I used to dread long trips in the car with my kids. But, not anymore because we are hooked on listening to audiobooks. Now, we look forward to those car rides so we can hear the next chapter in our latest book. We’ve collected our absolute most favorite best of the best audiobooks for children!
This list is perfect for new listeners to audiobooks. My kids were 3-5 when they listened to these stories. They would definitely work for a bit older kids too.
10 of the Best Audiobooks for Children
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Nate the Great
Wow, the Nate the Great Collected Stories: Volume 1: Nate the Great; Nate the Great Goes Undercover; Nate the Great and the Halloween Hunt; Nate the Great and the Monster MessNate the Great series has totally hooked my 5 year-old. It started when we listened to an audio book collection of a few of the stories. That led us to check out almost every single one of the books. Now, my son is dictating new Nate the Great stories to me.
Magic Tree House
Magic Tree House storieswere the very first audiobooks we listened to and they were an instant hit. Jack and Annie travel all over the world in their magic tree house solving mysteries. The books are read by the author. I must admit that I found the voice of Annie to be a bit irritating, but my kids didn’t seem to mind. We ended up reading several of the books after listening to the audiobooks. I’m sure that my kids will pick them up to read on their own one day too.
Winnie-the-Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh is perfect for listening to in the car because each chapter can stand alone. So, if it’s a quick trip to the grocery store, you can hear a whole story. Or, listen to all ten stories in a row on a longer trip. We really enjoyed the version narrated by Jim Broadbent that we got from the library. The version narrated by Peter Dennis is also very good and can be found on Audible.
Henry Huggins
Beverly Cleary has a load of books that appeal to readers of all ages. We have so many Cleary favorites to read and listen to. A good one to start with is Henry Huggins. It’s a delight to listen to because the talented Neil Patrick Harris is the narrator. Henry adopts a new dog and lots of adventures begin. Also, check out Cleary’s The Mouse and the Motorcycle narrated by B.D. Wong.
Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon
Three Tales of My Father’s Dragon will appeal to all young fantasy lovers. This is a trilogy of Elmer and a flying dragon and their many adventures.
James Herriot’s Treasury for Children
The James Herriot’s Treasury for Children is also great for shorter trips. It’s a collection of eight wholesome stories about a vet and his travels caring for different animals in the country. We actually listened to this in the car and had the book at home to read at the same time. It was such a favorite that we included it as a selection for one of our Family Dinner Book Clubs.
Little House in the Big Woods
Sometimes if we have a fail at a read-aloud using the book at home, I try the audio version of the book instead. One recent success with this strategy was Little House in the Big Woods. For some reason, my 5 year-old is turned off by black and white illustrations, so he had no interest in looking at the book while I read. However, I thought he would really enjoy the story. So, I borrowed the audiobook from the library. It was an instant hit! It even led us back to the book to see a panther, Pa’s gun and the log cabin. We would often pause the audio to discuss sections as we listened. There is a lot to explain about living in that time period. If you have a sensitive listener, there may be a few parts that are disturbing.
Thornton Burgess Bedtime Stories
The Thornton Burgess Bedtime Stories are oldies but goodies. The animal tales are good for bedtime stories or even to listen to on a car trip. Like the James Herriot’s Treasury for Children, these are a collection of stories. Stories include Peter Cottontail and Jimmy Skunk.
Appleblossom the Possum
We just finished listening to Appleblossom the Possum read by Dustin Hoffman. Appleblossom has been warned to stay away from humans, but she just can’t help but spy on a family. Then, she falls down their chimney!
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
What can be more delightful than listening to the happenings of a chocolate factory? We thoroughly enjoyed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory narrated by Eric Idle. That verison is a little harder to find. You can also listen to the easier to find copy narrated by Douglas Hodgewhich is available on Audible.
Which titles do you consider to be the best audiobooks for children? I’m always looking for more ideas!
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Karen Reeder says
I am looking for recommendations for a long road trip coming up so I will check some of these out. It can be hard to find something a 5, 8, and 11 year old will all enjoy. Is my phone being funky or does your blog always do comments in caps, the caps aren’t on my keyboard..
I recently listened to The Magic finger and Minpins by Roald Dahl and the narrators were fabulous!! We might listen to Wizards of Once, it is narrated by David Tenant so I’m sold and I think my kids will like it since Cressida also wrote how to train your dragon.
lisa says
Owl Moon by jane Yolen is the best short young children’s audio with beautiful background sounds.
Jodie Rodriguez says
I’ve read the book many times, but have never heard it on audiobook. Thanks so much for the recommendation.
Meghan says
I’ll have to check these out! Have you ever tried Bookflix? My kids love those – it pairs a fiction with a non-fiction book on related topics, one is a video, and one it reads aloud and highlights the words as it reads.
Jodie Rodriguez says
I’m off to check out Bookflix. Thanks for the recommendation Meghan.
Shawndel says
Do you check out your audio books at the library or do you have a membership to website where you check them out? We love audio books. The kids ask for them everyday and when we don’t have one on hand, they are disappointed.
Jodie Rodriguez says
Hi Shawndel, we pretty much exclusively check them out from the library and use the digital Overdrive check out that our library system has too. You might check to see if your library has digital borrowing too.
Heather H says
Great list! We’ve listened to several of these too. We also love the Ramona series – we listened to all of them on a long car trip when my twins were nearly 5. I’m saving your list for our road trip this summer. Thanks for sharing this with the Everything Kids Pin & Link party.
Jodie Rodriguez says
The Ramona series is great too. Cleary books would be perfect for a summer road trip.
Tina at Mommynificent says
My little ones absolutely love The Maisy Files by Elizabeth Woodrum audio books – like they listen to them just about every day! They also really enjoy the version of Heidi we found on Librivox for free with lots of different readers. Thanks for sharing this great post!
Tina
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thanks Tina for the recommendations. I can’t wait to listen to those books.
Tina at Mommynificent says
I think you’ll really enjoy them! Thanks so much for sharing this at Booknificent Thursday on Mommynificent.com this week!
Tina
Maria says
Thank you for this list, Jodie. My family and I travel a lot of short distances (less than 2 hours), so these audiobooks will help tremendously with our daughter. As an adult, I love listening to audio books as well, but never even thought of it for her! Thanks for an awesome reminder and for sharing this with us on #SHINEbloghop this week!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Enjoy!
Beth @ Pages and Margins says
My son already loves a number of these, but I’m definitely going to have to get Nate the Great and Appleblossom for him! Thanks!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Hope your family loves them!
Abi says
Most of these are familiar, but Apple Blossom the Opposum is new and looks fun. We listen to so many for the older kids that I think my younger girls would appreciate this one.
Jodie Rodriguez says
I can’t wait to hear what they think of it!
Forever Joyful says
My children and I listen to tons of audio books because we spend a lot of time in the car together. We’ve enjoyed the whole Little House series! We also love the Adventures in Odyssey Radio Drama. Thanks for your suggestions!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thank you for the suggestion!
Sarah says
I’m excited to listen to Appleblossom the Possom! Stumbled across that book the other day and it looks soo sweet! Looking forward to listening to the audiobook. Thank you for that!
Oh and you asked for favorite audiobooks? If you’re up for a middle school/early high school listen… Far far away by Tom McNeal (read by British actor W. Morgan Sheppard) is my all-time favorite. It’s a great book to start with — a National book award finalist, but Sheppard’s reading is so moody, timed so perfectly, with his rich, accented voice… it’s just awesome. There’s a sample on Overdrive (a source for audiobooks that’s free to most library card holders)(https://sample-2efbd5a7d1093cb1d73bf476e48235ef.listen.overdrive.com/?p=far-far-away~625).
Thank you again!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thank you for sharing Sarah!
Jen says
We love audiobooks!!
We’ve enjoyed most of these of this list. Excited to try the ones we havent read. Some other favorite stories are: Amelia Bedilia, Mercy Watson and Box car children series. For a little older group, (my daughter loved this at 7) All of a Kind Family and the Chronicles of Narnia series.
Happy Reading!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Great suggestions Jen. We have the Box Car series to explore soon.
Sheila @ BrainPowerBoy says
There are a lot of our favorites in there! We have an unusual recommendation lol – Hank the Cowdog audio books. They are very funny and we have enjoyed many a long trip with Hank.
Jodie Rodriguez says
We should try the audio version. This was another one of those that my son didn’t want to listen to when we tried to read it. So, we might give the audio a shot.
Sheila @ BrainPowerBoy says
My son doesn’t like the books either. The audio books have songs and the narrator does an awesome job. They are Not for everyone though 😉
Maru says
We LOVE listening to the How To Train Your Dragon series. David Tennant does a fantastic job giving the characters life. Just be aware that the books have very little in common with the movies.
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thanks for the recommendation Maru!
Anna says
Love this, Jodie! I just read Appleblossom to my kids and we LOVED it. I love that Dustin Hoffman has narrated it – we’ll have to check that out! I might try the audio of Little House in the Big Woods, as they sometimes don’t like to sit for the Little House books.
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thanks so much Anna. It was a fun list to put together.
Beth T. says
Great list! We’ve enjoyed some of these as audiobooks and look forward to trying some new ones! I always love a good book list Thank you!!!
Jodie Rodriguez says
Thanks so much Beth. If you come across other good ones, let me know. 🙂