Customer Reviews

The Neil Gaiman Audio Collection

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I enjoyed this CD very much. As expected, the stories all written for children, were all peopled with oddball characters and fantastical plots. "Wolves In The Walls" begins when a young girl begins to hear odd sounds emanating from within the walls. She's eventually told by per parents the sounds are the wolves that live in the walls and if they get out "it's all over!". They don't seem too worried about it however as they carry on with their distracted lives (distracted and otherwise occupied parents seems to be an ongoing theme with Gaiman). This is a wonderfully eerie little tale and it's read perfect by Gaiman (as they all are). "Cinnamon" is the story of a young princess who will not speak. Her vexed family promises great riches to anyone who can force her to speak. A very-sure-of-himself tiger arrives to do the job correctly. The ending of this one had me grinning. "The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish" is a great story about another otherwise occupied parent. This time he gets traded away for two goldfish who interest his son much more than he does. Trouble arises when the boy realizes he's in big trouble when mom returns home! The final story is a poem called "Crazy Hair" which any kid who has ever moaned at having his/hair brushed can relate to. The disk ends with a sweet interview of the author who is questioned by his young daughter.

I've already listened to this twice and will probably read it several more times on my portable player because it's so darned charming.

Though the content of this CD is great, beware if you plan to

listen to it on your computer or your IPOD. This disk contains

one of the "copy protection" kludges that have become popular, and

cannot be played on many computer CD drives. There are ways around

it, but it's a royal pain not to be able just to use the CD.

Gaiman is a gifted storyteller, and I believe he is at his best in short genres: short stories, children's fiction, poetry. This is a well chosen collection of 4 short pieces and a charming interview (by the author's daughter daughter). Gaiman's interpretations of his work are excellent, and the whole collection left me wanting more. It's children's literature at its best, in the hands of an author who does not equate childhood with idiocy.

My first meeting with Mr Gaiman has been through an amazing and rather gruesome adults-only rendering of snow white, on audio-CD, read, better, acted wonderfully by a woman with a warm warm voice. This collection of tales is rather different. These are indeed tales for children, but not for all children. The tales are still rather dark, but I bet most young children would enjoy them. All the stories are read by Gaiman himself, and he is a wonderful reader. He plays each character really well. He's possibly better than Martin Jarvis, who is one of the best audio-book performers around.

The only problem of this CD is that... it is too short! You will find that a couple of car trips to the office will be enough to reach the end. But it's worth it, and I highly recommend it!

My husband is a big fan of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series and collects pretty much anything with the Gaiman name on it. Recently he purchased the graphic novel Marvel 1602 and this set of short stories. I didn't know they were children's stories, or that Gaiman even wrote children's stories, until he put the disc in. Each story (5 in all) was roughly ten minutes long and the last story was in poetry form. All the stories were imaginative and amusing, sure to entertain any child (or adult) and just long enough for a bedtime story without being so long that they will lose your childs interest. The best part was the sweet little interview at the end in which one of Gaiman's own daughters ask him questions about his children's stories. At the end my husband and I were grinning from ear to ear and looking forward to the day we could share these tales with our little ones. Oh, and if you're wondering, my favorite story was Crazy Hair. Why? Why else, my crazy hair :)

I adore this collection of stories! Cinnamon is my personal favorite but they are all wonderful. I am a college student and I listen to it often. Really enjoyable for all ages. The interview with his daughter is interesting as well.

P.S. I was able to put this on my ipod with no problems

I bought this for my just-turned 6 year old daughter for Xmas 2005. We took it into the car to listen. I'd never heard of Gaiman but was intrigued when I found the collection on Amazon. Gaiman is English and has a wonderful voice. This collection includes a q & a led by his 10 yr old daughter. This was as enjoyable as the stories as it is very informally done.

The stories are wonderfully imaginative with what I would call a touch of darkness but not in a scarey way. My daughter loves them and has asked to hear them in the car again and again. I love listening to Gaiman's voice so I don't mind hearing them again and again.

I need to find more of these!!

...instead of having to purchase this great British author from America.

Neil Gaiman is amazing. Crazy Hair is by far one of my favorite children's stories. I recommend everything by him as he's always entertaining.

It is children's stories recording by Neil Gaiman himself. I enjoyed listening to the stories in the way it was meant to be heard. My son and his class enjoyed listening to them also. At the end we are treated to an interview of Neil Gaiman by his daughter. This is a great buy.