An audiobook can sub in for a read aloud in the classroom or empower a struggling reader to keep up with the books that are hot right now. They are fun in general because, like movie quotes or song lyrics, well-delivered one-liners can get stuck in your head!
The car is definitely one of the main places that people enjoy this format, and an example of this is when I cried in my Toyota while driving to work and listening to the end of The Book Thief, narrated by Allan Corduner. I have heard that there are illustrations in the print version, but to this day I haven’t actually cracked the spine of the book I own (and it is autographed!) because I can still hear Corduner’s pronunciation of the character’s names and the German words in the book any time the title is mentioned. Like a great movie, I would listen to it again – especially “The Jesse Owens Incident”! I also enjoyed Fat Kid Rules the World, narrated by Matthew Lillard, The Underneath, narrated by Gabra Zackman, and The Golden Compass, which is performed by a full cast.
Those of us that are librarians working here at Scholastic serve in various capacities, we all have various reading interests, and we all have our favorites in the audio format, so here are our “staff picks”…
Karen: “I listen to audiobooks during my daily walks in Prospect Park. I also enjoy them during road trips to the North Fork of Long Island. I love the audio of The Hunger Games trilogy; Law & Order actress Carolyn McCormick does an amazing job of narrating The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay. I’ve also listened recently audiobooks of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Bahni Turpin, Behind the Beautiful Forevers, narrated by Sunil Malhotra, The Namesake, narrated by Sarita Choudhury, I’m Your Man, narrated by Joshua Pollock, and Drown, narrated by Jonathan Davis.
Jessica: “The Big Splash, narrated by Sean Schemmel, has a crime noir flair set in middle school. It’s an engaging listen and you will want to know who is “in” and who is “out”. More importantly, you will want to know who gets to decide that. If you’re looking for a little narrative non-fiction, it doesn’t get much more exciting than Chasing Lincoln’s Killer, narrated by Will Patton,the story of the hunt for the assassin John Wilkes Booth. The Glitch in Sleep, narrated by Oliver Wyman, is a story of what “actually” happens to keep the world running, and it will change the way you look at the world around you.
Tim: “The way David Sedaris reads his work is compelling, and hearing an author narrate their own book lends something to the experience. I also thought that Earth: A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, narrated by Jon Stewart, Samantha Bee, Wyatt Cenac, Jason Jones, and John Oliver, was hilarious.”
