So, Audible has a sale through 27 Nov 2017 on hundreds of children’s audiobooks. Below, find a list of books that caught my eye in the Ages 5-7 category. There’re many other great ones, I’m sure, and I’ve varying levels of interest in the ones listed. And I’m not taking the time to linkify them. Frankly, this list covers a lot of the books in the sale! One of the caveats with books for this age–many such books include great illustrations, which obviously aren’t included in an audiobook. I’ve left some books off the list just because they lose too much in this medium. Also…while I love the audiobook medium in part because of the scope it gives voice actors to enrich the experience, I also want my kids to get a lot of practice in reading, with the joy of reading enjoyable texts as an intrinsic motivation!
The list:
- A Child’s History of the World – recommended by others, haven’t yet read/listened. An older perspective, I’m assuming with positives and negatives.
- Ada Twist, Scientist. I’m always looking for STEM/girls books. The loss of pictures is a substantial loss.
- Aesop’s Fables – self-explanatory.
- Rabbit Ears books – stories from many different cultures. Gold.
- A Bear Called Paddington – classic kids’ book
- The Black Stallion – classic.
- Brave Girl – child worker protests treatment of workers in early-20th-century New York. Power to the people!
- Cam Jansen stories – kids’ mysteries (fun if I remember correctly) starring a kid with a photographic memory.
- Hank the Cowdog stories – fun stories about a full-of-himself farm dog.
- Catwings series by Ursula K. Le Guin. A matriarch of fantasy. Not sure if I’ve read more than her Earthsea series.
- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Classic.
- A Child’s Garden of Verses. Innocent verses by Stephenson.
- Clementine books – looks like a fun exploration of a school-age girl’s life.
- The Courage of Sarah Noble – A classic–but I don’t remember much about it.
- Happy Little Family (and other books in series) by Rebecca Caudill. Looks like an innocent older book about a bygone era.
- Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary. I have good memories of reading Cleary books as a kid. I’ve recently seen criticism of them as fairly misogynous and encouraging obnoxious behavior–this doesn’t surprise me a lot, but I’d have to re-sample.
- The Hen Who Wouldn’t Give Up – perhaps a good growth-mindset read.
- I Could Do That! Esther Morris Gets Women the Vote – Girl power FTW! A little trepidation–it sounds as though the illustrations are a big part of this book.
- Hurricanes! Again–illustrations?
- Johnny Appleseed
- Various books by Jean Fritz. Well-told bios, probably well-infused with American mythology.
- Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. [illustrations?]
- Lincoln And Douglass An American Friendship [illustrations?]
- The Matchlock Gun – Revolutionary War hist. fiction
- On Sand Island [illustrations?] – values hard work, goal pursuit, cooperation. A boy builds a boat.
- Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Illustrations add a lot to this book. Lovely story of a girl with leukemia from the atomic bombings of Japan. Sweet but sad.
- Scaredy Squirrel – growth mindset, anxiety
- Jesus Storybook Bible – great children’s bible that weaves together a narrative. Not the moralistic or the fragmented approach that many take.
- The Story for Children – a storybook bible
- The Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit – apparently “translated” into a contemporary context. If I understand correctly, this may be less likely than some versions to evoke !?!?!? reactions on race perspectives than other versions–but do your own investigation.
- Treasury of Egyptian Mythology. Yum.
- The War with Grandpa. Looks like fun.
- Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message. A shame to miss out on the illustrations, but audiobook reviews are good.
Known Unknowns 