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what is your favorite audio book?


skissugar
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What level?

 

Haven't heard many, but Tim Curry is fantastic with the Lemony Snickets series. Winn Dixie and Desperaux are wonderful too. Unfortunately, I've heard some wonderful tales done by some terrible readers. It's vital that the reading is done well. Short stories by Rabbit Ears publishers are great!!! Some of them are not so good, but some are out of this world; Robin Williams as Pecos Bill, Jonathon Winters does Paul Bunyan, and Tracy Ullman reads Puss 'n Boots.

Edited by spradlin02
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thanks!! keep the suggestions coming!! this is for the kids.. Trying to get more good books into them than i can read at this point. my voice just gives out. And we will be doing some major traveling this fall so I am starting to prepare lots of audiobooks to listen to :)

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In addition to all the others, Hank the Cowdog by John Erikson. There are 40 or so and they are all quite entertaining.

 

In our house, here are some of the perennial favorites:

 

Chronicles of Narnia (not the Focus on the Family dramatized version, the one with Kenneth Branaugh, Patrick Stewart and others reading.)

 

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

 

Misty of Chincoteague

 

Winnie the Pooh (don't ever let your kids tell you they're too old for this)

 

Series of Unfortunate Events (maybe not for everyone, but my kids ate them up)

 

Nurse Matilda

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Henry Huggins - Neil Patrick Harris is awesome!!

Miracle on Maple Hill - beautiful, touching story

Paddington Bear

Peter Pan

 

Funny - my kids couldn't stand E.B. White's voice - my daughter asked why he couldn't hire someone who could read well!:lol:

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The Tale of Despereaux. It's just *beautiful*, and the reader is fantastic.

:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

This is my favorite audio book of all time. Even if you've already read the book, it's well worth listening to ~ the British actor who reads it is incredible! Every time we go on a long car journey, the kids ask to listen to this again.

 

Jackie

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My favorite is The Milagro Beanfield War. It is read brilliantly by Cheech Marin.

 

Not educational, but fun to listen to.

The kids and I have enjoyed The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and

the The Wee Free Men , A Hat full of Sky, and Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett

 

 

Educational and fun to listen to:

The version of To Kill a Mockingbird read by Sissy Spacek is wonderful.

We have also enjoyed Your Story Hour and Adventures in Odyssey Star Spangled Stories Collection

 

I second Winnie the Pooh read by Peter Dennis.

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:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

This is my favorite audio book of all time. Even if you've already read the book, it's well worth listening to ~ the British actor who reads it is incredible! Every time we go on a long car journey, the kids ask to listen to this again.

 

Jackie

 

Okay - I just checked out the audible sample. Sounds fabulous. This book is my all-time favorite read aloud. My youngest hasn't heard it yet - I think we'll check this audiobook out.

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Sarah, Plain and Tall and the sequels by Patricia Mclachlan. The stories are read by Glenn Close and she does an excellent job. My dd is very picky about the voices on audio books and she loved these. The sequels are Skylark, Caleb's Story and More Perfect than the Moon.

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I haven't read all the replies, so this might be repetitive, but here goes:

 

My girls have listened to and LOVED

 

All the Little House on the Prairie stories (except These Happy Golden Years--we haven't done it, 'though I'm sure they would love it)

Charlotte's Web

Stuart Little

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Heidi

Henry and Ribsy

Clementine

Caddie Woodlawn

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (this one did scare my younger dd a little, but I think it's the dramatized version from Focus on the Family)

the American Girl books

Ginger Pye

Akimbo and the Elephants; Akimbo and the Snakes (I believe there are lots of titles in this series)

 

I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that come quickly to mind.

 

We love audiobooks!

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Favorites here are ::

 

The Just So Stories read by Boris Karloff

 

Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner read by Peter Dennis. This version is apparently the only one endorsed by Christopher Robin himself.

 

Dominic read by Peter Thomas. This is a great story!

 

A Bear called Paddington and Paddington Here and Now read by Steven Fry

 

Paddle to the Sea read by Terry Bregy

 

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz read by Jim Weiss

 

Pippi Longstocking read by the author

 

Mr. Popper's Penguins read by Nick Sullivan

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:iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree:

This is my favorite audio book of all time. Even if you've already read the book, it's well worth listening to ~ the British actor who reads it is incredible! Every time we go on a long car journey, the kids ask to listen to this again.

 

Jackie

 

I think the reader for this one did an EXCELLENT job!! I thought the tale itself was a little dark for my youngest, but we all enjoyed the book. Is there another audio book read by the same British actor?

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We love audio books! I'm getting a lot of great ideas.

 

A few that haven't been mentioned that we enjoyed -

 

Hatchet

Listening For Lions

Rules

Esperanza Rising

The Penderwicks

The Sisters Grimm

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Ella Enchanted

Frindle

The Secret Garden

 

I know I will think of more. :)

 

Margie

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We love Narnia. Other favorites include the Classical Kids cds (Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Mr. Bach Comes to Call....) Ds listens to SOTW a lot. We listen to a lot of the Jim Weiss readings. Check out http://www.greathall.com/ for his products (we like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Treasure Island, King Arthur, Tom Sawyer, and others) You might check out Henty for your ds. We're just starting into those so I don't really have any recommendations yet.

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Guest Alte Veste Academy

DS7 and I are loving Hakim's History of US on audio. I quite like the narrator, and I think that makes all the difference. (I also think this would be a great way for those so distracted by the sidebars to enjoy the series.)

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Favorite is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by one of the monty python guys - great!

 

Also love E.B. White doing his own work!

 

Love a woman's voice, ?, doing the Rats of NIMH - listening to this now.

 

 

Anything narrated by Terry Jones (Monty Python). I know we have his unabridged audio of Wind in the Willows. He also narrates Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Edited by Gratia271
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Harry Potter is listened to at least once a week around here. :) Jim Dale is wonderful!

 

I totally agree. Big HP fans over here. After listening to the first book on audio my kids started reading the books and now they are avid readers. I attribute their love of reading to their experience with HP.

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At the risk of sounding unscholarly . . .

 

The Percy Jackson series. My 7 (boy), 9 and 11 (girls) year-old kiddos love them. I was a little disappointed with The Lightning Thief movie. The books are much more kid friendly.

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:D We love the Bunnicula books along with the How to Train Your Dragon series...

 

:lol: I was going to add the Sisters Grimm books. The actor who reads them does a terrific job and is thoroughly engaging. We've only ever listened to them on audio, and when I tried to get one of the books to read before the audio was released, it felt so flat and boring, we just waited until the audio was ready! I loved the Bartimaeus books too (for myself).

 

For the Jim Dale fans, there's also a version of Peter Pan read by him. For some reason, I didn't like the HP by him (he made the girls, especially Hermione, come off so whiny!), but we loved his reading of Peter Pan.

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Favorite is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by one of the monty python guys - great!

 

Also love E.B. White doing his own work!

 

Love a woman's voice, ?, doing the Rats of NIMH - listening to this now.

 

We just finished Trumpet of the Swan at first I was puzzled by the voice of the narrator--not your typical narrator. Then I realized it was EB White. It definitely increased my enjoyment. What a treat.

 

I also have to second the voice on Despereaux.

 

Laura

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Some not previously mentioned:

 

My 4 kids thoroughly enjoyed The Chronicles of Prydain series(5 books) by Lloyd Alexander - The first book is The Book of Three.

 

The Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull - the reader is fantastic. He does something like 50 different voices and you can really tell the difference. We were amazed.

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