Children's ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen & Erik Christian Haugaard · 2018
🎙 Narrated by Full cast: F. Murray Abraham, Edoardo Ballerini, Marisa Calin, Cynthia Darlow, Ari Fliakos, Dion Graham, January LaVoy, Jennifer Lim, Euan Morton, Robert Petkoff, Rebecca Soler, Marc Thompson (Listening Library)
76/100
👍 Worth It
This is the real deal: Erik Christian Haugaard's respected, faithful translation performed by a stacked full cast led by F. Murray Abraham, with original music and enough polish that AudioFile Magazine gave it trade-press attention. Just know Andersen's true tales carry real sadness and loss (The Little Mermaid's ending isn't the Disney one), so preview before sharing with very sensitive kids. The narration here should be excellent given the cast and production values, genuinely worth the listen.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
⚠ Parent note — our reviewers flagged: Faithful Andersen translations include genuine sadness/tragic endings (e.g., The Little Mermaid) more intense than sanitized retellings - preview for sensitive young listeners. We still scored it 76; these are context for your family, not an automatic skip.
▶ Listen to a sample
🎙 Narration: excellent Star-led full cast (F. Murray Abraham plus ensemble) with original score, backed by Listening Library and reviewed by AudioFile Magazine - high production values.
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Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety68
Substance / usefulness78
Craft & writing85
Originality70
Evidence & accuracy82
Hype vs delivers65
Age-fit60
Human-eye read75
Penny’s verdict76
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