We’re excited to see these available in one complete collection and feel they make a nice compliment to the complete, unabridged versions found in the PlainTales collections. Check out these entertaining retellings and when you ready for the full story check out the unabridged PlainTales recordings.

1. Observation

2. Imagination

3. Storytelling.

When I was working in the software industry, at Microsoft and in Silicon Valley, I was initially immersed in the technology details just like everyone else. But the longer I worked on solving problems in the software world the more I realized the roots of success for any creative were the same.

To build good software you have to have well developed powers of observation, to see and understand the user’s environment. You need a strong imagination to envision a new environment created by the benefits of the software product. And finally you need to be a great storyteller so you can describe your idea to the people who will build it and use it.

These are the same skills that I believe are nurtured and refined by listening to classic stories. World class writers such as Kipling, Wilde, Hawthorne, Nesbit, and Andersen all write with incredible attention to detail, with vivid imaginations and with magnificent storytelling powers. I believe listening to these incredible stories at a young age, or at any age, is a wonderful way to enhance and refine these vital creative skills. Whether these skills are used to write the world’s next great classic, invent the next great technology or discover the next great scientific breakthrough, any of these endeavors will be enhanced by listening to these masters of the creative imagination.

There are couple of things that are unique about our version:

1. The stories we selected can be enjoyed by kids as young as 4 years old. Many of his most famous stories have very adult themes and language. Examples include The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen. But the stories we selected, such as The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor’s New Clothes can be understood and enjoyed by even the youngest listeners.

2. Our stories are unabridged translations of the stories written by Hans Christian Andersen. The shelves are full of “retold” version of his stories. In many cases this is fine and we think it’s a great idea to listen to, or read, both the original stories and to explore thoughtful retellings. But there are also lots of versions of the story that are churned out with little regard for the original story and their audience.

We think hearing the unabridged versions of these classics together as a family is a source of great entertainment and education and PlainTales makes it easy to enjoy these stories together. Most people probably know these stories by reputation or from a retold version. Hans Christian Andersen was an amazing storyteller and a true literary writer and it’s a real treat to hear the original stories.

When I first looked into buying these classic stories on audio to listen to with my kids I found a couple of collections that were well done but I had to pre-screen the stories to come up with a selection that would work for the whole family. With PlainTales that work is already done.

Some of the companies we really admired include Naxos Audiobooks, Greathall Productions, Rabbit Ears and CSA Word. Some of our favorite titles include:

• Just So Stories read by Geoffrey Palmer and published by Naxos
• The Story Tree read by Hugh Lupton and published by Barefoot Books
• Arabian Nights read by Jim Weiss and published by Greathall Productions
• Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales and Other Stories published by Rabbit Ears
• The Unabridged Just William Collection read by Martin Jarvis and published by CSA Word

As I get to know the audiobook industry better I’ve also come to admire some of the leaders in the industry such as Nicolas Soames at Naxos, Nancy Traversy at Barefoot Books, Jim Weiss at Greathall Productions and Clive Stanhope at CSA Word. I still feel like classic audio stories for children are an underrated treasure but its good to know there is a lot of talent in this industry and I’m excited to be part of the industry.

The Reluctant Dragon

Kenneth Grahame’s famous story the Reluctant Dragon was filmed in 1941 by Disney as a 20 minute animated movie. The Disney version is amusing but unfortunately it strays significantly from the original story and does not live up to the quality of the original.

Grahame’s more famous story, The Wind in the Willows, has been adapted for film many times, occasionally very successfully, as in the faithful made for TV animation created in 1995 featuring Vanessa Redgrave and voice talent such as Alan Bennett and Michael Palin.

When our first child was born I started becoming more thoughtful about what media influences I wanted in the house. By the time she was 3 we had great collection of children’s books and I’d purchased a handful of classic story collections as wells as audiobooks, which we liked to listen to in the car or as an alternative to watching TV. Though we did a lot of reading together, we also came to love the audio format because the best audio stories proved to be vastly entertaining and they actually educated me on the story, as well as on how to tell a good story.

For example, we had tried reading Kipling’s Just So Stories without much success. But after hearing a good audio version the stories really came alive. We learned how musical the language really was. After that we both read the stories and listened to the audio version on a regular basis. My own ability to read the stories was vastly improved by having a great example of how to tell the story well.

These productions are great and deserve to be much better known. I’ve really enjoyed watching these.

It’s an older recording and the sound quality is not great but it’s still worth getting the Karloff version for his unique interpretations of some great stories.