Since my car rides are so long I generally listen to adult fiction or nonfiction, as they are usually longer. But sometimes I like to switch it up. These are my favorite children’s, middle grade and YA audiobooks.
Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, narrated by Jim Dale
Unless you’ve lived under a rock since 1991 (can you believe Sorcerer’s Stone came out 25 years ago!), you know the general outline of the Harry Potter series. Jim Dale does a marvelous job of narrating Harry’s adventures. I listen to Harry Potter all the time. It’s a great distraction while running on the treadmill.
Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo, narrated by Tara Sands
This audiobook takes listening to the next level. It isn’t just someone reading the books, but every time Ulysses is about to begin a heroic, superhero feat, music swells to accompany the task. When Ulysses gets sucked up by the vacuum cleaner, he knows all is lost. But! Something amazing happens and he is reborn from the vacuum cleaner with amazing abilities. Namely, the ability to fly, heroic strength and poetry. Flora is changed too. The pessimistic reader of “Terrible Things Can Happen to You” learns to hope.
Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, narrated by Morven Christie, Lucy Gaskell
I don’t even know where to begin describing this book. There are so many great details and plot twists that I don’t want to inadvertently spoil. So I’m going to cheat and copy the Goodreads blurb.
“I have two weeks. You’ll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.
That’s what you do to enemy agents. It’s what we do to enemy agents. But I look at all the dark and twisted roads ahead and cooperation is the easy way out. Possibly the only way out for a girl caught red-handed doing dirty work like mine – and I will do anything, anything to avoid SS-Hauptsturmführer von Linden interrogating me again.
He has said that I can have as much paper as I need. All I have to do is cough up everything I can remember about the British War Effort. And I’m going to. But the story of how I came to be here starts with my friend Maddie. She is the pilot who flew me into France – an Allied Invasion of Two.”
Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell, narrated by Rebecca Lowman, Sunil Malhotra
Eleanor is different from everybody Park knows. Sure, her clothes are strange and there are whisperings about her family, but there is something else about her. Something special. And so begins their Romeo and Juliet romance. Full of heartbreak, honesty and passion, Eleanor and Park will truly make you feel.
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell, narrated by David Tennant
You may have seen the 2010 movie How to Train Your Dragon, but did you know it’s a book? The series follows Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (also called Hiccup the Useless by some) on his quest to become a hero. While the print version is wonderful, and has humorous illustrations, the audio version is narrated by David Tennant (of Dr. Who and Harry Potter Fame) and filled with music, accents, and dragonese.
Ms. Elizabeth 