Simply Audiobooks Inc.

We’ve got a new recommended reading list… this time to keep the cobwebs out of kids’ brains over the summer break. Looking over the list, I’m actually tempted to add a couple of these to my own Rental Shelf. Who knew that Tim Curry did the Series of Unfortunate Events books? They must be hysterical. Here are the highlights, for all you parents and grandparents out there– or those of you who are just looking for some summer listening for fun.

Very Young/Pre-reading titles include Dr. Seuss and Amelia Bedelia.

New Readers (ages 6-8) can enjoy Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Hank the Cowdog. The Cowdog series is especially great if you can get your kids hooked, since there are more than 40 installments. This guarantees a) a steady supply for Junior’s hungry mind and b) enough variety to keep you sane after the 1, 564th listen.

Young Readers (9-11) go crazy for Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, which also offers several sequels (including Brian’s Winter and The River). One of our members, who’s also a teacher, listened with her class: “My students and I listened to this together. We loved it. They even gave up some of their recess time and asked to have lunch in the room a few days so they could listen to the story.” The Chronicles of Narnia, running 31 hours, is another epic that’s guaranteed to grip your youngsters’ attention.

Tweens and Teens will probably be developing their own preferences, but there are some universal favorites you can try. You can also consult their teachers for suggestions that will be useful in the next school year (1984, Fahrenheit 451 and The Great Gatsby are all common in 9th and 10th grade English classes).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 at 10:10 am and is filed under Simply Blog Central. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.