Customer Reviews

Little Bear Audio CD Collection: Little Bear, Father Bear Comes Home, Little Bear's Friend, Little Bear's Visit, and A Kiss for Little Bear

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wanted to love this!

I like the Little Bear books and I like Sigourney Weaver. I don't know that I like them together. She just doesn't convey the sweetness of the characters with her generally flat delivery.

I found the new age-y music distracting, too.

My daughter likes this, but I'd rather not be in the same room again while she listens to it. We've just listened to it twice, so I can't predict how well it will maintain her interest after repeated listenings (the Frances CD by Glynis Johns certainly has!). So, it's ok for Little Bear fans, but who knows how appealing this would be if she didn't already love the stories.

Little Bear is a favorite TV show for some of my grandchildren. This CD lets them enjoy the stories when they are in the car, or just to listen to the CD at bedtime. The reader has a wonderful voice and it is very soothing and relaxing to fall asleep while listening. I recommend this CD for children from ages 3 to 10.

My 9yr old son listens to this every night at bed time.
He loves all the stories and the narrator is very soothing.
You should buy this!!!

this is great for long trips in the car, we listen to this all the time on car rides and keeps my 4 year old entranced.

Bought this for my son, and because he loves it, bought another to give as a gift. I remember the Little Bear books from when I was young and am happy to introduce them to my children. Now this CD brings them to life. My son listens to the CD while we're driving, during his daily quiet time, and while he reads along with the books. We love it!

If you were reading along with this audio book -- if you had all the original "Little Bear" stories spread out in front of you, and turned the pages, following along with Sigourney Weaver as she read the text -- it might be useful as a way to learn to read. But, gee, is this a dull audio book. The original text, by itself, isn't nearly as enchanting as it is with Maurice Sendak's finely-detailed artwork, and to the extent that the stories are of interest, Ms. Weaver gives so little life to her readings, that all the fun is drained out of them. Her heart really didn't seem to be in it at all: hopefully she hasn't done many other children's stories. If I see another one, now I'll know it's better to avoid it. (Axton)

My 4-yr old son really enjoyed the Arnold Lobel's reading of the Frog and Toad audio series, and the Mouse Tales/Mouse Soup audio books. His English is greatly improved (English is his 2nd language) and he has memorized many of these stories by listening to these audio books within the last a few months. So I thought maybe he will like the Little Bear audio books. Oh boy, what a disappointment! While Arnold Lobel's reading brings the characters to life, the Little Bear narrator is completely monotone with no emotion, as if she is reading a phone book! Arnold Lobel did voices for different characters, so it is very easy for my son to tell who is now talking (e.g., Frog has his cheery and bright voice, and Toad has a deep and more serious voice). The Little Bear narrator uses the same voice for each and every character in the book. Without the Little Bear books open, it would be nearly impossible to tell who is talking (if you don't already know the story well). The Little Bear narrator should really be ashamed of herself for doing such a disservice to the young readers and listeners!

Therefore, I am compelled to write a negative review. We have tried to listen to the Little Bear audio books, but we couldn't stand the reading before the 2nd story was finished as the reading was so lifeless and annoying. We have decided to never listen to them again. And I will do the voices and read these Little Bear books to my son myself.

For young readers who would want to enjoy listening to audio books and NOT to fall asleep, I would recommend the following audio books:

Arnold Lobel's own reading of his books:
Frog and Toad are Friends
Frog and Toad Together
Frog and Toad All Year
Days with Frog and Toad
Mouse Tales
Mouse Soup

Mark Linn-Baker's "The Arnold Lobel Audio Collection":
Owl at Home
Grasshopper on the road
Small pig
Uncle elephant

I especially highly recommend Mark's reading of the "Tear-Water Tea" in the "Owl at Home" book. Mark's reading really makes the story entertaining and fun to listen to.

We bought this set when my daughter was three years old and she loved it! I highly recommend it, especially for bedtime listening. This was by far one of her favorites to listen to at night (very soothing with minimal distractions), and remained so until we discovered the Disney Fairies Collection #1: The Trouble with Tink; Beck and the Great Berry Battle: Books 1 & 2 (Disney Fairies Collection). Unfortunately, at that point, Little Bear just couldn't compete. But by then she was five years old, and while she still, even now, enjoys Little Bear, the fairies win out most nights for going-to-sleep listening. ;)

But we saved this Little Bear set, and now our two-year-old is listening to them. And our five-year-old listened to them for a good two years. Definitely worth every penny!

As a parent, I love Little Bear. The characters are kind to one another, and it's stress-free. There are no villains, there is lots of imaginative play, very few "scary" themes, and Sigourney Weaver does a very nice job of narrating the audiobooks.

So while I like Little Bear myself, I'm not rating this series on my own experience listening to it. Because it's clearly designed for kids. And based upon my child's enjoyment, it gets five stars. :)

sigourney weaver's voice is really annoying on this cd. i got this because my daughter and i really like reading the stories, but her voice almost ruins it. plus, there's too much introductory talk before the actual story reading commences.