Audio Books

Audio Books! I cannot say enough good about them. I have been seeking out good quality audio books for my children for years. This quest began because I had a struggling reader who LOVES books. There are only so many hours in a day and I felt I was unable to read aloud enough to meet her desire for books. We began checking out audio books from the library. She was soon bored with little book and cassette sets, so we ventured into the books on tape section. These were unabridged children's chapter books read aloud. She was instantly hooked! We have since began our own collection of audio books. Although they aren't word for word readings, some of our favorites are the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre CDs which include dramatizations of all 6 books in the Chronicles of Narnia as well as Anne of Green Gables, A Christmas Carol, Squanto, The Secret Garden, and more.

It was only natural that my second daughter would become hooked on these as well. Even my 4 year old bounced between listening to stories or his Thomas the Tank Engine music at bedtime. In our home, just after bedtime, you can usually hear at least two or three different stories being read because each of our children picks one to listen to as they go to sleep.

I cannot even because to tell you how much my children have gotten out of the simple act of listening to good quality audio books. Often they will quote historical facts that even I don't know and when I question them, they claim they learned it from a particular book on tape. The Your Story Hour historical series has been especially great for that. I can say that they have more good literature under their belt than I did at their ages! I have to request that we listen to some of these books in the car so I get a chance to experience them, too.

Anyway, this subject came up because my SIL sent me a link to a site (click on the image above to go there) that looks like a great source. These are classic stories told by professional storyteller, Jim Weiss. They sound fantastic! I can't wait until I can work some funds into the budget so we can add a few to our own audio library!