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German audiobooks recommendations


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We loved:

the retellings of Greek myths by Dmitri Inkiow, spoken by Peter Kaempfe:

for instance:

http://www.amazon.de/Griechische-Sagen-I-2-Audio-CDs/dp/3893535543/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319164572&sr=8-1

there are several different CD sets which contain 2-3 CDs each.

 

Cornelia Funke Tintenherz-trilogie:

http://www.amazon.de/Tintenherz-Limitierte-Sonderausgabe-16-CDs/dp/3833714212/ref=tmm_abk_title_0

and the other two parts.

 

Parzifal-Nacherzaehlung

http://www.amazon.de/Die-unglaublichen-Abenteuer-Ritters-Parzival/dp/3867171289/ref=sr_1_sc_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319164857&sr=1-2-spell

 

Tonke Dragt Brief fuer den Koenig

http://www.amazon.de/Brief-f%C3%BCr-den-K%C3%B6nig/dp/3407810121/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319164900&sr=1-2

 

For younger ones:

Raeuber Hotzenplotz

http://www.amazon.de/Die-gro%C3%9Fe-R%C3%A4uber-Hotzenplotz-Box-H%C3%B6spiele-Audio-CDs/dp/389813962X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319164769&sr=1-1

 

and IMO the best audio versions of Grimm's fairytales (cast were the top East German actors, they are fabulous)

http://www.amazon.de/Grimms-M%C3%A4rchen-Vol-1-Schneewittchen-Stadtmusikanten/dp/3898305155/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319164981&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.de/Grimms-M%C3%A4rchen-Vol-Dornr%C3%B6schen-Schneiderlein/dp/3898305171/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b

http://www.amazon.de/Grimms-M%C3%A4rchen-Vol-Froschk%C3%B6nig-Rumpelstilzchen/dp/3898305198/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_c

(I had these in my childhood on records and have bought them for my own children on CD)

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  • 1 year later...

This is a great thread, and I'm definitely interested in the titles mentioned so far! I'm wondering if anyone has any more suggestions? I've been considering a subscription to audible.de, but wonder if it's worth it if I'd only be buying a small number of books. I'd really like books that aren't translated from English -- so originally German is great, but I'd also be happy with good books / classics that weren't originally in German or English (I'm thinking of things like 1001 nights, Homer's stuff, etc.).

 

At their current age, I think my kids would be most interested (and get the most out of) in books that are like... Oh, I don't even know what to call them... Classic children's literature? If it were English, I'd say comparable to stuff like Just-so stories, Charlotte's web, the Chronicles of Narnia, etc. A little under that level would be fine (though preferably not *too* far), but over that level is probably a little out of reach for now. I'd still welcome the suggestions, so long as you tell me what level they are, and I'll just start a list for things to download in a year or two! :D The books that I'd planned on getting first were the Tintenherz set, but that's mainly because they were one of the few that I knew was originally German! There's a lot of other downloads that look somewhat interesting, but I'm also trying to get the most bang for my buck by not getting too many really short ones (18 hours for 10 Euros seems like a much more/better exposure than 30 minutes for 5 Euros, you know?)

 

My son (almost 4) just loves listening to stuff while looking at books and playing with toys. So far, I've not done much but rip the audio from all of our German movies, but he's pretty much bored with them, since he listens to it at least 2 hours, most days, plus in the car...

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For younger ones:

Raeuber Hotzenplotz

http://www.amazon.de...19164769&sr=1-1

 

and IMO the best audio versions of Grimm's fairytales (cast were the top East German actors, they are fabulous)

http://www.amazon.de...19164981&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.de...d_bxgy_b_text_b

http://www.amazon.de...d_bxgy_b_text_c

(I had these in my childhood on records and have bought them for my own children on CD)

 

 

Do you have any additional ideas for the younger kids? I went ahead and got the audible membership, only to get Tintenherz and find out it's WAY too far above my 3 year old right now. I'd been hoping to challenge him, but this was so far above him that I don't even know that he registered *anything*. :(

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Do you have any additional ideas for the younger kids? I went ahead and got the audible membership, only to get Tintenherz and find out it's WAY too far above my 3 year old right now. I'd been hoping to challenge him, but this was so far above him that I don't even know that he registered *anything*. :(

 

 

Other than Hotzenplotz and the Grimm's Maerchen- maybe the other books by Otfried Preussler (Kleine Hexe)? Or the HuiBuh series?

 

And no, Tintenherz is absolutely not suitable for small children; I'd say 10+, and some ten year olds may have difficulty with the level of violence.

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Thanks for all the ideas! It's been eight or ten years since I read the English version Inkheart, that I didn't remember anything of violence. I just remembered him reading a story to life, and then an adventure ensuing. Whoops.

 

And the music in between chapters really is annoying. :)

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Do you have any additional ideas for the younger kids? I went ahead and got the audible membership, only to get Tintenherz and find out it's WAY too far above my 3 year old right now. I'd been hoping to challenge him, but this was so far above him that I don't even know that he registered *anything*. :(

 

 

If you have an ipod/ipad or andriod, try the Carlsen Verlag children books that are free. My kids like those eventhough its meant for preschoolers. My boys also like german opera eventhough they do not understand most of it.

 

e.g. (free ones)

Pixi Buch Ritter Bodobert (itunes)

https://itunes.apple...ert/id410577816

Was passiert in der Spittelau? (itunes)

https://itunes.apple...lau/id543527593

Pixi Lesestart (itunes)

https://itunes.apple...art/id508002087

 

Was passiert in der Spittelau? (andriod)

http://www.carlsen.d...au/26745#Inhalt

Pixi Buch Meine ersten Bucher

https://play.google....lesestart&hl=en

Edited by Arcadia in CA
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If you have an ipad or andriod, try the Carlsen Verlag children books that are free.

 

 

Dangit! I was really excited by this post, at first... mainly because I mistakenly read "ipod" instead of "ipad", and I was hoping these were podcasts. (Since I don't actually have an ipad or android.)

 

But it makes me wonder: are there any good German podcasts for preschoolers that you can recommend?

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Dangit! I was really excited by this post, at first... mainly because I mistakenly read "ipod" instead of "ipad", and I was hoping these were podcasts. (Since I don't actually have an ipad or android.)

 

 

They work on my ipod touch :)

 

Podcast for kids:

Grimms Märchen

http://www.podcast.de/podcast/11481/

 

ETA:

They also like german cartoons on youtube for Benjamin Blümchen and Bibi Blocksberg

Die Siete mit Der Maus webpage

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They work on my ipod touch :)

 

Podcast for kids:

Grimms Märchen

http://www.podcast.de/podcast/11481/

 

ETA:

They also like german cartoons on youtube for Benjamin Blümchen and Bibi Blocksberg

Die Siete mit Der Maus webpage

 

 

Thanks for these. I just have an old ipod nano from 6 or 7 years ago, so it's not really compatible with a lot of stuff. However, I did find the following podcasts, too!

 

Lotto ist 3

Locomo | Spannende Hörücher und Podcast für Kinder und Familien

NUK Gute-Nacht-Geschichten

NUK Traumreisen

Kinderradio im WDR 5 - Radio zum mitnehmen

Figarino Flinte, Floß und Abenteuer

 

 

We haven't listened to a sampling from all of them (so it's possible they're no good), but they look promising, even if not "classic". :)

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  • 10 months later...

Has anyone experience to compare or comment on the different audiobooks in the series Ich Weiß Was (Albert E erklärt ....) and Was hör ich da?

We've been getting audible books from Audible.de for my 4.5 yo, and have pretty much exhausted the Kokosnuss books (and by exhausted, I mean that he's pretty much memorized them...). We have many others that have been recommended here, but a lot of them don't hold his interest very well yet; language is either too advanced, recording quality is low, or there are strong dialects/accents that he had a difficult time understanding right now (so Hotzenplotz was a major fail over here) -- probably one of the pit falls of such limited exposure is that he doesn't hear much in the way of different dialects.

 

I looked for the Was ist Was and Wieso, Weshalb, Warum books, but they're not available through Audible.de to people with a US credit card. :P

 

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Here are my favorite ones:

Schnüpperle (my five year old loves those)

Der Sängerkrieg der Heidehasen (a favorite of mine when I was little)

Anything by Astrid Lindgren

The Oetinger Verlag has quite a few, some of which I know, but others I don't know. 

Vorleser has free fairy tales and other "real" literature books.  Peterchens Mondfahrt is especially nice.  

Ohrka also has some good ones for free

 

Many good children's books by people like Erich Kästner, Otfried Preussler, Michael Ende, etc. can be found as audio books.  

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  • 1 year later...

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