Mrs. Landgraff and her son Phineas listening to Bud, Not Buddy through Audible on Alexa!

Think back to those family vacation days. The one’s in the car, a family road trip. There’s a good chance your memory also contains listening to a book on tape or CD. 

If not, you missed out!  Now, is the perfect chance to revisit or acquaint yourself with an audiobook. You could go old school (if your car still happens to have a CD player) and you’re out driving around trying to score some toilet paper or you may find yourself searching out other ways to get your read on!  Besides, listening to audiobooks has many benefits for all types of readers. Read more about that in this Reading Rockets article.

Listening to an audiobook is a good option if you need to get something boring done or maybe something that can allow you to focus your attention on listening and doing at the same time. Perhaps you are doing a chore, exercising , cooking or settling down for the night.  Perhaps you’re cleaning the house and you may come across some outdated material that may still work like CD’s or Playaways. If that’s not happening in your house, don’t worry, there are a lot of modern services you can access. You could listen from your phone, from your computer, from your Alexa or Google Home or from any other speaker system with an Internet connection. It can be an independent activity or you can find a book the whole family will enjoy! Kind of reminiscent of a Fireside Chat or maybe getting tucked in at night for bed. 

My personal experience with audiobooks has been positive. I started listening to audiobooks after my son accidentally purchased one through Audible on his Amazon Alexa. I decided to give it a try and allowed him to try out a subscription for a month. This worked well, because he started to listen to books before falling asleep each night. I then started listening as I walked during the day a couple of summers ago. I then started listening to books in my car. Since I also work in the children’s room of a public library, I was familiar with some other resources and began using Libby (Overdrive) and Hoopla which are free services through the public library. A little known fact is that anyone living in New York State can also apply online for a NYC public library card and then have access to all of their digital materials.

You also have the option of listening to a Podcast rather than a traditional book. Audiobooks and Podcasts have the bonus of being expertly produced. Sometimes the authors themselves narrate their titles or a hired professional will narrate the story. Some books are read with one voice, while others hire multiple voices for each character in the story. You’ll find yourself getting to know the voices coming across your speaker or earphone and they will start to become recognizable and inviting. Music also plays a part in audiobook production. Music adds to the story and helps the reader understand the mood and setting of the story. Other sound effects help paint a picture as well. You’ll start to have a favorite narrator,  just like being a fan of a band, movie or tv star!

Luckily, there are a plethora of choices out there to satisfy your audiobook needs, some free and some come with a fee. During this quarantine period, there are even some pay for companies offering free audiobooks at this time. One of my favorite online resources Common Sense Media  reviews children’s audiobooks and is a great resource. Check out the list below to get you started. You can also do an online search to find even more. If you need help accessing any of the choices reach out to Mrs. Landgraff at klandgraff@socsd.org