Audiobooks for children
Hearing stories spoken aloud is great for children's understanding of the written word. Lucy Kippist looks at why audiobooks are great for kids and how to choose the best one for your child, no matter their age.
Audiobooks can be an easily forgotten alternative to hardcover books for children but they offer many more learning opportunities than you’d probably realise.
Ingrid Heyn, the owner of Soundbooks, The Audiobooks Specialists in Victoria told Kidspot that by listening to a story children can come to grips with a higher level of vocabulary than they are used to.
“Children can actually listen to a story that uses more sophisticated language that’s several years in advance of their actual reading age,” Ms Heyn said.
“They also give the child a sense of the structure and the sound of language and this allows them to feel more confident about pronouncing certain words on their own.”
According to Ms Heyn the notion of reading to yourself is a modern one and stories were originally written to be shared and read aloud. She also said that in her experience boys appear to benefit particularly well from audiobooks and many parents have said they’ve noticed a significant improvement in their learning level as a result.
Audiobooks are best suited to children from the toddler years upwards. Ms Heyn said that toddlers respond best to books with lots of sound effects and interactivity.
“Classic fairytales and books like Tolkien’s The Hobbit are particularly fine examples because of their beautiful sentence structure. Children can listen to the emphasis and cadence of language and words,” she said.
Below is a list of recommendations for children aged four and up. Please remember that these books are best suited ‘listening’ for each age group and children could struggle attempting to read these books to themselves.
BBC ABC: Learn Your Alphabet with Songs and Rhymes performed by Deryn Edwards and Mark Meadows.Very cleverly done – a wonderful way to familiarise young children with the alphabet. It is great fun (and the similar title 123: Learn to Count … is equally as educational and fun). Age: preschool.
Aesop’s Fables: The Ant and the Grasshopper and Other Stories read by Richard Briers, Brenda Blethyn and Lindsay Duncan. This is simply a delightful reading, introducing children to Aesop’s Fables (and hence to the ethical precepts and stories that really have become part of our culture), with beautifully paced narration to which it’s a pleasure to listen. Age: Four to seven years (but could even be listened to and enjoyed by adults).
Ages Five and Up:
Collodi, Carlo, The Adventures of Pinocchio read by Robin Field and Kathy Aughenbaugh. A good unabridged reading of the original Pinocchio has finally arrived. This is a wonderful version, sure to delight. Age: Eight to eleven years.
Green, Julia Tilly’s Moonlight Fox read by Sophie Aldred. A beautiful and gently haunting story for children, where a strange fox appears to lead Tilly to an enchanted garden where she meets a most mysterious girl. The descriptive writing is sheer magic and the reading is unforgettable. Age: Six-seven plus.
Mahy, Margaret, The Pirate read by Richard Mitchley. This title’s been around for a while as an audiobook (on audiocassette), but was only recently released on CD. It’s a perfect match of story and narrator – funny, sweet, adventurous. Age: Five plus.
Ages 10 and up:
Barry, Dave; Pearson, Ridley Peter and the Shadow Thieves (Starcatchers #2) read by Jim Dale. Adventure and hijinks using the perennial character of Peter Pan. Age: 10-13 years.
Delaney, Joseph: The Spook’s Apprentice read by Jamie Glover. The entire series of Delaney’s wonderful “Spook” stories is now available as unabridged audiobooks. This, the first, is magnificently written and gloriously narrated. Age: 12+
Blake, Kendare: Anna Dressed in Blood (Anna #1) read by August Ross. Frighteningly good – a tale of genuine suspense in which boy-meets-girl is very different to the usual scenario. It’s boy-who-kills-ghosts – meets – girl-who-is-a-ghost-(and-who-kills). Age: 15+
Fforde, Jasper: The Last Dragonslayer (The Last Dragonslayer #1) read by Elizabeth Jasicki. Jasper Fforde entered the fantasy world (adult fiction) with a bang when his wonderfully bizarre novels introduced us to the world of “book-jumping” (being able to enter quite literally into a book). This story, set in a world where magic has become cheap (magic carpets reduced to pizza delivery just to earn a living!) shows Fforde’s ever-bubbling imagination well at work. Age: 13-17
All of these audiobooks are available through Soundbooks, The Audiobook Specialist website.