Day 188: Storytime

Books on CD are positively brilliant.  I have fond memories of falling asleep each night to the Velveteen Rabbit when I was a child, and I listened to the Fox and the Hound on tape so many times that my mom could probably still recite the whole story if you asked her to.  They make road trips with children infinitely more enjoyable for everyone, are great for entertaining an older sibling while a younger one goes down for a nap, and are a perfect way to end the day at bedtime.  Each night when we put our son to bed, my husband or I read him a few stories, shut off the light and either tell him another story (daddy's specialty) or sing songs (my specialty), and then turn on one of his favorite books on CD so that he can listen to more stories as he drifts off to sleep.  Storytime has been on heavy rotation in our house lately, both in the car and at bedtime.  My son has also been asking me to read it to him during our afternoon story time, as well, and I have to say, it is a fabulous book all around!

Storytime is a collection of traditional folk tales containing some of the most well-known classics in children's literature:  The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and The Ugly Duckling.  Also included in this awesome anthology are The Cock, the Mouse, and the Little Red Hen, The Timid Hare (perhaps our favorite of all), and Stone Soup.  As a child, I don't remember reading these stories, specifically, but somehow I grew up knowing most of them.  This book is the perfect way to introduce these traditional tales to young children.  The pictures are colorful and entertaining, narrator Jim Broadbent's voice is fantastic, and the stories are told in a way that is very appealing and accessible to young children.  Some versions of these stories seem kind of violent to me -- the Three Little Pigs being eaten by the big, bad, wolf, for example, can be a bit traumatic --  but in this book, they are not at all scary or disturbing.  They're not too long, either.  As Goldilocks would say, they're just right.  If you're looking for a way to introduce your little one to these classics, you're bound to love Storytime.