What can be better than getting lost in a story while on long family road trips? There are so many great adventures to choose from! Here’s a list to start!

One of the hardest decisions for me leading up to a road trip is packing the right books. I find myself staring at my books, wondering if I have enough or too many. Should I take some non-fiction or leave it fun with fiction? 

It’s worse with children. I always take books to read out loud but rarely use them. If there is another driver, I want my time free to look at the scenery—not to mention avoid getting carsick. 

Audiobooks have become a huge help on road trips. They take no space, you can bring along a large variety of them, and they entertain the children. If you do it right, they will keep  you awake as well! 

To get the tires and memories rolling, here is a list of great audiobooks the whole family can listen to and enjoy on a road trip.

1. The Henry Huggins Audio Collection by Beverly Cleary

You’ve heard of Ramona Quimby.

Looking for a character-building resource for your tweens? Here’s one of my favorites for encouraging, inspiring, and entertaining those tween-age kids!

What resources do you recommend for raising tweens? You know, those kids who are no longer “little” but not quite teenagers yet either.

I’m asked this question often.

Probably because I have a bunch of kids (8 is technically considered a “bunch,” right?), and so we’ve done this tween-thing a time or two.

But also because it’s such an important age – those “in-between” years are so critical – and what can we do for them?

I get it.

Which is why I’m sharing with you a couple of my favorite resources for encouraging, inspiring, and, yes, even entertaining those wonderful tween-age kids.

Ready? Da-ta-ta-da!! (I’m guessing I just embarrassed our older teenagers).

We love Jonathan Park and The Adventum  Audio Adventures!

Our older children listened to these engaging stories for hours. And I mean, hours.

And so those kids grew up, and then the younger set began enjoying them every bit as much as their older siblings.

Quality audiobooks can be a treasure for your children to go on adventures and grow their imagination!

“Is there a new Boxcar Children? Please check!” Natalie excitedly requests when daily “room time” rolls around. Her love for Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny is in full evidence as she interacts with them throughout the day, explaining to me how Violet is borrowing a specific clothing item or Benny is going to sleep on the couch. When I comment on her imaginary friends, she hastily and vehemently corrects me, “They are not pretend!”

But it’s not just the Boxcar Children who have become literary friends to our family. Mary and Laura Ingalls, Misty of Chincoteague, as well as Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger, are just a few of the other friends that often join us in our home.

I’m so thankful my daughter loves audiobooks. Since busy mama life means I can’t read aloud for hours on end, audiobooks come in handy in multiple ways. While Natalie enjoys alone time in her room, she is also being introduced to quality children’s literature at a young age. Many of these books are ones I loved when I was younger.

People often ask me about our oldest son. Things like…

“What would you say helped ground him in the faith when he was growing up?”

And, frankly, I can understand the question. I’d be asking the same thing too.

No, wait. I have asked the question.

Except I didn’t ask me — I asked our son.

Now that he’s in his 20’s and works in the heart of Washington D.C. (the dark heart that it is). Where it’s not exactly “cool” to be a committed Christian. Quite the opposite. He’s had to make some very hard choices in his work and life in that powerful city.

And it’s cost him. Yet he remains faithful.

So I asked him outright.

Looking back on your childhood, what things would you say helped prepare you to hold onto your faith as you went out into the world?

He’s a thoughtful young man, so I was interested to hear his answer.

At first, he listed the things you might expect to hear.

I wish I were the mom who loves to read aloud for hours on end. But I’m not. My voice gets tired. I get tired! (And have you ever noticed that as soon as you get into a good Morning Time read-aloud routine again everyone gets sick and you lose your voice or develop a cough?) I also work from home which means my read-aloud hours are limited by more than just my voice. There just aren’t enough hours in the day for me to read aloud every book I want my children to hear.

Thanks to Amazon and Audible, Focus on the Family and Jonathan Park, my kids never lack for wholesome entertainment that stimulates their brains and ignites their imaginations. Audiobooks introduce them to classic literature and allow them to keep childhood favorites on repeat. Audio adventures bring history to life and educate them on important facts without even realizing it. Audio dramas instill important values in my children’s minds and reinforce the character traits we are training them to display.

And while dramatized audio recordings can never replace that priceless read-aloud time, audiobooks can expand those precious hours into a family culture that prizes books.