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Our library has an amazing audiobook section (huge score for us). Every now and then we find a new author or book that we just love. Equally, there are a few that we try so hard with, but they just don’t click.
Trips in the car are made much more enjoyable when an audiobook is running. Typically that means peace and quiet as everyone listens along, compared to the arguing over what music to listen to or who gets to sit where (Side note: My kids are just like yours. Unless your kids don’t argue. Then they aren’t just like yours, and we need to chat sibling dynamics).
But I digress….
Audiobooks We Recommend (or maybe don’t)
Here’s a quick look at what we’ve been listening too, age recommendations, and a little blurb about the story/plot.
Last month we started listening to A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck (read by Lois Smith), and we fell in love with Grandma Dowdel and her crazy antics. We laughed and practically cried at some of the things she puts her neighbors through. The story follows a 15 year old girl who moves to live with her grandmother – and the happenings in their small town. All of our kids enjoyed this one so much that on our next trip to the library we bulked up with a few more audiobooks by Peck. Recommended ages 9 to 13.
Next up for the CD player was A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (read by Hope Davis). Years ago (back in my 5th grade year, and we won’t talk about how long ago that was), our teacher read the book aloud to us as a class. Either I have fond memories of another book (or just the read aloud time), because we were only able to get through about two of the six disks before we called it quits. Quite honestly, even though we listened to that much…I’m still lost on the story. Maybe it was the weird way some of the characters were read, but we just had a hard time getting hooked. (Makes me sad, but on we go.) Recommended ages 10 to 14.
Our 7 year old picked out the next audiobook, Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck (read by Jayne Entwistle). This fun story about a family of mice traveling to England with their human family. Super cute book that made us giggle at their trouble with the ship’s cat and love Peck even more. Recommended ages 9 to 14, but I think 7 and up based on content.
Have I mentioned how much we loved Grandma Dowdel? Next up for listening was A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck (read by Ron McLarty). In this adventure set in 1958, there’s a new pastor in town and his family moves in next door to Grandma Dowdel. While it seems like the last place on earth they want to be, the small town quickly becomes home. Recommended ages 9 to 14 – there are a few things that would definitely stick it close to this age range, especially the outhouse scene (funny, but might need some explaining – nothing bad!).
Other Audiobooks We’ve Enjoyed
That’s what we’ve been listening to lately, but below are a few other audiobooks that we’ve loved and recommend. Click on the cover to find out more!
What audiobooks are YOU listening to?
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Perfect timing! I’m so glad I found your list. We recently borrowed an audiobook from our library that we had to turn off in the first disc for foul language! :( I just reserved A Year Down Yonder. Thanks for the recommendations.
I hear you!!! I usually try to stick with authors I am familiar with – or ask our librarian just in case. Sky Jumpers was another great one – the kids really liked that one too. And we LOVE the ones that are like radio theatre (like narnia).
Our library doesn’t have Sky Jumpers. :( But, I may look for it on Amazon and read it aloud. I may do Narnia next. I haven’t read the whole series so it may be fun to do that series next.
That audio series is AMAZING!! Aslan is different if you are used to the movies, but we’ve listened to those so many times – and I cry on many of them each time. :)
The second book in Sky Jumpers is coming out soon and our kids are so excited. Even I loved it!
I’ve never seen the movies either. We are heading into a 6-week period of ballet rehearsals which will have us driving 30 minutes each way several days a week. I think we could knock out most of the series in that time, and I’ll have an excuse to schedule some homeschool movie days as we finish each book (or however many have movies).
Oh my goodness – YES!!! :)
and your profile image is cracking me up. :)
LOL. That kid cracks me up! We had a family portrait made wearing those moustaches, and she wore hers all day long. :)
It is too bad you did not have a good experience with A Wrinkle in Time. We just read that one aloud recently (after convincing the kids to let me pick it) and really enjoyed it. I had forgotten how much Christianity was in it, with the creatures singing hymns and so forth.
An author I really like for read alouds is Sharon Creech. We have read many of her books and really like them for reading aloud. Right now we are reading Ruby Holler, but have read Walk Two Moons, Chasing Redbird, Pleasing the Ghost, Bloomabilities….She will put a minor character from one book into another book as the main character.
I’ll have to check those out – and I bought a Wrinkle in Time and am hoping that reading it out loud will be better for us. I definitely still want to read it together. We did get to the point where they were quoting scripture and the kids all of a sudden perked up. :)
I need to start sharing ours too! We listened to Secrets at Sea and loved it as well! I hated a wrinkle in time when I was in school. I was going to give it another go but I think we will hold off. I need to get some of the Richard Peck books.
Thank you for this list! We are studying England this coming month for Geography so I picked up two of Richard Pecks audio books, Secrets at Sea and The mouse with the Question Mark Tail both set in England. I love it when that happens ;)
We loved both of those!!! Hope you enjoy them as well!
Just wanted to make sure you didn’t miss A Long Way From Chicago by Peck. It was actually the first Grandma Dowdle book.
We didn’t!! Loved it as much as the others. Those books had me crying in parts – from laughter. :)