Customer Reviews

Little Orley Stories

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My husband mentioned listening to Little Orley stories as a little kid and loving them. Now we have a 4 year old and I hunted the albums down for her as well as for my husband's nostalgia. They have been very popular in our family- especially for long car rides. In the 4 hour ride to the airport, our daughter picked Little Orley CD over DVD's. The stories are funny little fantasy vignettes about a little kid and the creatures or things around him that have a life of their own- like the poison ivy singing about catching Orley or the "yellow soap" that chants about coming to save him from ivy. There are little "morals" or punchlines to the stories which are generally still acceptable to a modern audience. There are a few things which date the stories, but nothing offensive or racist (unlike old Bugs Bunny and the like!). Our daughter has been happy listening to the stories repeatedly.

The art of storytelling is just that, an art. Television will NEVER foster the imagination like books (ie parents reading to their children and vise versa) and audio programs like Little Orley. As a child, television viewing was highly regulated by my parents. We didn't question thier authority to shut the boob-tube off. Audio programs and books were reigned free (with an occasional "What are you reading today?") in our home.

I recommend all parents give the gift of story telling to their children through books and audio media. Sure younger ones may lose attention within 5 minutes but consistancy and persistance on your part will keep them coming back for more.

There are many life lessons for kids (and reminders for adults) in the Little Orley series. The characters (dogs, cats, chickens, various farm animals, etc.) are all created by actual people along with other handmade "sound affects." As a child my brothers and sisters would mimic many of these sounds, even make up some of our own. I am sure your child will engage themselves in mimicing Little Orley and his many friends.

So, shut off the tube and turn your kids on to Little Orley. You will see a differance in their imagination (and attention span).

There is no family musical recording I've ever heard that is as good as these. They are like "Norman Rockwell" on a CD. Good, clean fun. Some of them - like "Barn Dance," "Leprechaun," and "Haunted House" are sheer bliss - as good as "Dark Side of the Moon" or "Toccata & Fugue in D Minor" are in their genres. Buy them ALL, NOW. I can't give a better review than that. :) Heck, ask my kids - they've been raised on 'em and can recite half of 'em from memory...

My parents passed their Little Orley 78' records on to me when I was young, and I loved 'em - still have 'em, but no player to use them with. I picked these up to pass back to the folks, but made sure to let my kids have a listen to them first. They love it too! We've loaded all 3 albums onto the mp3 player, and the kids take turns listening. Lots of good memories in there.