Easy Listening

Here are some easy (and free) ways to listen to books with your childen.

The easiest is probably to check out audiobooks on CD from your local library.  The advantage to these books is that you can brouse what is on the shelf, take a chance with something new, and  play the books in the car or at home.  It is easy to listen in your CD player at home or in the car, and children can even listen on their own in the rooms during down time.  The only downside is keeping up with the CDs and due dates.  Libraries even still have cassette tapes around, so if you have a player, those are probably good bets.

My favorite way to listen to audiobooks is to check out titles from my local library and then transfer the books to either an MP3 player or iPod shuffle.  Each of my boys have iPod shuffles and can listen to books at home or in the car with earphones or on the stereo or computer.  They enjoy drawing or building while listening to stories. 

You can also purchase audiobooks at Audible and Amazon, but I prefer first to search on OverDrive or NetLibrary to see if I can find the books for free.

Here are some series that my boys have enjoyed listening to:

Wacky Humor

Classics
Boxcar Children
Misty of Chincoteague

Everything on a Waffle
Bunnicula
James and the Giant Peach

Fantasy
Narnia
The Frog Princess Series

Younger Grade Schoolers
Junie B. Jones
Magic Tree House
A to Z Mysteries
CAM Jansen

Older Grade Schoolers
Harry Potter
Rick Riordan
Guardians of Gahoole

Holes
Lois Lowry
Susan Cooper