Recently, a friend asked me what audiobooks my son and I had enjoyed when he was in middle school. It was a fun trip down memory lane to go through and pick out our favorites. I’ll note with some chagrin that this list isn’t nearly as diverse as I would like, and I included some books we read when he was a bit younger that would still work for a middle school audience just for the diversity.
Now that he’s in high school, even when school is in person, we don’t have the hour in the car every day we used to, so we’re not doing audiobooks anymore, and I’m only reading aloud to him once a week, so that it can take a year for us to finish a book (we’re now reading the latest Murderbot novel!)
Links are to my reviews, and I’ve noted where audiobooks are available for download from my library, and hopefully yours as well.
Audiobooks with My Son
The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich – Libby
Boneshaker by Kate Milford – hoopla
Bud, Not Buddy and The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis – Libby
Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones – hoopla – a classic series, which will make more sense if you read out of publication order and start with The Lives of Christopher Chant.
The Coming of the Dragon by Rebecca Barnhouse – sadly, only the ebook is on Libby – we listened on CDs from the library. Check your system?
Howl’s Moving Castle series by Diana Wynne Jones – hoopla – I seem not to review books I consider classics, but I am forever grateful to the Danish exchange student who introduced my family to Diana Wynne Jones in the 90s – we had somehow missed her previously, despite all being fans of British children’s literature.
Knife by R. J. Anderson – Libby – this is a series of human-fairy politics, which my son and I enjoyed. We read only the first of the series because it was too scary for my daughter, five years younger.
Magic Thief series by Sarah Prineas – hoopla
Septimus Heap series by Angie Sage hoopla, Libby
The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff- hoopla – the first of a beautifully-written series set in Roman Britain, with small touches of magic. I read the whole series many times as a child.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien – Libby, but the wait was shorter on physical CDs.
The Real Boy by Anne Ursu – hoopla
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon series by Grace Lin – Libby
Read-alouds with My Son
Geeks, Girls & Secret Identities by Mike Jung (this isn’t available on audio, but his new book, The Boys in the Back Row, which I still need to review, is.)
Greenglass House by Kate Milford (and several other books in the series) – hoopla
The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley – just the first is on hoopla
Jinx series by Sage Blackwood – hoopla, ebook only
The True Meaning of Smekday series by Adam Rex – Libby
Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells (started in 8th grade – lots of adult content!) – hoopla and Libby
alibrarymama 