Recs for audio books?

[Carolinamidwife]

Ds is 6 and he likes to fall asleep listening to stories on his DVD player. He's very into The Story Tree and Where the Sidewalk Ends but I'm having a hard time finding stuff like that. He likes Waldorf-ish stories and wacky poetry... any suggestions?

TIA!

[Denise K]

Carl Sandburg reads his Rootabaga Stories. I only have this on tape, and I don't know where to get it, but it may be available out there in the virtual world. Strange and beautiful, and his voice is awesome. Good for kids who love language and the way it sounds.

[LdyBluNH@aol]

i think its jim weiss that has a good night story album http://www.greathall.com/products/1124-001.html i think they're avail thru big book stores in addition to direct ordering

i like odds bodkins too, cant recall if he has a nighttime thing or not

[ehsclt]

I was going to recommend Jim Weiss as well. You can search for him on Amazon to get a bunch of titles. He's produced many tapes and cds. The Goodnight one and Sweet Dreams one are kind of meditative. His others are stories and tales. My 4 year old dd absolutely loves his stories and seems to prefer his telling over anyone else's.

Also, years ago NPR had a show called Rabbit Ears Radio, which involved different celebrities and great musicians teaming up to produce very high-quality audio stories. You can still find some of these for sale, although they are out of print. Just search for Rabbit Ears Radio. My library has the whole collection; maybe you'll get lucky and yours will too.

[ehsclt]

P.S. Just reread the wacky poetry part of the OP. Jack Prelutsky also has at least one of his books read on tape. Good, fun, wacky poetry.

[mamabeca]

Growler tapes are cool, but I haven't been able to find them out of the library yet. and not cheap Also we like some of the more classic books for kids, like Wind in the Willows, Trumpet of the Swan, and Cricket in Times Square. We don't use them for bedtime, but for car rides, but they might be a nice change. Most libraries can at least get them. Free to be a Family and Free to be You and Me are also very good, but somewhat sing-songy as well as story oriented. Excellent stories in the You and Me one. Oh, and Mr. Popper stories are kind of sweet, too. hth andy

[Carolinamidwife]

Awesome!

Thank you all... off to shop...

[Ann-Marita]

I just have to put a plug in for one of the best audio books we've used.

"The Incredible Journey" - the story about the old bull terrier, the young lab, and the siamese cat that travel a great distance across Canada to get back to their family.

We (DD, DH and I) listened to that on tape during a trip once. At one point in the story, a child says that she can clearly hear dogs barking, but the adults can't hear it. It gave me chills, just like when I was a child and first read the book.

[MSings]

Another tape is The Third Ear by Johnny Moses a celebration of teaching stories and songs from the first people. This is an excellent combination of a Native American talking about how he was raised with his telling of stories from his people. It is extremely soothing as he intersperses phrases in his native tongue with the phrases of the story and he has an excellent voice. It does touch briefly on his brush with death as a child with cancer but my 4 year old was not upset and it is integral to his story.

My favorite novel on tape is The Cricket of Times Square- also an excellent soothing voice.

Not soothing but excellent storytelling is the Barefoot Book of Pirates CD. We also have bought the Barefoot Book of Knights CD but have not listened yet- I am saving for a long car ride in Jan. You can still get these books as new paperbacks with CD from some Amazon sellers, WalMart.com and Ebay for about $15 but you have to look hard- I think there was a limited promotion and only some copies are still kicking around.

[Gracefulmom]

Not poetry, but...

on our latest car trip we listened to The Trumpet of the Swan , written and read by E.B. White. It's a great story, and wonderful to hear him read it himself!


Wonderful thread, by the way!

[obiandelismom]

If he's old enough, the Harry Potter unabridged books on tape are AMAZING. I had to drive from Alabama to Arkansas and back and back and BACK one week, and they kept me from running the car into a tree!