Celebrate Audiobook Month with These Great Reads
Partnered with:
Penguin Random House Audio
June is Audiobook Month, and we can’t think of a better way to kick off summer! Audiobooks are an excellent way to combat the dreaded “summer slide,” promoting reading accuracy and allowing young readers with varying reading levels to engage in the same stories together. You can find more information on the educational benefits of audiobook listening via the Audio Publisher Association’s “Sound Learning” guide!
Audio can shed new light on old favorites or bring a personal touch to memoirs. Full cast audiobooks emphasize a cinematic experience perfect for new listeners adjusting to hearing different voices. Whether you’re new to audiobooks or are a seasoned listener, we’ve got some great recommendations for you to celebrate this Audiobook Month — listen up!
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Matilda
Kate Winslet narrates our award-winning audio edition of the beloved classic by Roald Dahl! Matilda is an exceptional young girl with a precocious mind, a voracious appetite for knowledge, and an unusual telekinetic ability; but, she is attacked on all sides by her cruel, misunderstanding family and by the tyrannical headmistress of her school. The only grown-up who supports our young heroine is her kind teacher, Miss Honey — and Matilda's untapped talent might save them both.
(Ages 8-12; available in digital download and retail CD)
Listen to a clip: SoundCloud
Apple | Audible | Google Play | Libro.fm -
The Phantom Tollbooth
Emmy-nominated actor Rainn Wilson (The Office) takes on Juster's timeless classic, cracking puns and jokes nonstop in this witty, whip-smart story about a bored boy who discovers a whole world when he travels through a mysterious tollbooth that appears in his bedroom.
(Ages 8-12; available in digital download and retail CD)
Listen to a clip: SoundCloud
Apple | Audible | Google Play | Libro.fm -
Roller Girl
Newbery Honor-winning and New York Times-bestselling Roller Girl is a summer-perfect story about leaving your comfort zone and the friends that await you once you're out of it. Our audiobook adaptation of this graphic novel features a full cast, as well as sound pulled from a real roller derby bout. The story follows Astrid, who has done everything with her best friend Nicole since they were little; but, when Astrid decides to give roller derby a shot, she's on her own, and it turns out to be much harder — and more rewarding — than she could have ever imagined.
(Ages 9-12; available in digital download and retail CD)
Listen to a clip: SoundCloud
Apple | Audible | Google Play | Libro.fm -
To Night Owl from Dogfish
New York Times-bestselling authors Holly Goldberg Sloan (Counting by 7s) and Meg Wolitzer (The Female Persuasion) collaborate on a tale about two girls who couldn't be more different — thrown together at camp to bond while their dads go on a romantic getaway together. But when everything with the dads goes awry, it's up to Bett and Avery to get them back together. Told through emails and other communication, and read by a full cast, this is a hilarious and heartfelt contemporary Parent Trap that's especially perfect for sunny summer listening.
(10 & up; available in digital download and retail CD)
Listen to a clip: SoundCloud
Apple | Audible | Google Play | Libro.fm -
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Our audio adaptations of the beloved Harry Potter series have won multiple Grammys, and are a singularly extraordinary listening experience, as sole series narrator Jim Dale gives voice to hundreds of characters in each volume. Whether this is your first time reading the series or you've tackled it a dozen times before, the audio editions promise a fresh interpretation.
(Ages 10 & up; available in digital download and retail CD)
Listen to a clip: SoundCloud
Apple | Audible | Google Play -
My Corner of the Ring
Memoirs especially lend themselves to audiobooks, where the listener can hear the narrator's story often read in their own voice. My Corner of the Ring is written and read by 12-year-old Jesselyn Silva — who is one of only a handful of female boxers in the country, and who is on a path to compete in the Olympics in this male-dominated sport. Jesselyn's story is empowering and inspiring — and best told by the powerhouse herself.
(Ages 10 & up; available in digital download)
Listen to a clip: SoundCloud
Apple | Audible | Google Play | Libro.fm
