Road Trip: Audiobooks
If your summer vacation includes a long ride in a car, train, or plane, why not bring along an audiobook? An audiobook -- or "talking book" -- is a cassette or compact disc recording of a book being read by a storyteller, author, or other voice talent. Whether you're traveling to faraway places or enjoying a carefree summer in the neighborhood, check out these links to audiobooks at the Library and audio stories on the Web!
Be sure to visit the Audiobook section of the Kids' Books We Love database for a list of audiobook titles recommended by Youth Services staff.
At the Library
Youth audiobooks on compact disc
Youth Playaway Digital Players
Available from home for Skokie Public Library cardholders:
- Downloadable eAudiobooks for children
Download an audiobook to your computer or MP3 player! - TumbleBook™ Library audio books
Select "audio books" to hear classic stories such as Black Beauty, The Jungle Books, and Winnie the Pooh.
On the Web
...for kids and families
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Plug in your headphones, sit back, and enjoy this online audio
performance of the children's classic tale.- The BookHive - Listen to a Story: Zinger Tales
- Check out the Zinger Tales collection of stories told by great storytellers.
- Curiosoft Audiobooks
- Download a free audiobook! Titles include Rapunzel, Rumpelstiltskin, Hansel and Gretel, Peter Rabbit, and more.
- Goodnight Stories: Hear-a-Story
- Listen to several children's stories including Make Way for Ducklings, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and many more.
- Kara's Free Audiobooks
- Kara Shallenberg records public domain audiobooks for LibriVox. She also creates children's audiobooks and posts them on her blog... for free! Titles include The Road to Oz, A Little Princess, The Secret Garden, Just So Stories, Heidi, and other poems and books published before 1923. The recordings are out of copyright and legal to download.
- Prick Up Your Ears for Great Audiobooks
- Check out this introduction to audiobooks from the folks at Kidsreads.com! The site also includes a list of recommended audiobook titles for children.
- Sound Stories: Audio for Kids
- Listen to these free audio stories on your computer or play the stories on your MP3 player. The story list includes titles such as The Golden Goose, The Three Little Pigs, and Tom Thumb.
- Storynory: Free Audio Stories
- Listen to original stories about Prince Bertie the Frog or classic poems, plays, stories, and fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, The Gingerbread Man, The Princess and the Pea, and many more. The stories are read by Natasha Gostwick from a basement flat in Notting Hill, West London.
...for parents and other grown-ups
-
AudioFile: Audiobooks on the Go - This article from "the magazine for people who love audiobooks"
features reviews, summer listening recommendations, and a downloadable list of recommended audiobook titles for kids and
families.
NOTE: Downloadable list requires Adobe Reader - Audio-Visual Resources: Audiobooks from Skokie Public Library
- Check out the Library's Reading page for links to our collection of award-winning audiobooks.
- eBooks and eAudiobooks from North Suburban Digital Consortium
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Skokie Public Library patrons can download eAudiobooks to home computers and MP3 players. Once downloaded, these digital books are considered "checked out" to you for three weeks; after that they will automatically become unusable on your computers and MP3 players. Available everywhere with a Skokie Public Library card.
...for teachers
- Audio Bookshelf: Educator of the Month Archive
- See how audiobooks have been used in different educational settings. Each teacher profile describes how audiobooks were used, student response, and an email address for questions.
- Audio Bookshelf: Learning with Audiobooks
- Online audio bookseller Audio Bookshelf offers information about how audiobooks can be useful for reading enrichment in the classroom.