Fantastic Mr. Fox and Other Animal Stories by Roald Dahl

Title: Fantastic Mr. Fox & Other Animal Stories
Author: Roald Dahl

Read by: Chris O’Dowd, Geoffrey Palmer, Stephen Fry, and Hugh Laurie
Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 3 hours (3 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

After we had to turn off Charlie and the Glass Elevator, we decided to listen to Fantastic Mr. Fox & Other Animal Stories.  The kids found Fantastic Mr. Fox so riveting that they were still awake at 10 PM listening to it (well past their bed time) as we drove to Michigan for Thanksgiving.  We had to turn it off to get them to sleep, which is usually not a problem on long car trips.  We finished up the other animal stories when traveled to Minnesota for Christmas.  The kids loved those stories as well.  They included Esio Trot, The Enormous Crocodile, The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me.

In Fantastic Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox has to protect his family from the three mean farmers that are out to get him.  In Esio Trot, Mr. Hoppy is in love with Mrs. Silver, but she only loves her tortoise.  He comes up with an innovative way to get into her affections.    The Enormous Crocodile is a mean guy that likes to eat little boys and girls, but his neighboring animals get the better of him.  The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me are part of the Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company which have great adventures of their own.

Penelope (3-years old) and Daniel’s (5-years old) favorite story was Fantastic Mr. Fox, while Kile’s (7-years old) was The Enormous Crocodile.  It was definitely an audiobook for all of the family to enjoy.  The kids liked it so much they requested it rather than watching their TV in the car.  Penguin also has wonderful narrators for the book and great sound effects.  We really love these Roald Dahl audiobooks Penguin has been releasing.  They are fantastic and something for the entire family to enjoy while on the road.  I highly recommend them, especially Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl

Title: Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
Author: Roald Dahl

Read by: Douglas Hodge
Publisher: Penguin Audio

Length: Approximately 3.5 hours (3 CDs)
Source: Penguin Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

After listening to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this past summer, both my 7 and 5 year old sons were very excited to start Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.  It starts right where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ended.  Charlie, his entire family, and Willy Wonka are flying through the sky in a glass elevator when they blast into space and discover the world’s first space hotel.  The space hotel is ready to open soon, but Charlie and his crew discover that there are vermicious knids already living in the hotel.   Will Charlie, Willy Wonka, and his family make it safely back to earth?

My seven year old and five year old sons (and three year old daughter) had mixed reactions to this audiobook.  My seven year old son loved it and couldn’t wait to find out what would happen next.  My five-year old son and three year old daughter were freaked out by the vermicious knids.  We had to turn it off while traveling at night, but luckily they would listen to it by day with convincing by my husband, Kile, and me.  Douglas Hodge as the narrator was enthusiastic and had a fantastic English accent.  He also narrated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  The audiobook also featured numerous sound effects and great music that definitely added to the entire audiobook experience. 

Overall, my family enjoyed this audiobook, although I would say it works best for slightly older kids (perhaps 7 and older) because of the intense sequences that occur out in space.

The Christmas He Loved Her by Juliana Stone

I have gotten VERY behind on my reviews and have several audiobooks and books from December that I need to review and catch up with on my blog.  Please bear with me as I slowly work on catching up. I love Christmas romance novels and was happy to be able to review The Christmas He Loved Her by Juliana Stone for Sourcebooks.  While I finished the novel a week before Christmas, with my semester ending and the holidays, I sadly did not get a post up about it until now.  I apologize!

Jake Edwards has returned to the small town of Crystal Lake for the holidays.  He is a veteran that lost his twin brother in Afghanistan.  Unable to deal with the pain, he has roamed around the US until finally making his way back home.  Also at home is his brother’s widow, Raine.  Jake and Raine find themselves attracted to one another, but also very much annoyed by one another as well.  Will they be able to work through the pain and come to terms with the past and their feelings?

Honestly the story in The Christmas He Loved Her was pretty good, but I found it slightly depressing for a Christmas novel.  I also was slightly weirded out by a twin brother dating his brother’s widow.  I know it’s not technically wrong, but I just couldn’t feel the romance as I would have if Raine wouldn’t have been married to Jake’s twin brother. That being said, I did like the story and I think I actually would have liked to read it better not at Christmas.

Overall, The Christmas He Loved Her was a satisfying romance story, but not one I would read again at Christmas.

Book Source:  Review Copy from Sourcebooks – Thanks!!

The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats by Constance Corcoran Wilson, Art by Gary McCluskey

I am honored today to be a part of the Virtual Author Book Tours for the review of The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats.

In The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats, the Christmas cats have been sent to an Environmental Lab to control the Christmas rat population.  Once there, the cats discover that the Christmas rats are actually nice guys and that they do an important job.

I love Christmas books and my children do too.  They look forward to each year after Thanksgiving when I put away their Thanksgiving books and get out their Christmas books.  They have standard favorites (they love when their Daddy reads them The Grinch Who Stole Christmas), but they love just about every Christmas book they can get a hand on.

They were excited when The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats by Constance Corcoran Wilson showed up in the mail.  Not only do they love Christmas books, but they also have two cats, Mr. Rufus and Miss Baby.  They were pleased to see that two of the Christmas Cats matched their cats, one grey and one orange.

My seven year old son, Kile, pronounced it a good book.  He is in second grade and thought it was an easy read.  He said his favorite part was that he loved the “festive” hats on the cats.

My five year old son, Daniel, loved this book and has had us read it to him many times.  He is in Kindergarten and can’t read it for himself yet.  He loves the story a lot, but his review is that he believes it is more of a lesson story than a Christmas story.  He likes the lesson that we should be nice to everyone.

My three year old daughter, Penelope, also has enjoyed listening to this story several times.  She really likes the cats and how they match her own cats.  She likes the pictures a lot and likes the moral of the story.

I thought the story was an interesting and unique one.  I liked how it was set in an environmental testing lab and explains the important job that the mice do.  I also thought the moral of the story, to be nice to everyone, is an important one.  I thought the illustrations were cute and clever.

Overall, The Christmas Cats Chase Christmas Rats is a unique and fun story to share with the family.   You can enjoy it even after the holidays for its great lesson!

Book Source:  Author Constance Corcoran Wilson for review as part of the Virtual Authors Book Tour.

Fifteen Minutes by Karen Kingsbury

Title: Fifteen Minutes
Author: Karen Kingsbury
Read by: Kirby Heyborne

Publisher: Simon & Shuster Audio

Length: 10 CDs, approximately 11.5 hours
Source: Review Copy from Simon and Shuster Audio.  Thank-you!

Zach Dylan decides to compete on a reality singing competition show, Fifteen Minutes, for a chance to win enough money to save his family’s horse farm in Kentucky.   He wants to use his singing voice to shine for God.  His girlfriend, Reese Weatherly, is a beautiful therapeutic horse trainer that is also the love of his life.  Zach dreams of saving the farm so that he can eventually continue on the family inheritance and marry Reese.

After getting to Fifteen Minutes, Zach soon finds himself one of the top competitors and beloved by fans.  He also finds himself caught up in the production where the producers have decided to script a romance between him and another contestant, Zoë.  He is also told to lay off the God talk.  Zach finds himself entranced by fame, but what will the fame cost him?  Zach also had two judges on his side, Chandra Olson and Kelly who have seen the price that fame has had on their own lives.

Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook.  The story was very interesting and definitely kept me intrigued while on the road.  I could see the point that Kingsbury was making about fame changing people and not always for the better, but I thought she failed in not showing that there is also a positive side to fame.  I’m sure as a well-known Christian romance novelist, she couldn’t argue that sometimes fame can allow you do things in life that you wouldn’t be able to otherwise.  I’ll also admit to being annoyed at two other items.  One, I was really annoyed that Zach wanted to use his voice to glorify God  and kept saying that is really wanted to be on the show.  Truthfully that is not why anyone goes on any such show.  You are doing it to glorify yourself and make money, which I think was one of the points that Kingsbury was trying to make.   I get annoyed at all famous people who seem to think God is worried about who is going to win a basketball game or a singing reality show.  I think he has much more to be concerned about.  I was also annoyed by Kelly’s story.  She was portrayed as the bad person in her marriage, when her husband PAID someone to pretend to be his girlfriend for the tabloids and that is what started their problems.  I think they both had issues in their marriage and it wasn’t one party’s fault.

As you can see, the audiobook did elicit passionate results from me, mostly because I enjoyed the characters, and the story.  I thought Kirby Heyborne was a great narrator for the audiobook as well.  I really enjoyed listening to him, although I do wish he could have sung Zach’s songs.