We’ve had a bunny bonanza in our garden this spring. Well, that makes it sound like a good thing, and they are really, very cute, especially the little ones. But now that young and old have indiscriminately chewed through many of the emerging shoots I had waited for all winter long, I’m pretty fed up with rabbits in general.
Raging over rabbits however got me thinking (seriously and on a more positive note!) about one of our all time favorite audiobook collections: The Rabbit Ears Listening Library series.
Regardless of your outlook on bunnies, Rabbit Ears is a series that your kids are bound to love. Think of them as a “gateway” audiobook series—an experience that will make your young listener receptive to the idea that audiobooks can be fun.
The series, which was produced in the 1980s-90s, specialized in re-telling beloved children’s stories and fables from around the world using a combination of gifted writers, narrators, and musicians, an approach that breathes life into many a classic tale. Example: Close your eyes and listen to the lush and haunting, original score by Lyle Mays, as Max Von Sydow narrates East of the Sun and West of Moon, and you are transported to the vast, frozen tundra which is the backdrop to this classic Norwegian fairytale of a princess and an enchanted bear.
Here are some of our other absolute favorites tales from the series:
- Robin Williams narrating The Fool and The Flying Ship, set to music by the Klezmer Conservatory Band;
- Michael Caine reading the story King Midas and the Golden Touch, set to music by Ellis Marsalis;
- Jack Nicholson reading The Elephant’s Child (from Kipling’s Just So Stories), music by Bobby McFerrin;
- Holly Hunter reading The Three Billy Goats Gruff;
- Denzel Washington reading Anansi, music by UB40…
…I could go on and on because Rabbit Ears produced some 63 stories in all!
Each audio set includes 2-3 stories, perfect for short car rides, or a pre-bedtime treat. We haven’t listened to them all – not by a long shot – and I certainly won’t list them all here, but here are some that you should not miss (I’ll also mention some of the ones we did not enjoy, only because I would hate for young listeners to start with these and be turned off: The Song of Sacajewea, narrated with flat affect by Laura Dern; The Emperor’s New Clothes which features good narration by the late, great John Gielgud but also very tedious and repetitive musical interludes; The Tailor of Gloucester from Beatrix Potter, competently narrated by Meryl Streep, but with language often too archaic for a contemporary audience; and Pinocchio, which seemed poorly sound-balanced, making the recording difficult to hear in parts, but anyway, on to our favorites):
Rabbit Ears Listening Library should be a part of every serious library’s audio collection for young kids. If your library doesn’t carry the series, please consider petitioning to acquire a collection. This is a wonderful series – let’s make sure we pass it down the generations.
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