The Roald Dahl Audio CD Collection: Charlie, James/Peach, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Enormous Crocodile, Magic Finger

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

Mr. Dahl reads his own stories, April 21, 2009

I purchased this recording on cassette at a flea market and have been absolutely delighted with it – oh, yeah, my 7-year-old likes it, too! Roald Dahl’s voice fleshes out the stories and characters, as well as his typical dry observations, in a refreshing departure that satisfies kids and adults alike (we’ve been testing it). Remember the songs the Oompa-Loompas sang in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” or the poems in “James and the Giant Peach?” I found them to be a bit disruptive when I read those books as a child; didn’t “get” them. Hearing Mr. Dahl read them really allowed me to enjoy them as well.
One word to the content: I’d forgotten that Roald Dahl does write (and read) about some tough stuff, “warts and all,” as it were. Sponge and Speicker are hateful and abusive to James. The three farmers in “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” are portrayed in disgusting detail. James loses his parents scarily and suddenly when they are killed in New York (richly enough, they are eaten by a rhinocerous, which are neither native to New York nor carniverous). It’s a tough world in his books. Yet it’s a wondrous, fanciful one. I want my son to hang on to the perfect illusion of the latter and learn about the former aspect of the world as late as possible. He’s already got hip to the tough world bit, though; so we’ll aim to integrate life’s knocks and laughs as best we can.
The first words I hear when I start the car engine are “Kid’s tape!” sometimes alternating with, “Kid’s tape, please?” or “Would you please put on a kid’s tape when you get the chance?” (Guess who suggested that last version?) Suffice to say, I hear a lot of “kid’s tapes,” so I prefer ones I can enjoy as well. This is one of those. The recordings are long, too, like this r-