This edition was too childish for me. I found an audiobook version that is the identical story with a good soundtrack, & Jim Weiss's voice reminds me a lot of Jon Lovitis, which is just enough silly for me.
Volume varies widely, narrator's default is quiet but when he "voices" characters he often tops out the mic and hurts the listener's ears. At chapter 12, I gave up and went to look for another version. His speaking voice is pleasant and it would have been a better version had he just used that one.
I am very grateful that the book was read in it's entirety. Some of the voices the narrator created, particularly the mice and flying monkeys, I found somewhat annoying but my son found them enjoyable. Thanks so much for the gift of this classic book in podcast form. It is especially helpful on a long car ride.
I listened to this podcast in the car with my 2 young children (6 and 3). It did everything I wanted it to - let them hear the Wizard of Oz story in its original form. Already they're asking for more podcasts - a problem because there's a distinct lack of (free) child-friendly podcast literature and audiobooks (hint, hint!).
The story was relatively well-read, although sometimes the reader seemed to get caught-up on enunciation, causing him to lose focus on the actual storytelling. Also there was a lot of differentiation between character voices which made the story easy for the kids to follow, but this meant some of the voices seemed a little strained (the female roles in particular). As an adult listening alone I think I would have opted to listen to a different podcast book instead, but my girls loved it, hence the 4 star review.
Overall I would recommend this podcast, and it is well suited to children over 5 years of age.
The book is wonderful, the reader is not. He doesn't sound too well and the room he's recording in echoes, you can tell he's in a large and or empty space. The voice volume change between Dorothy and the Scarecrow is huge which causes my ears to hurt if its up loud enough to hear Dorothy, but if I put the volume low enough for the Scarecrow not to hurt my ears I can't hear Dorothy so keep that in mind if you listen. :)
I have read this book many times, and was very excited when I found it on here. I was, however, very disappointed with the narrator. I was unable to listen to the whole book because the narrator drove me crazy.
Turns out this book is not only not much related to the Judy Garland movie, but it is written in such a quirky style that I was completely unable to read it. However, Janson Pomeranz saves the day and gives a very nice performance that I enjoyed greatly. The story did not blow me away, but I am quite satisfied with knowing what's in it. With the added benefit that the book did not give me nightmares the way the movie did!
