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?

2

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

In the living room during snack and quiet play time.

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

She found it difficult to follow and kept coming over to my phone asking to watch the cartoon too. She kept asking me 'what is he saying' and 'what does that mean' - I think the visuals normally help her follow what can be a pretty confusing mixture of accents and music. She enjoyed the songs beat and danced around during those parts so maybe a RastaMouse playlist would be a good idea. She kept asking me to put it on the TV instead and when I couldn't, she's wanted to listed to something else instead.

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

She loves listening to story books and we have tried a few other audio books with success. I think the key is keep it simple and don't have too much going on so that they can follow the story without pictures/cartoons to help them. The ones my daughter likes best are when someone is reading the boon aloud and they have perhaps included a few sound effects but nothing too 'busy'.

Thank you for the opportunity

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? She is 4, 5 in December

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? We tried first at breakfast and then in the car.

• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? They were not impressed. I was surprised as she listens to loads of story CDs but she lost interest almost immediately and constantly demanded it be turned off. It did seem very long. I rather liked it! But it didn't engage her at all - though she did like the music.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? She does and she will continue to do so - but this was tricky as we had to listen to it via my iPhone and she normally has CDs on a CD player in her room. She doesn't have a device that Audible can be played on. So we will stick to CDs for now, and avoid TV characters, I guess.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

11, 8 and 6

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

ipod in their playroom

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

They really enjoyed it - they like watching rastamouse anyway.

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

Definitely.

My 5 year old son listened to the audio book before dinner. He listened to half of it on the while in the living room and then listened to the other half while eating his dinner. He liked it. He didn't seem to follow the story all the way through but did ask to listen to more when it had finished. The whole story was about an hour which seemed quite long. He is used to listening to stories that are about ten minutes long. My son loves stories and would be very keen to listen to more audio books. He says he would like to listen to one about an aeroplane.

-How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 14 months

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? After tea, on the sofa.
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? He wasn't very interested, was looking for the pictures.
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?

Probably not my son, he's too young yet I think, but I have started using it personally, got my first book this week and it's fantastic. I can work and 'read' at the same time. Brilliant.

My 4 year old son and 7 year old daughter listened to the Rastamouse Audiobook. We all listened together using headphones in our livingroom room. This was over 4/5 nights after tea or before bed time and baths. Both my children really enjoyed the story especially the music too, which kept them entertained and engaged. Loved it and have listened to it twice already. Wil be buying more audio books. We have many Julia Donaldson Audiobook which we listen to in the car on our way to and from school and on long journeys.

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

5 years

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

At home at the weekend, and after school a couple of times

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

She really enjoyed the music, and liked hearing the different characters/voices. 2-3 episodes at a time was plenty for her though.

• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? She would happily dip into the Rastamouse one now and again. She said she prefers her fairytale ones more though.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 1 year

When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? At home during the day

What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? Both he and I found it difficult to understand with the language used. My DS crawled of after a couple of minutes and lost interest. He normally loves stories, but this is the first time he has listened to an audio book, and I think he may just be a bit young for them. This story is a bit long for very young children as their attention spans are very short. For an older child I am sure that this book would be great, if a little hard to follow with the language used, although I understand that it is Rastamouse, so he would use different laguage!

Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? Yes, maybe when he is a bit older and able to understand them more.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?
My ds is two years old.
When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?
We initially tried in the living room after his bath as he was ready for bed. We later listened again in the car.
What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?
My ds seemed a little confused by the concept. He wanted to know where Rastamouse was and didn't understand why there were no pictures. He also lost interest quite quickly as he struggled to follow the story without visual clues as it was quite long and went and got one of his own books for us to read. He gave it more attention in the car but did fall asleep before the end.
Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial?
I would be interested for myself (although had some issues downloading the audible software initially) particularly for car journeys but feel at this stage my ds is too young. He enjoys the interaction of sitting with me and turning the pages and talking about the things he is seeing and hearing and the concept of the audiobook confused him as he was expecting the animation or at least some pictures. I also felt it was too long for his attention span currently. However audiobooks are something I will revisit with him as he gets older.

My 5 year old enjoyed listening to the audio book. This is the first audiobook he has listened to and really liked the music that went with it. He was kept engaged throughout.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 4 yrs, 9 yrs and 1 yr
• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? evening at home, bedtime
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? They didnt quite catch the lingo lost interest after few minutes as the characters were talking too fast even my nine year old could not keep up to the story his words were "it doesnt sound like a story". May have been better if there was less music as seemed too much going on at same time. Lost interest quite quickly.
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? Yes something slower and easy to understand. Not this audiobook particularly.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 3 and 5

• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? In bed before they went to sleep on a school night.
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? We all enjoyed it a lot - my daughters are familiar with audio books as I sometimes play them my old 'Storyteller' stories, so they knew what to expect. We all enjoyed the story and they have listened to it a few times since.
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? Yes, the girls enjoy listening to an audio books and it seems to help them relax. They like the fact that we all listen together rather than myself reading to them.

• How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook? 4
• When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook? In bed before sleep
• What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? Enjoyable, loved the voices
• Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? Yes, although she said she prefers books or TV because it contains pictures. She said that it would be best in the car.

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

2 years

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

On the sofa in the middle of the day

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

She was confused as to why there were pictures at first and although she enjoyed parts of it she was easily distracted towards the end.

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

Yes I think so, something she will grow to appreciate more.

Finally found the time to do this! Thanks MNHQ

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

Almost 2.6, 4 and 10

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

In the car on the way back from school and then finished once back in house.

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

They enjoyed it despite not being big Rastamouse fans. The audiobooks that we currently listen to can be quite annoying for me (same person reading just putting on different (and quite screechy!) voices so this was fine. The younger DC got a little distracted through the music parts but on the whole it retained their attention

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

I'll say yes but that's because we already listen to them in the car as a way to keep the younger 2 from getting too bored rather than specifically because of the trial. At bedtime though I'd still want to stick to our normal books.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

My ds is 2.3 yrs old

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

Mostly in the car

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

He did listen to it, but this was the first audiobook we'd listened to so I think he struggled a bit.

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

Yes definitely, I think we might try others with characters he recognises, or ones that have accompanying picture books.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

3

When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

In the car, on the way home from nursery

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

Very interested for the first few mins, and then quickly lost interest, there was too much going on and she couldn't follow the story/what the characters were saying

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

Yes, we do listen to lots of sond CDs in the car, I will try again with a CD audiobook when she is a little older. My 6 and 8yo love audio CDs and it keeps them entertained on car journeys.

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?
4 and 7

When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?
In the car first and then at home

What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall?
7 yo liked it but was too cool to admit it, 4yo liked it a lot (especially the music bits, she loved the music) but was a bit confused at first about why she couldn't watch it and had to just listen.

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

How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?

4 (nearly 5)

When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?

At home - a lot of illness in this house recently so audiobooks are a really good way to keep sickly kids occupied

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

DC loves Rastamouse so really enjoyed it. We have some of the Rastamouse books but this is an easier way to listen to the story rather than me trying to fake a Jamaican accent

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

Yes definitely. Audiobooks are great - we have several we alternate at bed time as DC falls asleep. As I said above, it's a good way to keep kids occupied when poorly or on a long car journey too.

I'm a little late doing this but I wanted to wait until we'd listened to it all.
How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?
He's four.

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

We listened to it in the car on the way to school

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

He really enjoyed it and asked every morning to continue listening to it. I thought the story was interesting but wasn't sure about the accents

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

We'd be very interested in listening to more audiobooks. We have just got the first Harry Potter audiobook to listen to in the car.

I have downloaded the audiobook as my little boy is 18 months old and loves Rastamouse. He enjoys listening to the first chapter and lots of music made it fun for him too. I kinda missed the tv Rastamouse theme tune I think he would have made a stronger connection if that was on the audio book from the start.

Thanks you

-How old is your DC who listened to the audiobook?
My little girl is 3 1/2.

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

We listened to the audiobook in the car during our journeys to and from nursery. I tried having her listening to it at home, but she didn't seem to be too interested and her attention focused on something else fairly quickly.

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

She really liked listening to the audiobook. She knew the characters from the TV programme already and was able to recognise them again in the audiobook.

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

We found that audiobooks are fantastic for car journeys, but I wouldn't use an audiobook at home again in the near future.

How old is your DC who listened to the Audiobook? - 2 years
When and Where. We listened in the afternoon in little ones bedroom after nap time

What did DC think? She would only listen for about five minutes at a time before wandering off to do something else or bring me another book. The story is good but like others have said she preferred dancing and playing to the music

I don't think I would be interested as I'm not sure how much little one got out of the audio book. She much prefers the story to follow pictures etc

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

She is 2.

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

In the car, on the way back from nursery, often a tense time!

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

I found it difficult to download and play. It was fine once it was playing though. I thought she might get bored by it, or not be able to follow it and lose interest but she seemed very soothed by it, so a winner!

• 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? They are 5 and 3 years old.

When and where did your DC listen to the audiobook?
I listened to it with them on the sofa, when my 5 year old got home from school.

What did you/your DCs think of the audiobook overall? My 5 year old listened quietly and she seemed really interested in what was happening, my 3 year old on the other hand, he lost interest and went to play with his toys.

Would you/your child be interested in listening to more audiobooks in the future after this trial? I'm sure my 5 year old would love to, but my 3 year old really wasn't interested and I honestly think he'd prefer a book!!