The house at Pooh Corner is overflowing with audios too, and don't pooh-pooh any of these charming recordings of A.A. Milne's classic stories about that bear for all seasons and his peerless companions, Christopher Robin, Piglet, Owl, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga and Roo. A new BBC presentation, "Winnie-the-Pooh: Audio Boxed Set," offers performances by Alan Bennett, Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal. The complete, unabridged "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "When We Were Very Young," packaged together and read by Peter Dennis will keep children and the adults who listen with them enchanted for hours. More unabridged Pooh can be heard with Charles Kuralt performing -- "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "The House at Pooh Corner" -- as well as "When We Were Very Young" and "Now We Are Six."
"Winnie-the-Pooh"
Audio Boxed Set, a BBC presentation
BDD Audio, $22
5 hours
ISBN 0553478664
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Support your "Winnie-the-Pooh" and "When We Were Very Young,"
read by Peter Dennis
Soundelux, $22.95
6 hours, unabridged
ISBN 1559352434
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Read by Charles Kuralt:
"Winnie-the-Pooh"
ISBN 0140866825
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ISBN 0140866787
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- Penguin Audiobooks, $16.95
3 hours each, unabridged
"When We Were Very Young"
ISBN 0140866817
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ISBN 0140866809
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- Penguin Audiobooks, $10.95
90 minutes each, unabridged
Slightly older kids will be delighted with Bruce Coville's "Aliens Ate My Homework." William Dufris reads this wacky adventure that combines the antics of interstellar villains and tiny space creatures with a young boy's real everyday problems.
- Aliens Ate My Homework, by Bruce Coville
Listening Library, $15.95
3 hours, unabridged
ISBN 0807278629
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Judy Blume's modern classic "Are You There God? It's Me Margaret" is the perfect gift for girls teetering on the edge of teenage angst. Blume, whose honesty and savvy have made her one of the most popular YA authors ever, knows how to offer help, with a helping of humor.
- Are You There God? It's Me Margaret, by Judy Blume
Listening Library, $15.95
3 hours, unabridged
ISBN 0807278599
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J.M. Barrie, Louisa May Alcott, Lewis Carroll, Robert Louis Stevenson, Johann David Wyss, Frances Hodgson Burnett, L. Frank Baum and Anna Sewell are among the authors whose books make up the canon of juvenile literature. Now, a one-hour audio adaptation of each of their most renowned novels is available from the Everyman's Library of Children's Classics ($11 each) read by star performers including Lynn Redgrave, Mary Beth Hurt, Frank Langella and Kathleen Turner. Ideal gifts in packaging as classic as the contents.
"The Children's Book of Heroes" edited by William J. Bennett is the newest offering in his ongoing crusade to instill moral virtue in the younger set. This multi-voiced recording focuses on tales of real-life heroes and their valorous deeds.
- The Children's Book of Heroes, by William J. Bennett
Simon & Schuster Audio, $12
70 minutes
ISBN 0671576291
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Jackie Robinson is a real American hero: strong, independent, unwavering in his belief that ours must become a racially inclusive society. Much attention has been focused on him during this 50th anniversary of his first season as the first baseball player to break the color barrier, and nowhere is his life better celebrated than in Arnold Rampersad's superb biography, "Jackie Robinson". LeVar Burton's excellent reading and the actual, historic recording of Robinson's Baseball Hall of Fame induction speech makes this a very special audio presentation.
Tales of creatures great and small from James Herriot always make fine family fare and are especially appropriate for holiday giving and listening. Ten Yorkshire tales are included in "James Herriot's Animal Stories" read by Christopher Timothy who has become venerable voice of the venerable Dr. Herriot on many wonderful audio recordings.
For the golfers on your holiday hit list, two golfing classics by Michael Murphy -- one brand new, one originally published 25 years ago -- are now on cassette. "The Kingdom of Shivas Irons" and "Golf in the Kingdom," both read by John Hannah, deal with the more mystical side of golf, with the deep truths about the inner game that, once understood, shed light on our potential for growth and change on the green in life itself.
"Into the Twilight, Endlessly Grousing" by the numero uno of outdoor humorists, Patrick McManus, is truly a "guy thing," and a "guy present" par excellence. In this, his tenth collection, McManus is at his best, taking on everything from cereal crimes, Idaho style, to a man's love for a good fly rod. Terry Beaver reads and yes, that's his real name not a mischievous McManus nom de guerre.
From biographer Andrew Morton:
Kitty Kelley's "The Royals" hit the top of the bestseller list immediately and will undoubtedly stay there for some time. Kelley combines years of research and hundreds of interviews with intimate observers of England's Royal Family with her unique talent for getting the gossip and the lowdown on the high and mighty to paint this warts-and-all picture of the members of the House of Windsor. Kelley dishes dirt on the Royals with the best, and you'll get a lot more than just the scandals of the "annus horribilis" and its sad aftermath.
