Overview: Going on any long car rides? If you choose some good audio books for boys to take along, you can transform your drive into a fun adventure!
Reading books aloud to our kids is extremely important and fun. Sometimes, however, it’s nice to have the family listen to a book. Our family especially likes to do this when we are on long car rides. I get extremely car sick if I try to read while the car is moving so we pop in audio books and enjoy those instead.
The best way to be sure your boys will want to listen is to choose books which are interesting and have plenty of action.
Mysteries are great choices because they pretty much force your family to keep listening so that you can find out what happened. They’re also fun because the whole family can discuss what they think is happening and you can all compete to see who can figure it out first.
We also like to look for books which are dramatized and where the parts are all played by different actors.
Not all audio books are created equal – so do your research.
On that note, here are some fun audio books that my boys have really enjoyed!
1. The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary
2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
3. Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
4. The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
5. The Dragon of Doom by Bruce Coville (Book 1 of the Moongobble and Me series)
6. The Great Brain by John D. Fitzgerald
7. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
8. Room One by Andrew Clements
9. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel
10. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
→ Related Content: 79 Read Aloud Books that Boys Love!11. Under Drake’s Flag by Heirloom Audio Productions
12. Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
13. Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo
14. Jonathan Park: The Adventure Begins
15. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
16. The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog by John R. Erickson
17. 
Stuart Little by E. B. White
18. The Fantastic Family Whipple by Matthew Ward
19. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
20. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J. K. Rowling
These audio books are super fun. Our entire family enjoyed them! If you are preparing to take a road trip or just plan to do some driving around consider grabbing an audio book or two to take with you. They can help you to transform what could be a long, boring ride in the car into a magical journey which you will never forget! 🙂
Question: Does your family enjoy listening to audio books? Do you have any others you could recommend to the rest of us? Please leave a comment below.
I had not heard of Airborn or Room One before — thanks for these recommendations!
~Lee
You’re welcome! Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
I would add Crispen by Avi. It’s the first in a series. Middle ages. Adventure. That’s all my guys need.
Older boys may enjoy Redwall by Brian Jacques. It’s a little challenging as a read because of the awesome vocabulary. But it’s a great adventure to listen to on a long ride. Also, the first in a series.
Thanks for the tips. We loved those books! Glad to hear the audio books are awesome as well. 🙂
My boys are 11, 9, and 7. Peter and the Starcatchers was a recent hit in our car (tons of action!), read by the incredible Jim Dale. We are listening to Castle in the Attic right now and enjoying it.
Thank-you! I’ll have to keep those in mind for our upcoming vacation. 🙂
Here are a few of our favorites: “Legend of Bass Reeves” by Gary Pulson, “By the Great Horn Spoon” by Sid Fleischman (great audio with individual character voices), Lamplighters Audio Theatre (many to choose from, very exciting audio, with sound affects) , “Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims” (there are 3 books/audiobooks) written and read by Rush Limbaugh. We also enjoyed Crispin and Dangerous Journey. Any historical fiction you recommend?
We LOVE Lamplighter Radio Theatre! If you’re interested in historical fiction, we really enjoyed the latest Henty books which have been dramatized: In Freedom’s Cause and Under Drake’s Flag Very well done!
We enjoyed Rifles for Waite – Civil War period
Ooooh, another one I haven’t heard of which sounds good. Can’t wait to check it out. Thanks!
My boys are 4 and 6 and love Charlotte’s Web, the Boxcar Children, the Arthur series and Beatrix Potter books.
Great books! Good to know that the audio books are also good. We did listen to the audio book of Stuart Little when my boys were younger… and my boys were surprised at how different it was from the movie!
My boys loved to listen to ALL the Beverly Cleary books – even the Ramona ones! (Shhh! Don’t tell anyone.) The other books we listen to over and over are all the Chronicles of Narnia and Hank the Cowdog series.
LOL, Kim! Oh, yes, Hank the Cowdog! Excellent audio books!!!!!!! The author reads them so much better than I ever could. 🙂
The Mysterious Benedict Society (kids with extraordinary talents take on the bad guys with lots of action but an unwillingness to kill the bad guys even when they have a chance – great fun and great morals. The Fantastic Whipple Family is another fun one that was only recently published. My children from 7-14 enjoyed listening to it.
Oh, my boys LOVED reading The Mysterious Benedict Society. Great suggestion! I haven’t heard of Fantastic Whipple Family. We’ll have to check that one out. Thanks! 🙂
We just love love LOVE the Jonathan park series. It’s a dramatic christian “creationist” series that my boys cannot get enough of. I love them too! So, i’m also thrilled that in the 10 cd’s I own there’s over 50 hrs of listening!!
Yes, we love Jonathan Park
as well. We own all but the most recent one. Excellent series!
Audio books are a great fall back! My boys have read or listened to most of the books on your list!
They also have enjoyed the Percy Jackson series as a compliment to their Greek History lessons.
Greger the Overlander,
Charlie Bone series,
And of course Harry potter
My husband grew up reading and enjoying the historically based fiction books by G.A. Henty. We recently got a set of 4 dramatized audio versions! They’re still a bit below my five year old songs head, but he’s close.
Oh yes, we LOVE the dramatized Henty books that are done by Heirloom Audio! They’re very well done. 🙂