Title:  Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales and Other Stories: Thumbelina, the Talking Eggs, The Fisherman and His Wife, the Emperor and the Nightingale

Author:  Rabbit Ears

Genre:  China / Fairy Tale / Folktale / Magic / Animals

Year Published: 2006

Year Read: 2009

Series: Rabbit Ears Treasury

Publisher:  Listening Library (Audio)

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Rude Behavior and Intense Moments)

When I first heard that Rabbit Ears was finally releasing their classic stories on audio CDs, I was so excited and happy because not only will I have the pleasure of listening to these fantastic classics over and over again, but now everyone will have a chance to listen to this fantastic series! “Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales” is an audio cd that is full of various fairy tales created by Rabbit Ears and with a vast array of famous celebrities along with engaging music for each story, this audio cd is a delightful treat for both children and adults!

Since I have reviewed half of these stories already, I am just going to briefly summarize each story on this audio cd:

The Fisherman and his Wife 
Told by: Jodie Foster
Music by: Van Dyke Parks
In this Brothers Grimm tale, a meek fisherman stumbles upon a magical flounder who promises the poor fisherman that he will grant him several wishes if he frees him. When the Fisherman told his wife about this, his wife suddenly gets greedy and she starts wishing like crazy.

The Talking Eggs
Told by: Sissy Spacek
Music by: Micheal Doucet dit Beausoleil
A kind girl named Blanchett learns about the importance of being kind towards other and how it brings its own rewards.

Thumbelina
Told by: Kelly McGillis
Music by: Mark Isham
A tiny little girl named Thumbelina, who is no bigger than a thumb goes on a wild adventure in the outside world that changes her life forever.

The Emperor and the Nightingale
Told by: Glenn Close
Music by: Mark Isham
An Emperor learns about the importance of the real thing when the real nightingale has to save the Emperor from a horrible fate.




Oh my goodness!! Never would I have thought that I would enjoy this series now as much as I did as a child! Every narrator on this audio CD has greatly contributed enough excitement and tenderness to each of these stories that will have any child and adult listening to this series over and over again! Out of all four of these stories presented in this audio cd, my favorites were “The Talking Eggs” and “The Emperor and the Nightingale.” In “The Talking Eggs” Sissy Spacek has indeed done an excellent job at narrating this story as she provides a Southern flair to the story and actually puts so much emotion in her narration whenever she is enacting a character yelling or being soft-hearted. Micheal Doucet dit Beausoleil’s music is clearly catchy and inspiring as it has a slight country theme that will have many children toe-tapping to the music until the very end of the story! In “The Emperor and the Nightingale,” Glenn Close does a splendid job at narrating this story as she sounds extremely tender and soothing and Mark Isham’s music provides a magnificent presentation of Chinese inspired music that will have everyone be mesmerized by the music.

The only problem I had with this audio CD was that it did not come with a book or in this case, books, to accompany each story. For anyone who has grown up with the Rabbit Ears series since they were children might possibly be disappointed in not receiving a book to go with each story. However, because the celebrities’ narrations are so effective and creative, this audio cd is still a treat to listen to. 

Overall “Rabbit Ears Treasury of Fairy Tales” is a fantastic audio cd for both children and adults who love reading old classics and fairytales and will be an instant treat for many years!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre:  Fairy Tale / Denmark / Audiobook / Family / Romance

Year Published: 1989

Year Read:  1994

Publisher: Rabbit Ears Books

Series: Storybook Classics

Illustrated by David Johnson

“Thumbelina” is one of the most cherished stories in the Rabbit Ears Storybook Classics series and is surely a classic in its own right. Kelly McGillis’ tender narration, along with Mark Isham’s memorizing music and David Johnson’s exquisite drawings, combine to make “Thumbelina” one of the tenderest stories in Rabbit Ears history.

Kelly McGillis’ narration is extremely tender as she makes this story extremely touching and soothing to watch and she also greatly expresses Thumbelina’s sorrow of being married to the mole in a sorrowful tone which brought life to that scene. Another great aspect of Kelly McGillis’ narration is that she provides a wide variety of vocal talents like Robin Williams when she uses a high-pitched voice to voice the field mouse and a croaking voice when she voices the toad. Mark Isham’s music is extremely soothing and memorizing to listen to and the scene where Mark Isham’s music takes center stage is in the scene where Thumbelina finds the flower angels’ kingdom as Mark Isham accompanies this scene with soothing guitar sounds. David Johnson’s illustrations are extremely beautiful and light toned especially when he illustrates Thumbelina as an extremely beautiful girl with blond hair wrapped up in a braided ponytail and who wears a blue overall dress. Also, the scene where there is an image of the white marble palace by the lake is extremely breathtaking as you can see the reflection of the palace in the lake.

“Thumbelina” is probably Rabbit Ears’ most beloved story and it will surely be an instant treat to children young and old. I would recommend this story to children ages three and older since it has nothing inappropriate for the children.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre:  Animals / Black Comedy / Manners / Payback

Year Published: 2001

Year Read:  2005

Publisher: August House Little Folk

I have read almost every folktale from every country around the world, but I have rarely read any folktales from Denmark and this is one of the first folktales I have read from Denmark. “Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale” is a Danish folktale (as said in the title) that is retold by Margaret Read MacDonald along with illustrations by Julie Paschkis and it is about how a greedy cat ends up eating everything and everyone in his path! “Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale” is a truly hilarious tale that every child will love!

Now I had read an earlier version of this tale by Jack Kent many years ago, but it has been so long since I had read that version that I do not remember much about it, so I cannot really compare the two versions together in this review. In this version, Margaret Read MacDonald's writing is simple yet hilarious at the same time as she repeatedly uses the phrase stated by Cat:

“Oh, I'm meow, meow FAT!
Cause I'm a HUNGRY, HUNGRY CAT!”

And that phrase always cracks me up because the cat is always saying he is fat, but it is his way of warning people about how he could eat them up if they upset him. I also found the idea about a small cat eating everything in his path to be extremely odd yet interesting at the same time since there is no way that a small cat can eat everything up in a small amount of time and since this is a folktale, the oddity of the Cat's situation is to be expected. I really loved the character of Mouse as she is extremely resourceful especially during Cat's rampage and I loved how she resolved the problem at the end and despite Cat's greedy nature, Mouse always treats Cat with kindness which truly showed what a great friend she really is to Cat. Julie Paschkis' illustrations are extremely hilarious, especially of the orange cat growing bigger and bigger every time he eats something and how his green eyes are of different shapes since one eye is round while the other eye is narrow which sort of gives Cat a crazed look throughout the book. It was also interesting on seeing how the background is basically all white spaces which clearly made the characters stand out more in their situations.

Parents should know that the scenes with the cat eating everyone might upset smaller children, especially if small children do not like seeing scenes of people being eaten by some kind of creature. Also, there is a brief scene where someone is cut up ( although I will not reveal who it is) however, this scene is not that graphic and it probably would not be too troubling for children, but still parents should be mindful of this scene before they read this book to their children.

All in all, “Fat Cat: A Danish Folktale” is a truly wonderful book about the consequences of being too greedy and the importance of treating other people with respect that many children will learn from easily. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the cat eating people up and due to the brief violent image.

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog