Jim Weiss (born November 24, 1948, in

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...

) is an American children's audio storyteller, book narrator and author. Weiss has released over seventy audio cassettes and CDs since 1989, which are also available for online

streaming Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

with audiobook services. Examples of his retellings of stories include various works of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight f ...

, a''nd

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

. Most of his work is released by Great Hall Productions founded by Weiss and his wife Randy. The Great Hall Productions' maxim is ''Intelligent Entertainment for the Thinking Family.'' Weiss is also the narrator for the audio versions of Susan Wise Bauer's popular ''The Story of the World'' series. Weiss has been recognized by the

Film Advisory Board The Film Advisory Board (FAB) is a member-supported organization founded in 1975 by Elayne Blythe (1919–2005). The FAB's "Award of Excellence" was developed to award quality family-oriented and children's entertainment in both print and elec ...

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

, and Parents Guide to Children Media for his contribution to storytelling and audio entertainment. His works supports the foundations of educators focusing on a

classical education Classical education may refer to: *''Modern'', educational practices and educational movements: **An education in the Classics, especially in Ancient Greek and Latin **Classical education movement, based on the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) an ...

, and character building for children. Weiss also has a following in

homeschool Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

circles and Christian families. As of 2022 he was producing two recordings a year. The Weiss' have one daughter, and live in Tucson, Arizona.

Book Recordings - partial listing

G.A. Henty

* ''Henty Short Stories'' (Volume I) , 1800s, frontier Ohio & England * '' The Cat of Bubastes'' , 1250 BC Egypt * ''The Young Carthaginian'' , 220 BC Rome &

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

* ''Beric the Briton.'' , 62 AD Ancient Britain & Rome * ''For the Temple'' , 70 AD Jerusalem * ''Wulf the Saxon'' , 1066, England * ''In Freedom’s Cause'' , 1296-1314, Scotland & England * ''The Lion of St Mark'' , 1300s, Venice, Italy * * ''The Lion of the North'' , 1618-1648,

Thirty Years War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an es ...

, Europe * '' In the Reign of Terror'' , 1793,

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

The nine Henty novels are “thoughtfully abridged” which is described as minor edits removing vast amounts of repetition.

World history and stories

The Ancient World to 70 AD

* ''Story of the World, Vol. I: The Ancients'' , 5000 BC – 400 AD * ''Bible Stories: Great Men and Women From Noah through Solomon'' , 2000s BC - 900s BC Middle East * ''Tales from the Old Testament'' , 6000 BC - 400 BC Middle East * ''Egyptian Treasures: Mummies & Myths'' , 3000 BC * ''Tales from Cultures Far & Near'' , 3000 BC, China * ''The Dragon Diaries: Dragon Stories From Around the World'' , 3000 BC * ''Jewish Holiday Stories'' , 2000 BC - 300 BC, Middle East * ''Pharaohs and Queens of Ancient Egypt'' , 1500 BC - 1200 BC * ''The Cat of Bubastes'' by G. A. Henty , 1250 BC, Egypt * ''Greek Myths'' , 1000 BC * ''She & He: Adventures in Mythology'' , 1000 BC, Greece * ''Courage and a Clear Mind: True Adventures of Ancient Greeks'' , 1000 BC * ''

for Children, A Midsummer’s Night Dream'' , 1000 BC, Greece * ''Heroes in Mythology'' , 1000 BC, Greece * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' (

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

) , 1000 BC, Israel * ''Animal Tales'' (Aesop) , 600 BC * ''

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...

& the Stargazers'' (

Archimedes Archimedes of Syracuse (;; ) was a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, astronomer, and inventor from the ancient city of Syracuse in Sicily. Although few details of his life are known, he is regarded as one of the leading scientists ...

) , 400 BC, Sicily * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' (

Diogenes Diogenes ( ; grc, Διογένης, Diogénēs ), also known as Diogenes the Cynic (, ) or Diogenes of Sinope, was a Greek philosopher and one of the founders of Cynicism (philosophy). He was born in Sinope, an Ionian colony on the Black Sea ...

) , 400 BC, Greece * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' (

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

) , 300 BC, Greece * ''The Young Carthaginian'' by G. A. Henty , 220 BC, Rome/Carthage * ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

and the Story of Rome'' , 44 BC * ''A Treasury of Wisdom'' ( The Good Samaritan) , 1st Century AD * ''Beric the Briton'' , 62 AD, Ancient Britain, Rome * ''For The Temple'' by G. A. Henty , 70 AD. Jerusalem

References

External links

*Official website
Great Hall - Storytelling Recordings and Performances by Jim Weiss

FacebookWell Trained MindAudibleApple BooksAmazon
*YouTube
Great Hall Productions
Audiobook narrators Living people 1948 births {{US-entertainer-stub