

the 11 year old loved it, the 4 year lost interest after a couple of minutes. It would be good for in the car but in place of bed time books it didnt really work as she missed the pictures and the interaction of turn pages. As half of her family is Jamaican she liked the fact that they sounded like Grandma and Uncles and Aunts, which was interesting as she has never mentioned it before when watching the TV show, but then that novelty wore off and she took herself off to play.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Yes I think we would both like it, but as I say, for use on long journeys or similar, I wouldnt use them in place of bed time books again. I am planning on playing it again this weekend in the car and it will be interesting to see if she pays more attention, will post an update!

I should add that I am a tester but have NC recently!

My DCs who listened to Rastamouse Audiobook are 4 and 7 years old. My children and I listened to it after tea and before bath time in our livingroom. This was over 4 evenings. Overall my children thoroughly enjoyed it, spreading it out over 4 days was easier to follow the story and dancing to the music which they said was fun, this kept them engaged too. They listened to this on my phone with headphones in. We usually listen to Julia Donaldson books in the car on long journeys to and from school. They enjoy audio books with songs and music more than just full story telling. Yes we will be buying audio books in the future.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

my daughter almost 5, my son 3.

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

On iPad at bedtime

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

To be honest, despite my efforts, they did not engage. I found myself having to translate what the mice were saying, to keep drawing my kids back into the story. I think they were distracted by the still picture and were expecting a video. I love audiobooks (for car journeys in particular), however, I am not sure that Rastamouse lends itself to an audiobook format. When I heard the Rastamouse voices on their own, I realised that they can be impenetrable for young children. I realise how much we rely on the visuals in Rastamouse on TV to follow the story and the animation is the really captivating part of Rastamouse. I will try this again on a car journey. It may be better when they hear it a second time and are not distracted trying to look for pictures or touch buttons on the iPad.

It must be said that the kids and I both enjoyed the music and sound effects however.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Definitely, they have loved other audiobooks we have listened to

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

(H) 2 yrs and (D) 5 yrs

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

In the evening before bed after baths - we now have no 'screen' time after 6.30pm so we decided to try this instead

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

H found it confusing I think - she looked around to see if there was a picture or a book or a TV and she feel asleep part way into it.

D looked around at first again looking for pictures/books/screen but then settled down and listened quite happily for a while. He got bored midway through though and lost track of what was happening.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

I think H was a little young to be honest to really understand that it was a story. D enjoyed it but it was too long to hold his attention. I asked D if he would like to hear another one and he said maybe (if spiderman was in it lol).

I think this story had way too much distraction in it - it was hard for me as an adult to keep track of the characters and the music and background noise was quite distracting. I think they would have enjoyed it more if it was just a voice reading the story with maybe some sound affects and a song at the end

I listened with my son who is 4 years old. We listened at home in the living room after school. My son enjoys watching Rastamouse on the TV so he was quite engaged with the audio book. We did both enjoy listening to it together. I do think that maybe it is better when you have the book to look through at the same time. We do have a couple like this and they do seem to keep him a bit more engaged. We would definitely look into listening to more audio books in the future.

5 years old
At home, before bedtime, 6.30pm.
My daughter wasn't really that interested. She lost interest in it pretty quickly. She normally loves to listen to audiobooks in the car but at home, this just didn't really keep her attention. She does like Rastamouse and has hard copy books that we have read from time to time so I don't think it was the actual characters and story that didn't hold her attention, I just think that at home, she would prefer to read an actual book.
Yes I would be interested in listening to them in the future. My child would I'm sure, but perhaps moreso in the car.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 8 Months Old
• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? Evening, just before diner
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? whilst interested to begin with, however his interest fizzled out within 5mins.
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? for myself yes, for my son No.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

4 and 9 years old.

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

In the car on the school runs - over the course of a few days.

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

They really enjoyed it, it made them look forward to the car journey and even all the waiting for their big brother to come out of school!
I thought it was very good, great storyline and really engaged the children.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Most definitely.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

3 years old

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

We listened to it in the living room after Nursery had finished in the afternoon.

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

DD wasn't too keen, she told me she thought it was 'too long' so instead of listening to it in one go we broke it down into bits..she still wasn't that impressed but said it was 'ok'..she then asked me to turn it off and put on a read a long audio book we already own and sat in my lap with a pile of books!

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Yes if my DD was taken with them..she likes audio books you can read along too or have more to pique her interest..and possibly a bit shorter too!

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 4 & 23mths
• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? In their bedroom in replacement of bedtime story
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? Not interested in it whatsoever. They kept wandering off to find real life books
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? Not for bedtime but maybe for a long car journey

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

DD is 4

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

In the afternoon, on my lap in front of the PC

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

We really enjoyed it. It was my first time using audible. The story was good fun and it was nice to listen to something together rather than just watching it on TV

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Yes.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

DD age 6 and Dd age 4 (although Dd age 4 got bored)

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

At home on my laptop. It was on the weekend.

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

Dd age 6 really liked it but she loves to read. DD age 4 got a bit bored and wandered off. It was a little long for her.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Yes, DD age 6 is particularly keen but perhaps another story. Rastamouse is not a favourite as such.

Thanks for letting us listen. :)

I'm a non-tester. I didn't think I was an IT ignoramus, but I have tried and failed to download the book and install the app - any audiobook app, in fact, after the link to the official one for windows did nothing - on my windows 8 PC.

Though, logging into Amazon directly and looking at the audible stuff on there, this does feel like a cynical attempt to get me to take out the 1 month free trial, in hope that I forget to cancel and get sucked in to the £8-ish per month fee.

Dd1 is 3. Dd2 is 8 months.
We listened to it on the couch just before bath time.
3 year old enjoyed it at first and liked the music. Baby loved the music!
However the story got lost in the dialogue and it was more like an episode without cartoon than a story so attention did wander a bit.
We will definitely listen to more audio books - haven't tried them for ages so it's nice to see dd1 is now of an age to follow them more to an extent.

• My son is 4 years old

• We listened to the audio after nursery and dinner but before the bath-time and bed routine.

• Did not really pay much attention, when the music came on he did have a little gig in his seat but due to listening only he's attention wondered to visuals around the room. We deliberately did not have television on. We may try again at bedtime after books where he can close his eyes and listen but even then I'm not sure he will want to listen to this as he very much has a routine of reading and nodding off.

• I don't believe at this age my son would benefit from more audio books, maybe in a couple of years when he is 6/7 and has been at school and learnt to sit and listen then we can try again. At this age I just feel his eyes have too much to see and talk about than to listen to 1 chapter, 13 minutes of Rastamouse - which I loved!

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 4 years old

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? At home on the computer.
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? He wasn't all that interested. He was expecting the main image to change (I had said it was a book to listen to but I think he thought pages would turn along with the audio).
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? I think if it was done in the car where he had little distraction.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 3 year old ds
• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? At home on my tablet
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? DS liked the music as he recognised it from the TV show, but unfortunately lost interest quite quickly.
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? - yes, I think if we were in the car it would have held his attention more, but he was distracted by his toys

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

4

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

While we were waiting for DH to get our fish and chips tonight!

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?

My DD LOVED it! She told me which voice was which character. She kept laughing and loved that it was something a bit different. ie. an audio book rather than a dvd. She said she likes audio books and tv equally. Despite all the positive comments she did get bored halfway through unfortunately.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Yes I think it's important to listen to audio books aswell as read and watch tv

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?
Three and a half and two

- When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?
In the living room after breakfast (which is normally when they are at their most receptive)

- What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?
They didn't want to finish it. The littlest wandered off. The comment I got from my eldest was 'I like Rastamouse but I don't like this!'

- Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?
Probably not. I don't know if it would work better in the car, but to be honest the effort I went to getting it to play on the damn audioplayer was not worth the end result.

It's a shame because the eldest had been quite excited by the idea of a new Rastamouse book, but just wanted some pictures with the story.