Tale Spinners for Children

There is nothing as exciting for us as discovering something "new"..... and luckily, this thrill comes weekly. After finding that certain something special, the next best feeling is sharing it. So this week, we have something special to share with you: the Tale Spinners series. 

If you enjoy audio books, then you will enjoy these (even though they are aimed at children), especially since the production quality of these albums are so much better than an audiobook. 

Tale Spinners for Children began in England in 1959 as a series of 30 records from the Atlas Record Label each featuring a story for children. The stories were classics and the actors/actresses reading them were usually classically-trained actors with rich and melodic voices such as Denise Bryer, Robert Hardy, Maggie Smith, Donald Pleasence or William Devlin. As lovely as it is listening to these actors, they were always supported by a full orchestra playing background music (once again, classically based) and a cast of other actors each reading the different parts. 

Listening to a Tale Spinners album feels like listening to a radio show but one featuring classic novels... how wonderful is that! 

After the success of the series in England, United Artists brought the Tale Spinners to the American market and pressed 69 different titles (!) including Robinson Crusoe, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Snow White, Cinderella, The Snow Queen, Swiss Family Robinson, Peter Pan, Davy Crockett, and Don Quixote. 

The Tale Spinners series continued until the early 1970s. New titles were no longer released but the series was re-issued up until the mid-1980s. Today, many of these albums appear quite frequently on eBay and several are available on Youtube, a few of which we have linked to below. 

Enjoy! 

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (c 1963)

Robin Hood (c1964)

Knights of the Round Table (c 1963)

Treasure Island (c1962)

The Mikado (c1963)

William Tell (c1962)

Tom Thumb (c1969)