James Herriot's Treasury for Children

A gorgeous collection of Herriot's children's stories. The stories are nostalgic without being overly sentimental, and the language is simple enough for a child to understand but sophisticated enough to expand vocabularies. Brown's and Barrett's illustrations are sublime, with the Yorkshire Dales rendered in lush greens and animals so soft looking you'd think you could reach out and pet them.

I have loved this book since before I had my own children. I remember finding the individual books in the local library, and then when I started homeschooling my oldest, one of the books included to read aloud in our curriculum was the treasury of all James Herriot’s stories for children. The pictures are gorgeous, vivid, detailed paintings. The animals are delightful, and the stories include a rich vocabulary. There is nothing about this book that I don’t love! I believe I have read it to all of my nine children, and hope I can read it to grandchildren someday.

I bought this second hand years ago, before my daughter was ready for it, so it sat on the shelf for ages. She picked it out as a bedtime story earlier this month. I read two or three chapters to her each night. Each story is tenderly told and the illustrations are winning. There were a number where I had a catch in my throat as I read, but the story about Blossom had me ugly crying. My daughter didn't say much as I struggled to finish, tears streaming down my cheeks. All is well in the end, of course. :). I loved his books growing up and was touched by this collection of gentle tales.

Absolutely wonderful collection of short tales featuring cats, dogs, horses, cows and lambs, as well as some animals of the two-legged variety. James Herriot's stories have charmed readers for decades and this short collection, ostensibly for children, is no exception. The real pleasure in this audiobook collection is the storytelling skill of reader Jim Dale. All the human characters in the stories are presented in a unique voice, whether it's an aging woman visited by a stray cat at Christmas, a gruff old farmer entering his old work horse in a "best pet" contest in the local village, a young boy whose pet lamb goes missing and is later found by a young girl, or an old dairyman, forced to part with his oldest cow when she can no show more longer produce enough milk to earn her keep. Dale's evocative voice superbly captures the warmth and character of the village and farm dwellers and their connections with their animals. Suitable for anyone who enjoys animals and good storytelling. show less

Well that's a lovely collection.

James Harriot (pen name for James Alfred Wight) was rural veterinarian in the middle of the 20th century in rural England. Once he turned 50 his wife encouraged him to follow his dreams and actually write a book, so he took his lifetime of experiences and stories and ... started writing about football. Which didn't work out. Eventually, he turned back to what he knew best with stories of the life and times of a country vet.

The stories are simple and uplifting and a perfect bedtime book. But even if you don't have kids to read to/with, you could probably do worse. They're cute books and (in the version I read) wonderfully illustrated.

Well worth it.

I absolutely love this book. It is several stories (most of which are included in his other books) with really nice illustrations. My three year old loves hearing these stories. Nothing in here is too upsetting for a child.

Animal stories/nonfiction (on audio). I didn't particularly care for the narrator's voice right off the bat, but stuck it out through a few stories and he does a fair job, particularly with the voices of the old farmers. The stories were just meh for me--pretty much your standard Herriot fare (so if you like his stuff, you'll do fine). Keep in mind, though, if your kids are going to be listening to this, you may need to explain some things about the birthing/nursing processes (since those occur frequently enough in country vet stories).