The Success of Audio Books

I've never listened to any audio books because I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as reading the book myself. I didn't think I would pay enough attention to someone else reading a book and would end up multi-tasking (or letting my mind wander) and not really paying attention the storyline.

I know some people enjoy listening to audio books while driving, but I haven't done that either because I figured I would be paying attention the road and miss half of what was being read to me.

This Christmas we drove to Maryland and like I usually do before long trips I went to the library. I try to check out a couple of new-to-them movies for Kayla and Lucas for the road trips.

I wandered over to the audio books and wondered if they would enjoy listening to books being read on the road trip. I wasn't sure how it would go over as we haven't done that before ... and I thought they would be looking for something on the DVD screen when the voices started and would be disappointed that they weren't watching anything, but had to just listen instead.

It was the best thing I could have done. The audio books on CD were a big hit with the kids. It was probably the quietest 8 hrs we've had while driving to Maryland, and back. There was no complaining, no whining, no asking for snacks every five minutes, no bickering, no 'he did this-she did that' to listen to. It also felt like the fastest 8 hrs it's taken us to get there!

I've read Judy Blume's Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing to them (and they saw the play), so I picked up Fudge-A-Mania for the trip (not paying attention that SuperFudge was next in the series, but oh well!). The book got us through the first 4 hours of the trip and to our pit stop destination for lunch.

I also checked out A-Z Mysteries (didn't get to listen to those stories) and The Magic Tree House, which contained the first 8 books (got through those on our way back home).

What a nice change for something different to do on road trips.

The success of that gave me an idea for helping to pass the time going to Kayla's vision therapy (VT). I pick the kids up from school 2x a week and we go directly to VT (30 min drive one way). So for 2 hours of the week we are spending on the road to and from VT I am going to be checking out more audio books from the library. We've already finished SuperFudge and are half-way through Judy Blume's The Pain and The Great One.

Besides more Magic Tree House and Judy Blume, I've seen several Beverly Cleary audio books at the library, but I recognize her name since I used to read her books when I was kid. What are some other great children's authors that would be fun for the kids to listen to? I got a couple suggestions from FB and am making a list now, and am looking for some more recommendation.