AudioGO Audiobooks Review

As a child I remember listening to stories at bedtime, you know, when we used tapes instead of CDs. One memory always springs to mind, of when you came to the end of one side of the tape, there would be someone telling you to "please turn over".

I always found having audio stories on a good way to relax and drift off to sleep and my children are no different, their collection of CDs is steadily building with a mixture of musical ones and story ones.

When I was asked by the lovely people at AudioGO if I would like to review a selection of the audiobooks, I was more than happy to oblige.

AudiGO themselves are the UK's leading audiobook publisher and retailer and they were formally known as BBC Audiobooks. Their expanding range extends to over 10,000 titles including complete and unabridged audiobooks, which includes many children's titles, all of which can be bought in CD or downloadable form and they also produce many large print books.

I was asked to pick a couple of titles from their range but I declined and said I would much prefer a surprise and I couldn't have been more happy with what they chose for myself and the kids to review.

I received :

Mr Men Stories Volume 2 - Written by Roger Hargreaves - Read by Arthur Lowe

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Written by Lewis Carroll - Read by Gemma Arterton

The Secret Garden - Written by Frances Hodgson Burnett - Read by Jenna-Louise Coleman

The girls were just as thrilled with what arrived in the post for them. Each CD is roughly an hour long, this I think is just long enough. The girls have fallen asleep listening to these which I have to assume means that they manage to relax them!! These have been especially great for my 3 year old because her sister's will always sit and read a book when in bed but Gracie is still a tad too young to know how to read, so listening to these CDs was something that kept her included.

The stories were perfectly narrated, clearly spoken yet the change in tone of voice etc kept the children engaged, you really felt the emotions of the characters. And unlike when books are turned into TV programmes, the stories on the CDs are true to the originals.

Weirdly I used to have The Secret Garden on cassette and it has always been my favourite story so I was keen to see what this newest version was like. Jenna-Louise Coleman really made the story come alive in my opinion and it was nice being able to share something from my childhood with my daughters. My eldest daughter is now keen to read the book to see how they compare.

The Mr Men stories were as wonderful as ever, again something I associate with my childhood. I found the girls laughing through it quite a lot of the CD, lovely to hear and very entertaining. This was Gracies' favourite out of the three. And the good thing about this one is that there are six different stories on there so you can listen to something different each time you pop it on.

We listened to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland last. Of course the kids and I have read the book together and watched the DVD (good old Disney), so to hear it instead of see it made it for an interesting listen. Again a job very well done, it was another classic bought to life and Gemma Arterton seemed to add a touch of class to it.

I think sometimes hearing a book is better than reading it because I don't know about you but I don't always know how to pronounce certain names and sometimes you misjudge what emotions a book is trying to convey when reading the words on paper. 

Each of these CDs can be bought for £5.99 or you can download them which costs £1.49, either way both are fair prices in my opinion for the amount of times these stories will get listened to. And lets be honest you don't just have to listen to them at bed time. I think it is much better to pop something like this on in the afternoon than sit and watch programmes on the television.

xxxx

Disclaimer : these cds were sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.