our newfound love of audiobooks.

I fully credit the Read Aloud Revival podcast with our new audiobook obsession, or perhaps I should say my kids’ new obsession. I’m such a visual learner that I’ve never much enjoyed listening to audiobooks, which is unfortunate when it comes to long road trips. I find that if I can’t see the words on the page, my mind wanders. But as you’ll see, I’m now training myself to listen to audiobooks and enjoy them.

The kids and I tried a couple of audiobooks together about a year ago, but they weren’t fans, and since I truly love to read aloud, we abandoned the idea.

Enter into our family two wiggly, noisy little boys. Suddenly, I can hardly read aloud two sentences without an interruption. I’ve scaled way back reading aloud this year, because it’s just been too hard. The little boys have grown to do better and better with picture books, but forget chapter books.

I’ll make them sit at the table and play or draw during our morning read-aloud time for school (which is probably 30 minutes total), or they can always run off and be noisy in another room, but beyond that it’s hard to get hours of reading aloud done like we used to when we got caught up in a really great book.

So this winter I decided to give audiobooks another shot. I signed up for the free Audible.com trial, which gives you a free audiobook or series to download (and keep!). I chose the complete Ramona Quimby series, by Beverly Cleary, because we read Beazus and Ramona for school this year and loved it, and because it was the largest/most expensive series I could find for my free credit. Well, Judah and Amie adored listening to the whole series! They plowed through 19+ hours of stories in less than a month, and then started right back at the beginning.

And since then, we’ve never looked back.

Before I give you a list of audiobooks they love, a couple of thoughts.

– Do I listen to books with my kids? For the most part it’s just them (and by “them” I mean largely the two oldest kids). Their main times for listening to audiobooks are during afternoon rest time, and at night before bed. But over time I’ve listened in on large portions of the Ramona Quimby series and love it.

There’s something childlike about having a story read to you. I find it makes me slow down, laugh more (Beverly Cleary is so much fun, for instance), and feel a delight that’s different when I read aloud. After serving others for a living, it feels like being served.

However, I don’t stress out when I can’t listen with them. Sarah Mackenzie gives a guide to 5 great questions to ask to get your kids talking about books, and she mentions that sometimes her own conversations with her kids are even better when she hasn’t read the book they’re reading, because they don’t feel like she’s drilling them or looking for a specific answer; she just genuinely wants to know what they think. I like that.

-How do we listen to audiobooks? Typically on the iPad or phone. A couple months ago I broke down and bought the kids a CD/cassette player (because my mom gave us a stack of old cassette tapes from my childhood). So we start with searching online for books we can download and listen to on the phone or iPad, and if they aren’t available there, we get them on CD.

I kept my Audible subscription after seeing that the kids wanted to listen to the Ramona series again. I have a special $7.99/month deal for three months, and then it goes up to $14.99; each month you get a credit for one book or series and discounts off additional books, and thus far I think it’s worth every penny. I use it to purchase my kids’ favorite series and books that aren’t available at our library.

-I’ve begun looking to audiobooks as entertainment rather than TV or iPad games. I’m not saying we never watch TV or movies anymore, but more and more I’m offering audiobooks instead. Of course the kids are disappointed when they can’t watch DVD’s on car rides or play games, but they’re getting used to it! TV has become a special weekend activity, and they almost never ask for iPad games anymore.

The big kids and I drove back from as airport run to Charlotte recently, and listened to Little House on the Prairie the whole ride home. They complained at first, but the three of us got swept up in the story and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We’re a family who really enjoys music and usually listen to it in the car, but David and I have already begun talking about choosing a book to listen together as a family on our drive down to Florida in May.

-The kids almost always have something to do with their hands while they’re listening (and so do I): they draw or color, play with Legos or Amie dresses her American Girl dolls. If I’m listening with them, I’m making lunch or folding laundry, but sometimes I pull out my adult coloring book or make “fashion girl” paper dolls with Ams. Somehow keeping your hands busy helps you to pay attention.

-Do I worry about audiobooks replacing reading time for my kids? I did in the beginning. Judah reads to me every day for school, but beyond that, his pleasure reading lessened considerably for awhile when first diving into audiobooks, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing (although now he’s on book 3 in the Harry Potter series, so it turns out that I didn’t need to worry).

Then I heard Andrew Pudewa of the Institute for Excellence in Writing speak on the importance of reading aloud to older kids for their language and thought patterns and ability to communicate well (listen to the podcast or read this excellent talk here). It set my mind at ease, and if anything, encouraged me to offer audiobooks more to my kids, not less.

Having said that, during these years while I have complete control over what my kids listen to, I make sure to only select good literature. I want to fill their minds with beautiful stories and language, not so that they’ll be “advanced,” but to grow their imagination, empathy, and love of really great writing. I peruse book lists, get ideas from podcasts, etc.

I so wish Judah would listen to Harry Potter on audiobook with me because I’ve heard it’s magical, but he’s enjoying reading the series to himself right now. He’s such a visual learner like me, that I understand. There’s just nothing in the world like the experience of holding that well-worn hardcover book in your hands and seeing the printed pages. But maybe one day we’ll listen too!

– Experiencing stories together has been so good for Judah and Amie’s relationship! They’ve always been best buddies, but I see their interests merge more as they share hours upon hours of fun stories. Of course, this happens when I read to them too, and I love being apart of those memories. But I’m happy that even when I don’t have time to read to or listen with them, their imagination is being fueled together by characters like Henry and Beazus and Ramona, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny, Winnie the Pooh, and all of their various escapades.

I can’t wait for the little boys to become apart of these shared memories more and more as they get interested in listening too.

-Finally, we’re learning that the “reader” matters! So when I’m getting ideas for what to listen to next, I take note of not only the recommended audiobook, but also the recommended reader if there’s more than one audio recording. Good performers make a book truly come alive for the listeners, and I’m seeing now that may have been our problem with the early audiobooks we disliked.

Okay, since this post is getting long, here’s a list of our favorites thus far. Please let me know if you or your family are enjoying any that I haven’t mentioned!

–Ramona, Henry Huggins, and The Mouse and the Motorcycle series by Beverly Cleary, read by Stockard Channing, Neil Patrick Harris, B.D Wong

–Winnie the Pooh, read by Peter Dennis

–The Boxcar Children series (different performers, but the kids have enjoyed all)

–Hank the Cowdog series, read by the author (Gabe and Noah enjoy these funny children’s stories too)

–Little House on the Prairie, read by Cherry Jones (note: I honestly wish my kids like these books more than they do. I read Little House in the Big Woods to them. They will listen when I turn it on, but never ask for my most beloved series ever. But they’re their own people and allowed to have their own preferences!)

When I’m looking for what to listen to next, I work from this list over at the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog.

Happy listening!