Clever ideas, but seems incomplete

In listening to "Uncle Moral's Bedtime Stories", specifically "The Papaya Tree", I found it an engaging listening experience overall, but I did have some critiques regarding certain aspects. The first instance I noticed was within the pacing. The narrator, Brian Pederson, had a clear, easy-to-understand voice; however, there were some longer pauses within sentences that in my opinion, were not sentence breaks or applicable for a moment for pause. It created a sense of confusion, almost as if for a split second I needed to check and make sure I didn't accidentally press pause. I found the overarching plot premise clever and engaging with the whimsy engine of talking papayas, but the moral seemed unclear, even after a second listen, which I think in turn is ironic and needs to be improved considering this story is a part of "Uncle Moral's Bedtime Stories". I did enjoy the shortness of it, and the story felt mostly complete when looking at it from a simplicity perspective, and it seemed easy enough for a young child to comprehend. The audio quality was clear and felt professional, but there existed a lack of range for character voices, which was established for the three main storytelling characters; Uncle Moral, Trouble, and Maker, but did not carry over to the characters within the story, losing the immersion factor in the process. Overall, I feel that this can exist as an adequate story to keep a child entertained for a few minutes, but not much about this recording stands out to distinguish it from other audiobook choices.

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Entertaining but Lacking

Chapter 1 of Uncle Moral’s Bedtime Stories opens with a patient uncle attempting to put two rambunctious twin boys to bed with a final bedtime story. The Papaya Tree story he tells them, while short and sweet for small children’s attention spans, seems to lack a clear moral or message, which contradicts the very title of the audiobook. The loose idea that can be gleaned from it is “everyone must make sacrifices,” but without further explanation, the intent behind a message like this is lost on children. Adults may interpret it differently with the context of the story, leaning closer to “parents must make sacrifices for family and livelihood.” That being said, the story’s sentient papayas and the happy farming world created in five minutes nearly make up for the lack of a message if the sole focus is entertainment of children.

The narrator’s attempts to add to the entertainment factor were decent but lacking overall. Voice inflections were used to differentiate between characters, but this only went so far in adding whimsy and passion to the recording. It felt like something was missing from the voices for it being a children’s book, almost as if the narrator focused more on enunciation and clarity than bringing the silly characters to life. Audio production aided in making his voice crisp and heard, so his focus would’ve been better shifted toward passion and excitement.

Looking at it from purely a child’s perspective, this audiobook is engaging and suitable enough. With more chapters in this supposed series of bedtime stories, children can be adequately entertained for a few minutes each night.

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story in a story

A fun little story about a sleepy uncle telling a story to his nephews, trouble and maker. The story in a story was strange bit entertaining. The narrators voice made the story fun, even if Brian (the narrator) had a quick halt during the description of the daughter. I wish Brian would have given it another go because the rest of the narration was great, especially when uncle falls asleep and snores at a cliffhanger.

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The Moral of the Story

Although this story may seem like a regular children's bedtime story, it felt much deeper than that. This story is one you'll have to look past the surface and think deeply about what the author might be trying to say. The story teaches that empathy goes a long way. You can learn that looking at things from a different perspective might help you be more understanding.

Through the farmer's perspective, I believe the author tried to teach that although you might be doing something necessary to benefit yourself, it might be hurting others in ways you have no idea are happening. In "papa papaya's" perspective the author taught that questions are important. Had he not asked the little girl any questions or taken the time to know the situation, he would not have learned that they needed to switch to apple trees to survive. And the little girl would have never known how much suffering their actions had caused. Through empathy, both sides came to a compromise and made sacrifices. I believe the moral of the story invites readers of all ages to learn these valuable lessons. I even think the story could be used in an English class for upper Elementary - Highschool!

Lastly, the narrator had a strong reading voice. However, he needs to work on changing his tone and dynamics while telling the story. It started sounding a little monotone like a news reporter. He also had awkward pauses in between sentences that took away from the experience. I still believe he has a unique voice with great potential. I recommend this story!

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A classic children's story

The Papay Tree is a classic children's story that teaches the values of empathy, strength and selflessness. The characters in the story are easy to keep track of and the story is simple enough to follow along and understand for children, while also managing to express the values the story intends to teach. The little girl is an innocent bystander in the story and yet must make a life changing decision for the last papaya tree in the grove and all its inhabitants. The Papa Papaya character is ultimately the hero of the story, having the strength to give the ultimate sacrifice by giving himself over to the little girl to prevent the last papaya tree from being removed and displacing his entire family. His character is shown to be happy about his personal sacrifice in favor of the happiness of his remaining family papaya tree.

Though the story is short, it fulfills the need for a child's bedtime story perfectly. The narrator has a fun tone and does a great job voicing each of the characters by creating personality without much context. The story tackle’s heavy themes including displacement, separation anxiety and most, self-sacrifice as most children’s stories tend to do behind the fairytale exterior of the story. Papa Papaya and the little girl’s characters teach children that it’s okay to work in favor of the greater good at the expense of one’s own personal gain. Ultimately, true satisfaction comes from doing the right thing, not the self-serving thing.

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Only one story. Predatory Presentation.

Every element from the audio quality to the story itself in “Uncle Moral’s Bedtime *Stories*” ranges from competent but phoned in to rushed and not up to professional standards.

Firstly, and most importantly, the cover and overall presentation of the book are misleading and frankly predatory. The book itself is only ONE story despite it saying stories and giving no indication on the cover that this one in a series. It does say “Book 1” in the subtitle on audible, but even then it does not specify that it is only a singular, very short story.

The narration is mostly competent, but he does occasionally slur a word due to seemingly being in a rush. I cannot fully blame him for that though due to the fact that this book is pretty bland and I am sure he had better things as he clearly has experience and talent in his field.

The audio is listenable and mostly clear except for consistent peaking that is fairly distracting as it happens at least twice every sentence.

The story is bland and the lesson is vague, being something akin to “Sometimes we have to make sacrifices.” The ending is lackluster and does not even end off the characters reading/telling the story. It just ends after the Grandpa Papaya makes an agreement with the little girl to save the tree.

Overall, a subpar book not worth the price. Wait until you can find it at a library or it goes on sale.

1.5/5.

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Sentient Papayas

Uncle Moral’s Bedtime Story about a grove of papaya trees was nearly obsolete. The story within a story aspect added nothing but unnecessary dialogue and interruptions into the story itself. This story scrambled to find a moral, and was overall uninteresting. It remains unclear why this is the story we need to hear. It also raises questions about the overall “morals” of the people living in this universe. If the papaya’s themselves are sentient beings who speak the same language and express the same emotions as the people who are eating them, do the people show no remorse or empathy over eating a creature who thinks and acts like them?
The narrator does voices to distinguish between each character, but will often insert pauses and inflections that make you wonder if you accidentally paused the book or skipped a line. I appreciated the commitment to each character, and the way the narrator acted out the one onomatopoeia.
The most redeeming factor of this performance was that the overall sound quality and production of the story. The story itself was very clear and crisp to hear. The narrator enunciated the words in the story very well so I could clearly make out what he was saying (a bonus for someone who is hard of hearing such as myself).
Overall, I don’t think this story is worth the listen. I would suggest going with another children’s story to learn lessons about needing to make sacrifices once in a while.

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Mediocre Book Poor Narration

“Uncle Moral’s Bedtime Stories” was a difficult listening experience. The narrator, Brian Pederson’s, voice was a poor match for the children’s story. His strong, booming voice was uncomfortable in combination with a story intended for young children. The narrator’s attempts to change his voice for different characters was jarring. His pace was also inconsistent and filled with odd pauses. With a little guidance he would perhaps be better suited reading nonfiction or serious literature. The sound quality was rather good. There was no background noise and the narration was clear.
The story itself was clever but lacking. I liked how it was a story within a story, much like William Goldman’s “The Princess Bride”. I also liked that the author was attempting to teach a lesson within the story. Giving the elderly uncle the name “Moral” was a nice touch. The pacing of the story, however, felt off. Perhaps it was the narrator’s choice to drag out the snoring portion, but Uncle Moral falling asleep in the middle of telling his nephews a story was bizarre. The secondary story “The Papaya Tree” was interesting. The moral of the story isn’t quite clear. Maybe that was the author’s intention, but to me the lack of a definitive moral or lesson made the story feel incomplete.
Overall, I was unimpressed by the audiobook of “Uncle Moral’s Bedtime Story” both in writing and delivery. With a little editing and a different narrator, it has the potential to be better received by its listeners.

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1 person found this helpful

A Confusing Tale with Strangely Deep Topics

Somehow, this six-minute audiobook touches on topics of family separation and capitalism. For a children's book, the story is dark, masked by a goodbye smile. The Papayas in the book are torn down, destroyed, and separated from their family. They are eviscerated because public opinion has changed, and capitalism requires innovation and change for another family's survival. It is a story about the people, or papayas, capitalism wounds.

I consider the fact that this is a children's book. While it is never too early to introduce these concepts to kids, I don't think the story will be well received. I imagine a kid asking me, "What happens when the papayas get picked?" or "Did they all die?" Children are not dumb and are known to ask a million questions, none of which I have a positive answer to.

The book is also framed as Uncle Moral telling a story to his nephews. However, these characters are quickly brushed aside and are unnecessary to the plot. The same story could be told without them. Kids will quickly relate to those characters living through a similar life experience as themselves, for the story to suddenly change to completely different characters and a different storyline.

The audiobook narrator pauses at confusing times and reads at a drudging pace. If the goal is for children to fall asleep while listening to this, then the book easily achieves that.

At the end, I wondered what I just listened to and what children would make of the message. Personally, no child of mine would listen to this because I could not handle the questions it begs.

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Is This Really A Children’s Book

From the story line, I found interesting especially when reading a title called ‘Uncle Moral’s Bedtime Stories.’ It’s ironic how the uncle’s name is Morals and has bedtime stories about morals. The story has a great understanding of supply and demand during these economic times and uncovers what true sacrifices are. People tend to forget what it truly means to make sacrifices to be able to live in this economy and it helps reshape our minds of this focus on costs.
The narrorators did a magnificent job with the storyline from the ideal of what a children’s book could be about. To be able to discuss a new idea of economics into a developing mindset of a child from an expensive papaya to an Apple. Two fruits very delicious but one must give in order to survive.
The audio production was amazing especially when i previously had experience of working in voice over myself and understanding the tones of the reader’s voice and differentiating the kids and Uncle’s voice. The snoring mid way of a story was definitely funny because there’s so much imagery of how people tell stories and just randomly fall asleep on you. I really can’t complain and enjoyed listening twice to really go into details of what this audiobook is about.
Overall this was a 5 in my opinion because I loved the imagery and Irony it upholds in this children’s book and not often you get books detailed like this nowadays. It’s very unique and it will keep you very much in tuned with the story.

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