The Book of Beasts

By: E. Nesbit

Narrated by: Karen Krause

A young king finds a magical book once owned by his great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and unwittingly sets a wicked beast loose in his kingdom. Now he must find a way to best the beast and win back the love of his subjects. Edith (E.) Nesbit was a master at weaving imagination and real life into timeless fairy tales, with fantastic mythical creatures, princes and princesses, magic, and just the right touch of silliness. The Book of Beasts is the first in a series of fairy tales with a common theme: Dragons! For children from 5 to 95, these stories are not to be taken seriously. Let your imagination run wild!

Public Domain (P)2014 Karen Krause

The Book Of Beasts

Any additional comments?

This was a great little story about a boy king and his book.There are beasts in these books and the king is away on an adventure!I loved it!
Karen Krause was perfect for the narration of this childrens tale.
"I was provided this audiobook at no charge by the author in exchange for an unbiased review via AudiobookBlast dot com."

Great Story

This is an excellent book for all ages to enjoy. Beautiful story about a kid who open a magical book and lets out a dragon and the adventures begin from there. would recommend it to anyone. The narration was excellent.

Received this book free for honest review

Enraptured my son

OK, I'm going to write this review free-form. The questions posed by Audible are not fitting for me on this one. This unbiased review was in exchange for a reviewer copy. It's even more unbiased by the fact that I played it to its audience: my younger kids (ages 11 and 6). Both of them enjoyed the story quite a bit, though my 11 year old had heard it before. Being a fantasy fan, though, my 11 year old noted that the manticore description was actually that of a pegasus, but this was proof of her multitasking skills at the time as she was listening while doing something else.

The story is a great story for children and this rang true with my little focus group. It has many of the elements of fantasy that usually attracts children. It also shows consequences of actions. As is the case with many of the older classic books like this, the characters are able to be broad and less about subtle subtext. Children absorb that better.

Karen's narration of the piece expressed this wide display of characterizations, ranging from the young prince to be king to the nurse's haughty attitude to the advisor's high-brow reactions. I've heard Karen use a number of voices between this and another book and she takes the British variations and plays with them in a way that allows the listeners to differentiate the characters easily.

This is a short piece. Good for short attention spans of kids. They will really enjoy it. My 6 year loved it and when I asked how many stars I should give it he said "as many stars as you can!"

The composite review among the three of us was actually 4.5, but the 6 year old (notably THE TARGET AUDIENCE) was so overwhelmingly enamored with this that we gave it all 5's. :)

Great read for kids!!

This is a fun adorable read for kids. I fondly recall reading these in much younger days and this was a happy revisit.

The story is a simple fantasy with plenty of fun elements. It is enchanting from beginning to end. I read this with my 6 year old niece, and she was enthralled! These are such lovely stories with rich characters and creative situations.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Karen Krause, who is delightful. She has a nice steady pace that moves with the story. I love her accent, it is like having your own British nanny to read to you! She was inventive and fun with the character voices. I imagine she would we just as wonderful in person at a children's story hour! I delight for my ears!

Disclosure - I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thought, opinions and ratings are my own.

Enchanting Classic

This is a wonderful classic story that will delight children and adults who love magic, dragons and adventure. A child king with a magic book that has pictures of creatures that come to life is told in vivid detail by the narrator, each character has a distinct voice. I am looking forward to listening to more books read by Karen Krause. And I will be getting more of E Nesbit's dragon books for my grand kids.

I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A short Children Story in Audio Form

Edith (E.) Nesbit's book is Narrated by Karen Krause. This story is a modern fairy-tale of a young boy made king.  His Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather was the last sitting King and by account a strange King. This little boy would rather make mud pies than be King but he had his duty to do.

The Book of Beasts is a magical book that is full of pictures of animals and beasts. When the young King opened the book and read the first page the beautiful butterfly flew off the page.

The Kings Chancellor took the book and put it on a high shelf telling the King not to read from the book again, for The King did not know what beast was on the next page of The Book of Beasts. Of course the young King was to curious   for his own good. This story continues as the young King tries to live with the consequences of reopening the book. 

Can the King find a way to save his kingdom. Read The Book of Beasts for yourself and see what adventure you can find.

Cute atory.

Dragons and other beasts are let loose by the young king. Listen to t he story to see what damage they create and how the very young king makes everything right again. a cute short story.

Excellent Dragon Story for Children

Any additional comments?

The Book of Beasts centers around a young boy named Lionel who becomes king at a very young age. As he is exploring his new castle, he discovers a magical book, which belonged to one of his ancestors. While reading the book, Lionel unwittingly lets out a dragon that eats everything in its wake. Most of the book involves Lionel trying to find a way to get the Dragon under control in order to save his kingdom.

It is hard to believe that The Book of Beasts was written by Edith Nesbit in 1900. Just from its description (a boy opens a magical book and lets out a dragon), it sounds like it could have been written today and classified as contemporary fantasy. Nesbit is credited as "the first modern writer for children" and C. S. Lewis (of Narnia fame) credits her as an influence.

Karen Krause’s narration is excellent. She really brings this fantasy to life, using a distinct voice for each of the characters and creatures in the story. Simply put, this story is a lot of fun, and recommended for anyone who enjoys fun witty stories, especially those involving dragons.

Learning to Clean up your mess

A child king (Lionel) finds a book once owned by one of his distant grandsires. Like all good kids, he plays with it and sets a giant butterfly free. He’s warned not to do so again, but he releases yet another fantastical critter (a bird of paradise), and then another (the dragon!), which threatens his kingdom and he must make it right again. A hippogriff and manticore come into play too!

This was a great story for kids and fun for adults too. The very young Lionel knows he is king, but also knows he must answer to his nurse for any bad behavior. He will be sent to bed without supper if he misbehaves. This was a great point about the story because, while the king supposedly had great control over his kingdom and people, he also had to face the consequences of poor choices.

The story starts off with some harmful ‘beasts’ that are really quite pretty to look at and enjoy. So at first, the consequences of messing around with this magical Book of Beasts is not readily apparent. But as the story continues, we find our young hero king in a world of trouble! I think this is great fun for both kids and adults and would be fine entertainment for a car ride.

Narration: Karen Krause did a great job having the perfect little boy voice for the child king. She also had a stern, yet amusing, voice for the king’s nurse.