read aloud versus audio

[angelmama1209]

we are just getting into audio books ( i LOVE how they keep my kids quiet in the car!) and my question is how do you decide what books to listen to and what books to read aloud?

[JenniferLynn]

We do audio for the ones my kids love to listen to over and over (all Jim Weiss, Winnie the Pooh, and Charlotte's Web). I also got audio for the ones none of us could get into as a read-aloud but which I think would still be good (Beatrix Potter, Wind in the Willows). Books I especially loved or missed as a child and want to read now I begin as a read-aloud (for us Little House which I loved and many EB White and E Nesbit ones I missed). If no one wants to listen to me read, I try the audio.

[Heidi]

The ones that are difficult to read outloud and ones that you want to listen to over and over. Right now I wish I could put all books on audio bc my ds2 is difficult to read with.

[Aurelia]

Ones that I can't make myself read aloud (archaic language, strong regional accents, etc) or ones that want to be listened to over and over (I'm talking about you, Because of Winn-Dixie!)

[momma aimee]

i just started this thread: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=382055

 

i love read a louds for books with NAMES in that are hard

 

but also, i do not think the boys would have gotten into or gotten anything out of me reading about the Trojan Horse, but they love it in the car

[*Lulu*]

:iagree: with the above reasons. I also use audio for books that the kids enjoy so much that they want looooooooong reading sessions. (Momma can only read so long, YKWIM.)

[KarenNC]

We started audiobooks when my daughter was about 4 and still do them. I primarily get them from the library, so the "listening to over and over" doesn't really apply to us. My baseline criterion is that they have to be books I'm willing to listen to ;) (from both a content and narrator perspective) as well as ones that are long enough to justify an audio book. At different points, that has meant different things. It meant no Boxcar Children or Henty books (I couldn't hack the story lines), no Geronimo Stilton (too short), no Half Magic (the reader was dreadful!), for instance. Now it means no books that are annoyingly "teen." If she wants to read any of the books that don't make the cut, she's free to do so (as long as they aren't inappropriate in subject matter), but I don't have to put up with them.:)

 

We did a lot of classic children's literature. Now that she's older, I like to use it for some books that we want to discuss, as I can stop the audio and we can talk about it while we're driving. Her preferred media is manga, so I will deliberately pick audiobooks that I know she will enjoy, but that are long, for the exposure (in addition to having assigned physical reading).

[momtoamiracle]

some books my son likes me to read as well as listen to the audio book.

 

others he listens to I have no interest in reading aloud, such as Dr Dolittle.

 

Still others the readers do a beautiful job so we listen to them over and over.

[Rasa]

If we can find an audio version for our latest read-aloud at the library, we mix reading aloud with listening to the audio in the car because the kids just can't wait to hear what happens next. Our favorite audio narrator is Jim Dale.