Audiobooks – Not your kid’s books on tape!

Day 2 – Audiobooks

Something you can do for YOURSELF:

Try Audiobooks!

Yes! As much as they FEEL like entertainment, they, too increase your vocabulary, and in addition, they increase your own ability to tell a story, speak and pronounce words, and increase your understanding of concepts (critical thinking).

So don’t tell anyone you don’t have time to get up to speed on that new political expose, get lost in that murder mystery, or learn about life in ancient times.  Grab an audiobook!

Some are LONG, like their physical counterpart, like Ken Follet’s Pillar’s  of the Earth. If you like a long historical narrative – could take you weeks to finish this – this is a really enthralling book.  The reader’s voice is terrific, he tells the story well, and you can get lost in the story just as you would in the written version. However, there are a few parts (just a few) that you wouldn’t really want the kids to hear, so keep that in mind when listening with the family in the car.

Some fun family audiobooks are the books in the Little House series. If you aren’t familiar with the series you might as well buy the whole set of books, though, because these are books your kids will pick up over and over to read. But they also won’t mind listening to them in addition to reading them. One I enjoy very much is the book Farmer Boy.

Based on Almonzo Wilder’s life (but still written by Laura Ingalls Wilder), this book is fun for the kids because it talks a lot about some fun things they used to do, and gives great descriptions of lots of awesome period foods. Also, like a lot of great children’s books, this series has a website with lots of great content that you can use in a home-school setting, or, like me, in a summer program.

Another adult author I enjoy in an audiobook version is Lisa Scottoline.  Depending on the voice of the reader, some books are more successful than others (but all of her books are well written).

Of course, you can listen to books from all genres this way. Perhaps a biography is too dry when reading it, so try it in the audioversion and learn something knew about a historical figure.  Or maybe you like a mystery…

I swear that some of the readers can transport you right to the heart of the author’s intent for the story using accents and vocal changes. And you get that intellectual growth to boot!  Go ahead, try it. You can usually borrow them for FREE from your local library, so go for it!

Additonal TIP:   At my office one of the supervisors has a few shelves in her office devoted to audiobooks. She recieved a lot as gifts, and others were donated when they heard she was going to keep a library for everyone to use. Yes! We sign them out when we go to use them, and bring them back and sign them in again. It is a way for everyone to learn and grow, without the expense. Did I mention that I work with educators?