Books on Tape

We began listening to books on tape several years ago. Books on tape are not only an entertaining way to pass the time while in the car but it is also a great way to knock books off your must read list. My children read a history selection every day, spend time in free reading, and we also read outloud as a family. With all that reading, there is still a world of literature out there that we would never get to. Books on tape allow us to multi task.

When we first started listening to them, I noticed that the kids were not tracking with the story. It was a new medium for them and they were used to tuning out the talk radio programs that I liked to listen to. To get them to listen and be interested I started putting on "performances." I began interacting with the audio tape, randomly gasping in horror and asking the kids if they could believe what had just happened. I would shout out warnings to the characters. It did not take long for the kids to catch on and to become absorbed in the drama on the radio. When we get into the car it is the first thing the children ask for. We have been known to sit in the driveway because we just could not bear to turn the CD player off. We particularly love the unabridged classics.

Books on tape have to be chosen as carefully as your other reading selections. We tend to shy away from "modern" literature. Although, we did deviate from this to listen to all thirteen books of the Lemony Snicket series. We also love the Jonathon Park series by Answers in Genesis.

Happy Listening!