Whether it’s a summer road trip, or shuttling kids to soccer practice, we love our audiobooks! We typically have one going as a family, and more for specific groups that have lots of car time together ( i.e. my two preteens who go to soccer practice at the same time, me and my daughter on the way to gymnastics, my two youngest who are most often toted around to the events of others).
My qualifications for a good audiobook are that it has to be appropriate for everyone in the car at the time (emotionally, language-wise, and easy enough to understand). To keep everyone engaged I choose a variety of styles and genres, and balance new books with classics.
Here are a few that we’ve loved! I’ve added links here to the audible versions (as an affiliate I receive a small commission, but I picked only books we listened to and loved!)
Family Favorites (7 to 14 year olds + adults):
This is our current listen, and we are loving this this as an audiobook because the music from the book is actually played! It makes it really fun, and helpful for kids who wouldn’t otherwise know the song.
A time travel adventure, combining historical details with futuristic science. We were all edge-of-our carseats working out the timeline intricacies! And we all learned some fascinating American history.
I actually listened to this twice in a row- first by myself because I wasn’t sure if it would be too graphic for the kids… I started it right over and we did it together.
It is a realistic about war and starvation-but not overly graphic story with action, and a parallel story that is relatable and hopeful. We loved it!
One of the most random, silly books I have ever listened too.
It’s just under an hour, but so funny that the teenage friends we were carpooling with were sad to miss the ending, and the youngest wanted to start it again as soon as we finished (we did, just as good the 2nd time through).
THE WILD JOURNEY OF JUNIPER BERRY
My kids have all been fans of author Chad Morris, but this one is our family favorite. Juniper has been raised homesteading, away from “society” and then has to integrate into middle school life. Her lessons in the wild proved useful (and hilarious) when applied to her new habitat!
My preteen boys and me have been working our way through the series all spring starting with THE MAGICIAN’S NEPHEW, and at a tournament last week nearly finished THE LAST BATTLE! Such a fun and exciting series!
My daughter wanted a book about a girl with superpowers to listen to on our way to gymnastics this spring, so I thought MATILDA was just the thing! The Trunchbull yells a lot in the audiobook, so my younger son who is a little more sensitive probably wouldn’t love it as much, but we are having a great time with it!
I found this for my 7-year-old horse obsessed kid, but we all were entertained. It’s based on the true story of Morgan horses. This is the same author that did the Misty of Chincoteague books that we also enjoyed.
Better than I remembered it! It is so smartly written, you don’t even realize how little fighting there actually is. Not even the youngest found this too scary.
We tried to start with the dramatized version, and it was just not enjoyable. This is the one we found that did the story justice.
Kimberly Horch 