Questions for our UK members

These are things you may know that I can't seem to find out.

I have all the Harry Potter books in both the UK and US versions, but the UK versions, I have just discovered, are called "Children's editions." I've read them, and I've seen only the smallest differences between them and the U.S. editions. Do you know what the difference is between the UK adult and children's editions?

Jim Dale does the audio books in the U.S. He's a British actor, and very good. I know the UK audio versions are a different reader. How good is he?

Eric's brother has all the books in French because he said they dumbed them down for American children. I was read some of his I didn't see much of a difference between them. I just assumed the reading level was different because the average American reads at a 7th grade reading level and most newspapers are written at a 3rd grade reading level.

I think the main difference between the adult and children's books is the cover design. I think the adult versions look like this and the child versions look like this.

Stephen Fry narrates them. He is wonderful, very well spoken posh English accent. He is also the presenter of Qi, and starred as Jeeves in an adaptation of Jeeves and Wooster, with Hugh Laurie (of House MD) as Bertie Wooster. I think he's also been on Bones.

hi hun

in the uk as far as i am aware the only difference between the adult and children's editions are the covers/jackets of the books themselves and not actually difference in the text. i just had a quick google to make sure and amazon discussion confirms this. i could be wrong tho but thats what i was always led to believe. hope that helps xxx

Originally Posted by cata_mint

Stephen Fry narrates them. He is wonderful, very well spoken posh English accent. He is also the presenter of Qi, and starred as Jeeves in an adaptation of Jeeves and Wooster, with Hugh Laurie (of House MD) as Bertie Wooster. I think he's also been on Bones.

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Wow, I love Stephen Fry, he's got the perfect voice for narrating!

Does Fry do all the different voices, like Dale does?

I thought perhaps his accents might be more authentic, since I'm sure Dale "Americanizes" the accents to help us understand them. Just as an example, when we were in London, we were listening to a Scot and a Londoner talk, and the Scot was totally incomprehensible to us.

never heard before about this topic!...Interesting!..

Jim Dale is a well know actor, mainly in the "Carry on" films

http://www.jim-dale.com/

Jim Dale does a great job. He's been in plays here, too, such as "Barnum."

Here's Jim Dale doing it live:

The Sorting Hat

I've listened to Stephen Fry do the same section, and I didn't find his performance any near as impressive.

But I've only heard snatches, so I really can't judge. I'm trying to decide if I want the UK audio books.