Here at the Read-Aloud Revival, we are BIG FANS of audio books, but we get asked all the time: “Do audio books count as real read alouds?”
In today’s brand new episode of the podcast, I’m answering that question. You’ll also hear:
- whether or not audio books count as real reading
- where and how to listen (either alone or as a family)
- where I get the best deals on audio books
Audio books absolutely aren’t cheating, and I’m here today with your quick guide for getting started!
Get email updates about Audible deals
Would you like to be notified by email about Sarah's favorite Audible deals?
Click that play button below to hear the podcast:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Books from this episode:
(All links are Amazon affiliate links.)
Tag: Episode 66
![David Copperfield [Audible]](https://20665-presscdn-pagely.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/61EMr2Mr6WL.jpg)
Links from today’s show:
- RAR #01: Reading Aloud with Older Kids, Andrew Pudewa
- Favorite bluetooth speakers:
- Jensen CD Bluetooth Boombox (this is the one I have)
- Oontz Angle 3
- Bose Soundlink Mini
- Amazon Tap
- How to use Guided Access on an Apple device
- Librivox/ loyalbooks.com (free audio books)
- Favorite Librivox narrators list (click to download)
- Answers to your Audible questions: Q & A Audible post
- Link to best deals: current Audible deals
- RAR shop!
This is that super high-tech speaker I was telling you about 😉:
Want to stay up to speed on the current Audible deals?
Get email updates about Audible deals
Would you like to be notified by email about Sarah's favorite Audible deals?
Tell us in the comments– where do you like to get audio books?
Have you heard of Tales2Go? It’s like an audiobook library subscription, and you stream the books on whatever device you sign up with. We love it for listening to audiobooks :)
We use the Echo Dot from Amazon to listen to our Audible books. It’s super simply and the device is only $50. You just say, Alexa play Audible book … and it will play the book from wherever you left off.
Side not, while listening to this episode my 8 year old chimed in, “audio books, they’re talking about audio books. I LOVE audio books!”. Thanks for getting us hooked.
We are a big fan of audio books/stories here. And thank you for the reassuring that it is okay to let the kids listen to the audio books (all the time) because I have wondered about that.
What I find with our kids is that each kid is different and my 7-year-old was ready to listen to longer audio book since she was 4, and have enjoyed so many audio books through library and audible.com even on her own. My second child who is 4 likes for me to read books to her, or she likes me to sit with her with the actual book of the audio books and listen with her. They both started out with Sparkle Stories to get used to the audio stories, and moved on to longer books/stories. I bought my oldest an iPod Nano, and downloaded a lot of audio books from audible.com. We also use Overdrive to listen to the library audio books. And CD’s at home and in the car.
In the podcast you mentioned a link to a PDF about how to talk to your kids about books they have read, but you haven’t… I can’t find the link… Help please.
I was looking for this too…
Here’s a link to the Quickstart Guide: https://amongstlovelythings.com/product/5-questions-2/
I wanted to comment because you mentioned a Bluetooth speaker but I found one that is even easier. It’s called boomtouch wireless speaker. It works by lining up the speakers of your device (like a phone) with the receiver on the device. Anyone can walk over and place their device on it and it amplifies instantly…. as instantly and easily as throwing your phone in a cup. Just search boomtouch speaker on amazon.
Have to admit we have never done audio books. We LOVE audio dramas while in the car but I’m going to see about setting up my sons’ Kindles so they can listen to stories while they do their housework. Thanks!
I don’t use Bluetooth at home either…gravy boat :)
I bought an older basic used kindle touch for each of my kids because it supports audible audiobooks (newer basic kindles do not do audio.) I’d love to be able to borrow library audiobooks on it too, but I don’t know if that’s possible. I can check out ebooks and have them sent to my kids’ kindles. Usually if I check audiobooks out from the library, we listen to them all together by hooking my phone up to the car speakers or putting my phone in a bowl. I remember in elementary school kid there was a (very smart) boy in my class who got made fun of for listening to audiobooks, so I never dared to listen to any! When my oldest kids were young I put some on in the car and was amazed by how enjoyable it was. As i listened to more and more challenging books with them, I noticed my own vocabulary and reading comprehension growing!
RAR has made us Audible fans as well. After much frustration over scratched and skipping CDs from the library, we decided to take the plunge and get an Audible membership a few months ago.
Audible doesn’t advertise this widely, but they do annual memberships instead of monthly ones, and you can save a little money this way. Instead of $15/mo, you can do $150/yr for a gold membership (12 credits in a year). You can also get a platinum membership for $23/mo (2 credits per month) or $230/yr (24 credits for the year). Since we were starting our audio library from scratch, we decided to do the annual platinum, since each credit is less than $10 that way. They don’t even make this choice available online – you have to call to activate that level, but it was easy to do. The nice thing about annual memberships is that you get all of your credits at one time, so I was able to buy a bunch of books on the spot. You do have to be careful if you want to downgrade though as it will automatically renew at this level a year after you enroll.
I’m not sure if they are discontinuing the annual plans or not. I see even less about them online than I did when we enrolled, but it never hurts to ask.
You can also receive credits/membership as gifts, which could be a nice option for grandparents to give at Christmas time.
Thank you for another great podcast. I have a request for any books that are not typically discounted on audible as I have six credits I need to use so I can cancel my subscription. The children’s books all seem to be much cheaper then the $15 monthly fee.
We have been using Overdrive a while and have just discovered our library system also has access to Hoopla, which is very similar, but gives us access to EVEN MORE books! I laughed when you suggest the phone in a glass because we discovered that by accident while protecting my phone from a messy table while listening.
Thanks for the tip about the app-locking app. We find that our apple devices let us control an audio book while the phone is completely locked, but our android device has trouble with that so I’ll try your app!
Ok I just realized it’s not an app, but an apple setting! Still helpful; thanks!
Let me second how wonderful Hoopla is. Not only does it have a broad library, it’s also got much more recently published material. I’m always pleasantly surprised by what I find there.
Yes! I’ve found so many more books on Hoopla than on Overdrive- I LOVE it!
Looking forward to listening to this podcast!
& my vote is YES! YES! YES! :-D
Audiobooks do count as read-alouds.
Listening to epic, unabridged, titles on audiobook – think Don Quixote, Les Miserable, Quo Vadis, etc – count as some of our favourite family read-aloud times.
Getting down from my enthusiastic soap box, and off to download your pocast ;)
We are a big audiobook family!
My 10 year old daughter (a good reader) listens to them during her chores and a lot of her spare time.
Anyone struggle with their kids listening to audio books and then not want to actually sit down and read a book? Anyone figure out a good balance? I fully believe in all the benefits of listening to books, but also know that reading is a skill that needs to be cultivated as well.
Love audiobooks and THANK YOU for posting the Audible deals. We bought (on the sale price you posted) and listened to The Green Ember while driving to swim this summer… WOW! I can’t imagine that our first experience with this book could have been this great if I had been the one reading it aloud. Joel Clarkson was an awesome reader and we loved it!! I cried and cheered and yelled, and just confirmed for my children that I am crazy while listening to it. :) Just bought Ember Falls and started it today! Thank you, thank you!
Silly question, the audible deals, do you first select the book in kindle format then add the audible feature? Which then will bring the price of the book up? I’m a confused. I was just on amazon and couldn’t make out how it worked.. Some of the deals listed have expired possibly? Thanks for your help!
It is easiest going to audible.com and searching the books. If you have An Amazon account you link it there.
Including all of the options you have mentioned, my family also subscribes to Scribd (an app), and I pay $9 per month for one credit which equals one story. I use these for books that I want to have access to all the time, or don’t feel like waiting for them to come available on Overdrive (which we also love, but sometimes there is a waiting list). Scribd is very similar to Audible, but a little less money each month for membership. Sparkle Stories are another family favorite in our house. They also have a free story or two each month. Right now, they have 4 free back to school stories. Great popcast, thank you!
What great timing , my daughter and I were just talking about her children and their different styles of listening to books. She has only two children one 4 and one newly 6 one loves songs and music the other stories and books, this causes issues while traveling any suggestions? My daughter also has problems if she tries to read aloud or listen to a read aloud as kiddo get restless, if she allows crayons and paper or Legos the children fight over them and do not seem to be listening. We were wondering if you have any suggestions. Now for myself ( as the grandma) you spoke of not having to read all the books the children read to discuss them, that would be very helpful to me as I have five grandchildren in three states. I try to keep in touch by reading some of what each read, buying books for them and sending money for books but I do like to read to my interest also so it would be helpful to discuss their books without reading them all. I did not see that link in the show notes did I miss it. I listen to your pod casts (now it will be weekly) and encourage my son and daughter to listen also. Thank you for your great work. Blessings Wanda
My kids LOVE listening to audio books so on Prime Day we purchased a Echo Dot for each child’s room. They are amazing!
Our library also has access to an app called Hoopla Digital. It offers 5 free audio, ebooks, music or movies per library card each month. We have three library cards totaling a possibility of 15 free audio titles each month.
Loved your “mini”podcast:) Even though I have all teenagers, I really enjoy listening to your blog. I especially am grateful for the time that you and your team take to cull through and share with us the best audible deals.
We do a lot of read alouds, but I also have one daughter who is extremely auditory and listens to audio books all day long (or so it seems):)
Thanks!
Meant listen to your *podcast*-oops.
I like to listen to librivox.org books through my podcast app. I make sure it’s on librivox and choose the readers I want there. Then I go to my app (I use Pocket Casts for Android because it syncs to other devices; Podcast Addict is also an excellent Android app) and search for the title. There it is in the app I already use a lot!
Thanks for all you do, RAR team!!
I’d love to hear from you, Sarah, or others about the devices you’ve bought for your kids for use with the Audible app. Right now my two big kids have CD boomboxes in their rooms and we check out CDs from the library for them. My oldest is 7.5 and I’ve been rolling my eyes as he tells me of his friends who are starting to get devices, but with this podcast you’ve convinced me I need to look into Audible for them, but that means they’ll need their own devices. Any suggestions or advice are greatly appreciated!
Our favorite way to listen to books from Loyalbooks.com is to download them in the zipped file onto the computer, unzip them, and copy them to USB drives and listen to them in the car.
I’m currently enjoying The Phantom Tollbooth being read aloud on YouTube. Some mom’s have already done the work of recording for their own children …. and are awesome enough to share publically. :)
Oops almost forgot to say THANK YOU for the info on the huge Audible sale. I was able to load up on 31 books for $99.99. Yahooooooo! Now I’m working on getting all my younger kiddos (5, 3, & twins who are nearly 2) to enjoy “quiet time” now that everyone has given up nap time. This mama needs a bit of time to refresh in the day and they are stoked to have all sorts of new books to pick from!!!
You are right about read alouds in Youtube. I found that out about those while researching on good quality books that will teach my kids moral values and I created my own youtube channel called “Stories That Build Character and more” and I have organized my own books (that I read aloud) and other moms/teachers/grandmas books under moral values. I have so have over 100 moral values listed and over 1000 books that teaches values.
Loved this podcast! I am in the car a lot so audio books for me and my kids have been a lifeline for us! I had a lot of my old Disney See, Hear, Read books from when I was a kid but didn’t have the audio cassettes for them anymore. One day I stumbled across this website that has all the old Disney books on audio for free. It also has a ton of other old free audio books you won’t find elsewhere. http://www.mousevinyl.com/content/see-hear-and-read-catalog
Thank you for the Disney vinyl link!
Another great resource for audios is http://www.lamplighter.net These are audio dramas, with different actors. They are AMAZING! Such amazing stories, and so engaging. My 13 yr old son is always enthralled with whatever story he is listening to. They also have a subscription service, where you can get a certain number of audio cds or books per month.
Thank you SO much for this great podcast!! We are big readers, but I’d never gotten into audio books. Wow, have I ever been missing out! This morning I downloaded the Audible app, got my first free book, and already the kids and I have listened to 45 minutes of it. That’s 45 minutes we normally wouldn’t have been reading because we were driving for part of it, and doing a house chore for part of it. I think I see an addiction coming on! ;)
Thank you for a great podcast, great audio places to go to and great comments from other listeners. For Christians and specifically Catholics, I will recommend the site http://www.formed.org and recently (not even a month ago), now they have a FREE app “formed” and they have GREAT religious movies, dramatized audiobooks on the life of catholic saints, and the list goes on and on. We just listened to a 4 hour audio-drama, about the life of Brother Francis of Assisi, and it was a wonderfully done! I can’t recommend that app enough. They also have free access to the “Brother Francis” DVDs which are great DVDs to teach the catholic faith for children. They have them in English and Spanish and they have audiobooks and movies for both adults and kids. GREAT app, highly recommended.
In addition, one of the listeners mentioned that moms are sharing read-alouds in youtube and since I am a fan of those, I have created my own channel where I have organized the books that are already out there (including some that I am now reading aloud) by moral values and character building stories. The name of it is “Stories that build character and more” and the more is because besides character building stories, I have added stories of faith, science, history, geography, math, art, music, etc. I created it mostly to have easy access of the moral values stories for my kids, but it can help many moms as well, especially moms that don’t have an easy access to a library or are overseas, or that English is their second language like myself.
Thanks for sharing this resource!
We started our new school year Monday and it has been pretty good for being a first week! This is our first year using audio book and it is awesome we get all our booky work done and then either pull out our drawing books or Lego and all you hear for hours is a great story. Having multiple ages and reluctant readers has made this really work for us this is our 5th year homeschooling and can’t believe I’m just doing this. Good luck in your new school year!
Thank you for explaining audible! I’ve been using the app for a while, but I’ve had questions that I never took the time to find the answers to. Loved this episode and LOVE audio books!
I recently discovered an app called Epic! which is a great source for read aloud books for younger kids. They have both “read to me” versions where the pages turn automatically and audio versions (which are our fave). My kids (5 & 3) can listen to Clifford, Mike Mulligan or even classic fairy tales while they nap! It has a free 30 day trial and then is $7.99. Great readers too :)
You can get a free “Audiobooks are not cheating,” poster here.
http://www.booksontape.com/notcheating/
I also wanted to mention the Odyssey Award for Audiobooks. Like the Newbery or Caldecott, the Odyssey Award honors distinguished audiobooks. It is jointly administered by both the Association of Library Service to Children and the Young Adult Library Service Association, so its winners include both children’s and young adult titles. Consequently, the parents need to watch for content and judge what’s best for their own children, but there are several familiar “classic” titles among the winners (and some others that I’ve read and enjoyed, and would personally recommend – just ask).
Thank you so much for all this practical, helpful info! And also for helping me ditch the guilt about audiobooks in a season with 2 bigger kiddos, and an almost 2 year old who basically starts screaming and trying to close the book when I crack open a book to read to the other two. LOVE the guide to the best narrators on Librivox!! After listening to all of Karen Savage (my favorite!), I had quit downloading because of the quality differences. Well, I’m now downloading some of your other suggestions to give them a try! Also giving a “thumbs up” to the weekly podcast format!
Hi Sarah!! First of all, I am so very grateful for you, your podcast, your lists…everything! I’m getting ready to venture into my second year of homeschooling with my son and daughter(3rd and 5th grades, respectively). The beginning of my first year is when I found you (somehow) and episode 1 of your RAR podcast with Andrew Pudewa blew my mind!! It was everything I knew to be true, instinctively, brought to the conscious part of my mind. Thank you!!
I’m commenting, because in your most recent episode, you referenced a list of questions that could help facilitate a thoughtful conversation between parent and child (even if parent hadn’t read the given book)? Where can I access this tool? Thanks so much Sarah for all of your work! ~Brandi
…nevermind…I just found it! ;-) xoxo
Given the wealth of audio resources available via the Internet and public libraries, I can’t imagine spending money on Audible. I see your point about building an audio library, but I see few constraints in accessing audio materials elsewhere, particularly from public libraries.
Public libraries are AMAZING! So glad to hear that you are accessing all kinds of content from your library!
Thank you for all you do to encourage us to keep reading aloud to our children. We have been reading aloud now for 17 years and we love it!! I did have a question. You mentioned in the pod cast about a pdf file for questions you can ask your children about books they have read but you have not. I was not able to find the link in the show notes.
Thanks
Typically, we use devices to listen to audiobooks. However, I realized our DVD player also functions as a CD player if I want to bring the disks in from the car.
If you don’t have a CD player in the house, most DVD and Blue-ray players also play CDs through your TV speakers.
My family listened to The Wizard of OZ (Librivox version) and, with each chapter, my children were hoping for “the good reader”, instead of the teenage girl with an attitude. :) We are so excited to try audible deals!
Anne Hathaway knocks it out of the park with her reading of Wizard of Oz!
We recently purchased an Amazon Kindle Fire on Prime day for a superb deal. With parental controls we have limited access to only Audible! Even has the option to control purchasing through parent password so they don’t have the option to search or buy books either. It is wonderful that I can rest assured that they can only listen to our family’s chosen downloaded audible content. It was amazing on a cross country flight as well as quiet time at home. Since we have 4 kids and don’t want each to have their own device we have made it clear this is a family owned (aka parent) device that they may use and share with each other.
I was wondering if there are certain headphones that you have found that work best for toddlers? Are there any that keep them from turning the volume up on their own. Thank you
Lots of people really like these headband headphones
But many kids earphones come with limited volume, so even if they’re turning the volume up, it’s not too loud!
I want to start audio books with my 3.5 year old. Should I start with shorter books? I found Little House In The Big Woods, Pippi Longstocking, Mary Poppins and Charlotte’s Webb on audible today all for under $4! How do I know what type of book to start with? Thanks!
I’d try starting with Little House…maybe get the My First Little House picture books from the library too? My littles like looking at the pictures while the story is being read. We go slow and talk about the characters when we aren’t listening. If this seems like too much, I’d try the Frog and Toad books on audio. :)
What age did you start audio books? I have a 3 1/2 year old, and I read her many picture books, but these would be very short audio books by themselves. So should I delve into some short stories or chapter books? Do your kids like to have a hard copy of the book to follow along or just listen?
My kids live on audiobooks. We have an Echo, Echo Show and Echo Dot…every room they walk into they play an audiobook like most people play music. I love the feature on the Echo Show, Alexa “Show me my audible library”. There is a visual list of our audible titles that they can slide through. Before the Echo Show I printed a notecard of each new audible title so that they could remember all the titles that we own. I also download audiobooks on OverDrive through our local library. I just connect my iPhone to an Echo device and play the audiobooks from OverDrive. We also have a newer car with Bluetooth capability and can play audible or OverDrive from your phone on the car speakers. I could never read aloud the multitude of hours my kids listen to audiobooks. They are a huge voice saver.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for the guided access tip on iPads. I have been looking for a tool to help manage and teach responsible tech time.
Has anyone found a good way to record yourself reading a book? We find it hard when we are in the middle of a good read aloud and one of my children isn’t there! We can’t read without them all there because no one wants to miss the next part!! Thought if i could record myself as I read then they could catch up later on. I thought of using my video on my phone but I never have enough storage space to take a long video. Maybe someone knows of an app or something else just for audio?
That is a great idea! We have not been able to continue our reading all summer because we have had three different kids gone to their grandparents for extended periods at different times. Should have thought of that! I could even send them the file to listen to while they are there!
I once read some picture books on my phone and then they could read along and turn the pages without me having to sit there and read to them. Felt sort of like I was cheating, though!
Chances are your phone might have an audio app already installed, mine came with one. Or there are lots of free apps on Google Play (assuming you’re on Android, probably lots for Apples too), just search audio recorder app and choose one that looks good!
Thanks so much! I loved this podcast. We have been listening to Librivox forever, but I love this book list. It is super helpful. I just started audible and feel like I am gonna love it! These deals are awesome! Thanks for the work you have done for us. I also called the library and they also have overdrive. Thanks again! I have sort of banned myself from the library, because I have the same problem you do! hehe. Thanks again! I look forward to more podcasts.
Thanks for this episode! After giving up on audio books with littles a few years ago (we have 5 kids ages 9 and under) we gave it a go again last year via Audible. We have a couple Kindle Fires so the older kids listened separately with headphones during different times throughout the day and it worked! We had a “listening station” planned into our homeschool morning (just that 30 minute designated time 4x per week – so about 2 hours a week) plus after lunch and before bed time. My kids got through most of Narnia, Ramona, Henry series, etc. It was awesome! So this year mom, dad, 9 year old and 8 year old are picking a book a month to read/listen to but all separately – Dad has a long commute, I like reading the paper book sometimes, kids are listening via audible. This lets us “read” a book together (but separately) and then we can discuss it as a family! We are reading/listening to Wonder right now. And now my 5 year old has just started listening to Narnia on her own.
Love hearing about your family’s separate, but together reading plan! Can you imagine the richness of that commute time for that pap who knows he’s connecting with his kids!
Just recently found your podcast and have been enjoying it! Just wanted to share a tip that we use for audiobooks, and other audio as well. I have a little FM transmitter that I bought a while back to listen to audiobooks from my phone in the car over the car speakers. It is just a little device that plugs into the headphone jack of the phone and turns the audio output into an FM radio signal. You can then choose a station to tune into. My 9-year old son recently realized that using it, we can play an audiobook on any device with a headphone jack: phone, computer, cassette tape player, etc., and any FM radio within range can tune in. This works so awesome! The book doesn’t even have to be playing out loud on the device playing it, but each kid can tune into it in their own room. It even works outside not too far away from the house with a portable radio. We have a very old Android phone that isn’t useful for much of anything anymore, but it has an FM tuner, so they can use that to tune in. If we tune in each radio in the house to the story, you can pretty much hear it wherever you are in the house, so you don’t even have to be stuck in one place, or on headphones. I think it’s better than bluetooth, because you can use your existing speakers. I have even heard that some of the new iPhones come with FM transmitters built right into them. (Mine is battery operated so works in the house, some plug into the cigarette lighter of the car, which wouldn’t work in the house, but would save having to replace batteries.)
Thank you this was so helpful!
We love getting CD’s from the Library. We are almost finished with the Harry Potter series. They are read so well. My kids never want to get out of the van!!!
Thank you so much for curating a list of your fave LibriVox narrators! We started listening to audiobooks through LibriVox and were completely disappointed at the quality of the narrations! We have been buying on sale Audibles but I think it’s time to take the plunge on the Audible membership. Thank you!!
Happy listening, Dayle!
Absolutely our favorite audio book of all time… it makes every road trip with us and we never tire of hearing the narrator: THE TEACHER’S FUNERAL, by Richard Peck. From toddlers to high school students, we all recall our favorite lines. The irreverent humor gives way to an incredible year in a one-room school house, with a dozen unforgettable characters keeping us company on the road.
Thanks so much for this excellent recommendation, Emily! Those shared lines and good company on your travels? Sounds like a flourishing family culture built around books! :)
Hi there! So for the audible subscription: are you saying that you can down load the audible app, use during free trial, then keep using even if you dont have a subscription? Thanks!
Nancy
Yes! Any books that you purchase, including sale books, are yours to keep forever…even if you are not a current Audible member. :)
We mostly link our iPad to the TV to listen to audiobooks. We use an Apple TV and, if we have a Whispersync version, we sync the Kindle book to the screen. This way, the kids can see any illustrations and the younger ones can follow the words to help with their reading. Sometimes, if the text is difficult, the older ones like to follow the text, too.
We have enjoyed audio books on car trips as you described in the podcast, but our new fun way to listen to books is with what we call “story baths”. We got a Bluetooth speaker-lightbulb that we screw into the bathroom fixture, and I can link it to books from overdrive or even story podcasts from my phone. My son enjoys listening while playing in the tub. It’s extra fun because the bulb has fun colors it can strobe or change using an app it comes with. It’s great fun!
Oh my lands! A bluetooth lightbulb! Sounds like an excellent way to take a bath!
Wondering where the guide to having conversation with kids about books is?
You can find it in the shop: https://amongstlovelythings.com/product/5-questions-2/ :)
I have actually found many audiobooks I’m looking for, for FREE on YouTube!
And I’m so grateful for the Read Aloud Revival, it really has revived the love of listening to a good book…and more so, by introducing audiobooks into the mix. Thank you for the idea, on so many levels!
Thanks for the tip, Jennifer!