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Nelson Mandela’s Favorite African Folktales
An Audio Book Benefiting Children in South Africa Orphaned and Impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Compiled by Nelson Mandela
Various readers - complete list at the end of the review

      This is a collection of folktales.  It is a great collection.  Folktales are told over and over, passed down from generation to generation, and only the best tales and stories survive.   This is an African collection.  Some of the stories are uniquely African and some sound somewhat familiar.  There are monsters, spirits, magical birds, beautiful young maidens, handsome young men, snake charmers and more. All of the people have uniquely African names.

There are several readers and they all do an excellent job.  I have noticed that people often do their best work when working for a cause or a charity.  Artists who donated their time did the artwork on the cover. In addition to the reading, there is a fair amount of uniquely African music.

This audio book was produced to raise money for South African children affected by HIV/AIDS.  In South Africa HIV/AIDS has reached pandemic proportions.

Anyone with children or grand children should listen to it.  You will have some new stories to pass on to the next generations.  I am a seventy-two-year-old kid and I really enjoyed all of the stories.

Read by: Desmond Tutu, Alan Rickman, Whoopi Goldberg, Matt Damon, Parminder Nagra, Forest Whitaker, Sean Hayes, Charlize Theron, Benjamin Bratt, Scarlett Johansson, Ricardo Chavira, Debra Messing, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Hugh Jackman, Gillian Anderson, CCH Pounder, Blair Underwood, LeVar Burton, Samuel L Jackson, Jurnee Smollett, Sophie Okonedo, Helen Mirren, Don Cheadle, and Alfre Woodard.

The Book

Hachette Audio, jointly with Artists For A New South Africa
July 1, 2009
Audio book / 3 CDs / 3 hours
1600246664 / 978-1600246661
Fiction - Folktales (Kids of all ages)
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt
NOTE: 20% of the proceeds will go to The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.

The Reviewer

Mason Reiss
Reviewed 2009
NOTE:
© 2009 MyShelf.com