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BBC Classics Children’s Library by Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Grahame, E. Nesbit, Rudyard Kipling, The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Louisa May Alcott & Oscar Wilde

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BBC Classics Children’s Library

A timeless collection of 21 tales for all ages

by Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Grahame, E. Nesbit, Rudyard Kipling, The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Louisa May Alcott & Oscar Wilde

Length 21 hours 56 minutes

Language English

Narrators Joseph Ayre, Sam Dale, Carolyn Pickles, Kenny Blyth, Catherine Cusack, Tony Turner, Sarah Ovens, Shaun Mason & Full cast

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Summary
About the authors

An irresistible anthology of folklore, fables and perennial favourites, including four novels and 17 short stories

This superlative collection of children's stories brings together a feast of fantastic fiction, read in full by a host of top narrators and with a comprehensive track listing for ease of listening. Comprising everything from fairytales for little ones to thrilling adventures for pre-teens, these unabridged readings are ideal for families to keep, treasure and dip into as their children grow.

Listed by suggested age range and with track numbers provided, the stories are as follows:

Ages 4+
1-12 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (read by Carolyn Pickles)
13 Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter (read by Jonny Holden)
14 The Elves and the Shoemaker by the Brothers Grimm (read by Sam Dale)
15 Too Clever By Half by E Nesbit (read by Helen Capp)
16 Tom Thumb by the Brothers Grimm (read by Shaun Mason)

Ages 7+
17-25 The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (read by Michael Bertenshaw)
26 How the Camel Got His Hump by Rudyard Kipling (read by Kenny Blyth)
27 The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen (read by Shaun Mason)
28 The Raspberry Worm by Zacharias Topelius (read by Debbie Korley)
29 The Tongue Cut Sparrow by Yei Theodora Ozaki (read by Sean Baker)
30 The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling (read by Tony Turner)
31 The Magic Bed by Hartwell James (read by Chris Pavlo)
32 How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin by Rudyard Kipling (read by Tony Turner)
33 The Tortoise and the Rain by MI Ogumefu (read by Kenny Blyth)
34 The Baba Yaga by Katharine Pyle (read by Susan Jameson)

Ages 9+
35-41 The Call of the Wild by Jack London (read by Joseph Ayre)
42 Finn and the Scottish Giant by Harold F Hughes (read by Paul Hickey)
43 The Children's Joke by Louisa May Alcott (read by Catherine Cusack)
44 The Ants and the Treasure by MI Ogumefu (read by Kenny Blyth)
45 The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (read by Tony Turner)
46-59 The Railway Children by E Nesbit (read by Sarah Ovens)

Production credits
First broadcast on BBC Sounds, 21 December 2018-1 November 2019

Produced by Simon Richardson (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, The Tortoise and the Rain, The Elephant's Child, The Ants and the Treasure, How the Rhinoceros Got His Skin, How the Camel Got His Hump, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Happy Prince), Karen Holden (The Wind in the Willows), Martha Littlehailes (The Call of the Wild), Anne Bunting (The Railway Children), Anne Isger (Too Clever By Half, The Tongue Cut Sparrow, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Children's Joke, Finn and the Scottish Giant) and Mabel Wright (Tom Thumb, The Raspberry Worm, The Magic Bed, The Baba Yaga, Peter Rabbit)
The Raspberry Worm edited by Andrew Lang

© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Children's

Edith Nesbit was born in 1858. Her father died when she was only three and so her family moved all over England. Poverty was something she had known first hand, both as a child and as a young married woman with small children. Like the Railway Childrens' Mother, she was forced to try and sell her stories and poems to editors. Her first children's book, The Treasure Seekers, was published in 1899. She also wrote Five Children and It but her most famous story is The Railway Children which was first published in 1905 and it hasn't been out of print since. Edith Nesbit was a lady ahead of her time - she cut her hair short, which was considered a very bold move in Victorian times, and she was a founding member of a group that worked towards improvements in politics and society called The Fabian Society. She died in 1924.

Louisa May Alcott (1832-88) was brought up in Pennsylvania, USA. She turned to writing in order to supplement the family income and had many short stories published in magazines and newspapers. She was reluctant to write a children's book but then realized that in herself and her three sisters she had the perfect models. The result was Little Women (1868) which became the earliest American children's novel to become a classic.