Clara’s Verdict
Seven minutes. That is the runtime of The Chocolate Tree, and at that length it belongs in a very specific and entirely honourable category: the story you put on for a small person at bedtime when you are already in the doorway and need something that will actually finish before they fall asleep. Dina Gregory’s Audible Original is precisely what it claims to be: a cheerful, short adventure for children who like video games and chocolate, which is to say most children. It does not overreach, and it does not need to.
I have a genuine soft spot for this kind of thing. There is a craft to writing for very young listeners that is easy to underestimate. The compression required is formidable, and the balance between incident, character, and satisfying resolution within seven minutes is genuinely tricky to achieve. Gregory manages it neatly, delivering a complete story with a clear arc, a memorable premise, and just enough character to make you care about the outcome. That is harder than it looks, and worth acknowledging.
The other thing worth noting is the access model. This title is available free through the Audible Stories Skill on Alexa-enabled devices, which makes it one of the most genuinely low-barrier introductions to audio storytelling available for families. No subscription, no credit required. For parents wondering whether their child will take to audiobooks, a free seven-minute story is an ideal test case, and the Audible Stories catalogue contains enough content at this level to build a real listening habit before any financial commitment is made.
About the Audiobook
Published by Audible Originals in May 2020, The Chocolate Tree follows Charlie and her friends, a group of avid video gamers, who spot something impossible growing from the top of a tree: a large chocolate bar. Then another. And another. What begins as a moment of gleeful disbelief turns into a real-life outdoor quest, with the playful energy and sense of discovery that the setup promises.
The premise is absurdist in the best tradition of children’s fiction. It does not try to explain the chocolate trees or ground them in any kind of logic, and the story is better for it. Children already understand that some things are funny precisely because they are impossible, and Gregory trusts her audience with that instinct rather than hedging it with explanations. The story does not spend time worrying about the rules of its own reality, which gives it a lightness and forward momentum that more laboured premises sometimes lack.
The video game framing gives Charlie’s group a contemporary feel, and the shift from screen-based play to outdoor adventure is organic rather than preachy. There is no lecture about spending too much time on devices. The children simply encounter something more interesting than their screens and run towards it, which is both narratively sensible and considerably more persuasive about the appeal of outdoor play than any explicit message would be.
The Audible Stories programme, of which this is a part, is designed explicitly as a free resource for families, and the production quality across the catalogue is consistently solid. The Chocolate Tree is a representative example of what the programme does well: short, competently produced, age-appropriate stories that function as genuine introductions to audio listening rather than as compromised versions of more substantial content.
The Narration
Angus King voices the story with the kind of easy, engaged energy that works well for this age group: present and warm without tipping into the pantomime register that can irritate both children and the adults sitting nearby. The seven-minute format does not leave much room for extended characterisation, but King makes good use of the space available, distinguishing between characters clearly without overplaying it. His pacing keeps the story moving without ever feeling rushed, which at this length matters more than it might in a longer narrative.
What Readers Say
No public ratings have been recorded for this title on Audible UK, which likely reflects the free-to-access model via Alexa rather than any absence of listeners. The Audible Stories programme reaches a wide audience of younger children, and the format tends not to generate the review activity that purchased titles do. Parents reporting back informally suggest it does exactly what it promises: holds a small person’s attention for seven minutes, delivers a satisfying little adventure, and ends cleanly without leaving anyone wanting to argue about whether there is time for one more.
Who Should Listen?
This is for children aged roughly five to nine who enjoy light adventure with a strong dose of the ridiculous. It works best as a quick bedtime story, a car journey filler, or an introduction to audio storytelling for children who have not yet built the patience for longer listens. It is free via Alexa, so the barrier to entry is effectively zero. For families in the early stages of building an audiobook habit with young children, this is the kind of frictionless starting point that makes the habit stick rather than feeling like a commitment. Listen on Audible UK
