My children and I go on an annual road trip to see family every summer. We spend a little over two weeks in the car and cover many miles. My car does not have a DVD player, and I am doing my best to keep it that way. We started using audio books three summers ago, and it is holding the backseat passengers’ attention for now.  We have learned that a great read aloud at home may not be a good audio book.  It all depends on the narrator.  Here is a list of a few we loved… and some we did not.

Everybody Liked:

• Magic Treehouse (any in the series) read by the author, Mary Pope Osborne.
• The Boxcar Children read by Phyllis Newman.
• Little House in the Big Woods (or any Little House book) read by Cherry Jones.
• Frindle read by John Fleming.
• Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing read by the author, Judy Blume.
• The BFG read by Natasha Richardson.
• The Cricket in Times Square read by Tony Shalhoub.
• Lunch Money read by John H. Mayer. 
  
• Hotel for Dogs read by Katherine Kellgren. 
  
• Abby Cornelia’s One & Only Magical Power read by the author, David Pogue. 
  

My Children Liked; I Did Not:

• Junie B. Jones read by Lana Quintal. (My children thought these were hysterical.  But, what comes across as silly when read at bedtime in our house seemed so obnoxious through the voice of Lana Quintal.  I wanted to spank Junie B!)
• The Secret of the Old Mill read by Bill Irwin. (This is a Hardy Boys mystery. The reader was too slow for me, but my children loved the sound effects.) 
  

Nobody Liked:

• A Series of Unfortunate Events read by the author, Lemony Snicket.  (This was probably a bad choice on my part.  Not only was the author’s voice very nasal, the book is much darker read aloud, and the content was too old for my children’s ages.)