Mr. Wicker's Window


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(2.7 stars; 15 reviews)

When twelve-year-old Chris entered Mr. Wicker's shop to inquire about a job for his friend, something about old Mr. Wicker forced him to take the job himself. Chris found himself the pupil of Mr. Wicker, not the old man he first saw, but a powerful man in his forties--a magician. Chris learned how to turn himself into a fish, a bird, a fly, and with a magic rope he learned to make a boat or even an elephant.

Chris had been chosen to sail to China on a mysterious mission. Long before he sailed, Chris met the enemies who would try and stop him--evil Claggett Chew, the dandy Osterbridge Hawsey, the treacherous old beggar Simon Gosler. With a Nubian boy Chris brought to life with magic, he set out on his hazardous voyage.(Summary by Saturday Review of Literature) (5 hr 52 min)

Chapters

Chapter 1 3:23 Read by Alana Jordan
Chapter 2 10:35 Read by Elli
Chapter 3 9:13 Read by Elli
Chapter 4 19:02 Read by Patti Cunningham
Chapter 5 10:55 Read by May
Chapter 6 13:15 Read by laineyben
Chapter 7 6:09 Read by Elli
Chapter 8 8:09 Read by Elli
Chapter 9 9:39 Read by Ian Grae
Chapter 10 13:20 Read by msjodi777
Chapter 11 8:24 Read by msjodi777
Chapter 12 10:06 Read by SuD
Chapter 13 7:11 Read by Ian Grae
Chapter 14 8:52 Read by LoraBeth Davis
Chapter 15 9:16 Read by Bellona Times
Chapter 16 8:04 Read by SuD
Chapter 17 7:00 Read by SuD
Chapter 18 14:18 Read by Elli
Chapter 19 6:52 Read by Elli
Chapter 20 7:54 Read by smhamon
Chapter 21 12:47 Read by smhamon
Chapter 22 10:08 Read by smhamon
Chapter 23 10:35 Read by Linda Ferguson
Chapter 24 11:34 Read by smhamon
Chapter 25 11:21 Read by Linda Ferguson
Chapter 26 8:43 Read by Linda Ferguson
Chapter 27 13:58 Read by Linda Ferguson
Chapter 28 10:39 Read by Ian Grae
Chapter 29 10:41 Read by Ian Grae
Chapter 30 8:28 Read by Ian Grae
Chapter 31 5:29 Read by Chelsea Baker
Chapter 32 8:19 Read by Chelsea Baker
Chapter 33 11:53 Read by Chelsea Baker
Chapter 34 5:35 Read by Ian Grae
Chapter 35 15:20 Read by LoraBeth Davis
Chapter 36 5:44 Read by Ian Grae

Reviews

Didn't get very far in this book...


(1 stars)

Original Review - Chapters 2 and 3 are read by someone with a VERY heavy accent, and frankly I could not understand what she was reading. I hopped ahead and listened to a few seconds of each chapter and she reads quite a few of them, so I threw in the towel. I would be missing too much of the story line skipping or not understanding that many of the chapters. Update - Thanks for the info. It is helpful, I will give the other version a try. Nobody likes to be criticized, but if the reading or recording is poor, isn't it better to honestly say so and alert others so those chapters can be re-recorded? Lying about it to avoid hurting feelings doesn't benefit anyone. But you are free to disagree! :-) - End of Update 5/11/2010 Just another comment - I love a good accent, I think that adds variety, and I don't believe a person has to be a native speaker to do justice to a language. I DO believe that the accent must not be so heavy that the words are not discernible to the average native speaker tho.

I must agree - accent ruins the piece


(1 stars)

I know that there are various dialects of English. I also appreciate that Librivox has many Scandanavian volunteers. Let's start with the proposition that any book ought have a reader whose native language (first language) is that of the book. We can argue over native dialects but what induces a non-native to presume that a heavy accent contributes to the quality of the result? I'm sorry but facts are facts. Our non-native volunteer here simply ruins the listenability of this book, notwithstanding her effort.

No rating info for Zane


(0 stars)

Mike Zane I think the reader you refer to is Elli. I had to give up on another book that she narrated as I could not understand her at all either. I noticed; however, that Librivox has another recording so perhaps you might want to try that one! I know some people here do not like us to critique volunteers but I look at this as an opportunity to prevent people from wasting their time or being really disappointed when something is impossible to understand.

bad experience


(2 stars)

the book and the story is great but I could not understand a word from the reader Eli ! I had to skip many chapters due to her . I had similar experiences with other books to with her reading! sorry

Good story but...


(3 stars)

This is a great fantasy adventure for kids. Unfortunately I didn't like a lot of the narrators as much as I did the story, and ended up reading more than half of it via Gutenberg.

Sweet book


(5 stars)

This is really a sweet book and i found it highly enjoyable to listen to. I can only recommend it warmly. All the readers were quite good and so was the quality of the recordings. Thanks!

Great


(5 stars)

Thanks to librivox for making this available! It was a great listening experience and I found all the readers quite good. Only the quality of a few chapters at the isn't very good.


(1 stars)

I can't understand what the reader is saying in Chapters Two and Three. So. I gave up. A failure by whoever managed or coordinated thie reading of this book.