If your library is part of the NH Downloadable Books Consortium, I hope you are promoting many of the children’s audiobooks in the collection. You may want to encourage families facing long car trips to check out this service. Books can be dowloaded to an MP3 or to an ipod (or both) depending on the particular title. Many cars have adapters that make it possible to plug in an MP3 device so that a family can listen to the audiobook together. Of course, some families may want to give individual children their own devices so that everyone can listen to a different book.
Here are some titles of interest to families of children in the early elementary grades (K-3):
Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan all by E.B. White
Cricket in Times Square by George Seldon
Judy Blume, Collection 1–Freckle Juice and The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo
Ralph S. Mouse Audio Collection by Beverly Cleary
Ramona Quimby Collection by Beverly Cleary
For upper grade elementary children (Grades 4-6), try these:
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
Flush by Carl Hiassen
Gamer Changers Series (middle grade sports series by Mike Lupica)
Ghost Night by Cornelia Funke
Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
One Dog and His Boy by Eva Ibbotson
Another place to point parents to for free downloadable stories is Storynory, which offers original stories as well as some classics such as fairy tales and Alice in Wonderland.
This is one of the busiest times at our library for audiobooks as families take them on the road. I encourage patrons to use both our collection and the downloadables. They are thrilled with both! I keep in mind when I order, that much of the use of our children’s collection is for group listening as a family.
I also recommend them to kids to help them go to sleep at night. It helps calm the mental chatter that even the little ones seems to have.