This is the third in a series of guest posts written by curation team member Wendy. Click here to go to Part One and Part Two. 

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One of the coolest things about being a parent is getting to share parts of your own childhood with your kids. Kids in this age range can start handling more challenging materials and have the attention span to follow stories that are several hours long, so it’s the perfect time to start introducing more demanding stories with new subject matter.

One beloved book series from my childhood that I can’t wait to share with my son is C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia”. These classic books are incredibly immersive and will appeal to adults, children and teens, as the listeners are drawn into a magical world of adventure and heroics. BBC Audiobooks has created a wonderful listening experience: the full cast narration, music and sound effects are spot on and make it an easy and engaging listen. There are seven books in the series, which makes it simple to find the next book for your family to enjoy.

Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” is another fantasy series, but with a slightly darker tone. This trilogy is great for kids on the higher end of the age range: the plot is more complicated, the subject matter is elevated, and the vocabulary will introduce them to strong new words. The books are easily enjoyed as a magical adventure, but also operate on a higher level with lots of metaphor, allegory, and insinuations that will sail over the heads of younger listeners but will engage the adults in the car. This is another high-quality, full-cast narration by BBC Audiobooks.

If you’re looking for a book to bridge the gap between your younger kids, your middle schoolers and even your teens, try Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale. Written by Carmen Agra Deedy, the story centers around a cat named Skilley who gets a job as a mouser at a popular haunt for famous writers, but strikes up an unlikely friendship with the head mouse, Pip. The story is at turns charming, mysterious and filled with action, perfect for younger listeners, and the clever way in which the author plays with language will keep adults and teens listening raptly.

If your middle-schoolers prefer to read about real life over fantasy, try Jerry Spinelli’s
Stargirl. Featuring a quirky heroine and her best friend, Stargirl is all about learning how to be yourself in a world filled with bullying and peer pressure. It’s fun, funny and heartbreaking.

Check back tomorrow to find out my top content-approved listens for teens that will make everyone in the car happy.

Find more great audiobooks for for your young listener in our Ages 9 to 12 section.

This is a guest post written by Wendy, a former teacher, children’s bookstore owner, and a mom herself. For Part One of this series, click here. To see all our books for this age bracket, see our Ages 6 to 8 section. 

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Traveling with children in the six-to-eight age range presents its own set of challenges: they crave a higher level of stimulation, get bored more easily, and take fewer naps. If your summer plans include travelling with a mischievous child, they’ll love these next selections.

Andrew Clement’s book Frindle is about a precocious boy named Nick, whose love of learning and skill for disruption drives his teachers mad. The book is funny and smart and will have your young listeners laughing out loud as they follow Nick along on his quest to change the name of pens to “frindle”.

The “Ivy and Bean” series, written by Annie Barrows and narrated by Cassandra Morris, chronicles the lives of two best friends, Ivy and Bean, on their adventures. From participating in school plays to outsmarting the babysitter, Ivy and Bean are a modern day version of Dennis the Menace and will have everyone hooked. At over an hour each and with lots of stories to choose from, “Ivy and Bean” offers enough variety to keep little ones engaged for the whole trip.

For your little listener who loves fairy tales, The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo is the perfect choice. It’s a fairy tale of a different sort: the hero is a mouse who dreams of becoming a knight and rescuing a princess. Despite his small stature, Despereaux’s presence is

enormous and will capture the hearts of readers as you cheer him on his way through dungeons, castles and sword fights. These books are so engrossing, you might find yourself looking for excuses to stay in the car even longer.

Check back tomorrow to find out my recommendations for great listens that your middle-schoolers will love!

And then, there was one.

That’s the cold, hard reality of it, folks. There’s only Labor Day weekend left standing between your kids and the beginning of another school year. If you’re making the most of August with a last-hurrah road trip, keeping the kids happy (and quiet) during a long car ride might be something of a challenge. We asked our curation team member Wendy, a former teacher, children’s book store owner and a mom herself, for her top audio book picks to help kids of all ages stay happy (and quiet) during the journey. Check out the first of her four-part blog series, featuring great books for anyone traveling with children under five. — Michelle

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As a parent, if you’re contemplating a summer road trip with the kids, you’re probably not planning it with a light heart. Spending hours together in close quarters can definitely fall into the “quantity over quality” approach to family bonding—and that’s where we come in. Everyone knows that reading with your kids is not only a great way to spend time together, but also to boost your child’s literacy skills and imbue a lifelong love of reading.

 When planning any car trip, the first thing to consider is the music selection. It can set the tone–good or bad–for the entire journey. In the music and songs section of our children’s genre, you’ll find an abundance of sing-a-longs that will keep your toddler and preschooler entertained. Some of my favorites include: Big Rigs, for the little ones who love all things that go, and 25 Fun Traveling Songs, which offers over an hour of upbeat, travel-themed tunes. If you’re looking to combine a little education with your travels, 25 Fun Adventure Songs and Preschool Songs are excellent choices. Beginner concepts such as counting, the days of the week, letter sounds and ways to stay safe are all covered while also giving your kids a reason to boogie down the highway. Getting Myself Ready and Songs for Learning are just the thing for toddlers looking to gain a little independence, start learning the alphabet and learn more about the world around them.

If you’d prefer a great story to while away the long hours on the road, our Ages 5 and Under category has you covered there, too. The key to finding a story that everyone in the car can enjoy lies in finding a great narrator with adult appeal, and a story that Mom and Dad won’t mind hearing a few (hundred) times. Kelsey Grammer’s narration of The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back brings an old classic to life. Both parents and children will enjoy his delivery of Seuss’ rhyming cat with a penchant for disaster.

Mary Sheldon’s A Child’s Day Out is a collection of seven stories charmingly narrated by Betty White. The stories are adventurous and funny and will keep your pre-school and school age children enraptured. Betty White’s narration is fantastic: as she pulls you into the story, you’ll forget that you’re listening to an audio book and feel like she’s right there in the car with you.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you the perfect audio book list for kids aged 6 to 8 to ensure that your road trip, and not your blood pressure, starts out on a high note.

I’m equally fascinated and terrified by space travel. The same dark chill of excitement and fear runs through me when I look at the night sky as when I stare into the ocean: both vast, beautiful, at times deadly, always mysterious. A friend of mine claims that he would give up every single one of his worldly possessions, right down to the shirt on his back, for the chance to go into space (something that’s quickly becoming a very real possibility).

Space travel might someday become mundane and ordinary, treated with the same reluctant resignation that you might give to the weekday commute. But the first time that any human being touched down on a surface other than our own? The wonder that moment inspired is something that changed everyone who witnessed it, and the entire world that came after.

This Sunday will mark the one-year anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s passing. It’s difficult for a single act to resonate with everyone, everywhere, but the first moon landing united everyone as citizens of the planet, and as the first man to walk on the moon he became the face of that moment. At 82, Neil lived a long and incredible life, and spent years teaching at the University of Cincinnati, fueling that same love of exploration and discovery in the next generation of aerospace engineers.

Take some time today to learn more about the man himself, where space travel is going, or even a little bit about this gorgeous, terrifying universe we’re spinning in.

Neil, the night sky is darker without you, but thanks to you, it feels within reach.

Our book club pick this month, The Dovekeepers, was our most literary selection yet. Members had to switch gears from our last heart-pumping thriller and settle into Alice Hoffman’s thoroughly-researched historical novel.

Set in ancient Israel, the book tells the story of four women who have survived Roman attacks on their home in Masada. Through the perils of war, heartbreak, and abandonment, their lives are woven together. Alone and united, they have to overcome the obstacles that face them even after they believe they’ve lost everything.

The story is told by four different characters, offering ever-increasing depth as each woman takes her turn to move the story forward. This narrative structure lends itself perfectly to having multiple narrators in the audio book version, each of whom did an excellent job. Their different voices and styles added some variety to the main characters–something that we felt was lacking, despite their surface-level differences.

The amount of research that the author did for this book is obvious–it’s clear that Hoffman really did her homework. While reading descriptions of the settings and the day-to-day lives of the people, I felt immersed in the land and culture. Although this audio book has a serious tone with a thematic focus on war, love and morality, it also delves into the land of fantasy and magic. Several of our members were inspired to look for pictures of the region and cultural artifacts from the period and said it helped them to better visualize the story.

If your bookclub members enjoy historical fiction and stories that draw on strong, courageous women, they’ll enjoy Hoffman’s beautiful and challenging historical tale.