It’s that time of year- summertime, and that means family vacation season. We’ve put together a list of acclaimed audiobooks that will entertain the whole family, no matter the length of your drive. Some are even read by a full cast of voice actors, and some have music and sound effects! Download the free Libby app and log in with your library card to download these audiobooks to your smartphone. If you’ll be flying this summer, don’t forget that you can also use Libby to download ebooks that can be read on any e-reader or smart device!
This list is divided by intended age level, but feel free to explore any titles that you think will work best for your family.
Younger Kids
Mercy Watson Collection, by Kate DiCamillo.
41 minutes.
Mercy Watson to the Rescue-
To Mr. & Mrs. Watson, Mercy is not just a pig–she's a porcine wonder. And to the portly and good-natured Mercy, the Watson's are an excellent source of buttered toast, no to mention that buttery-toast feeling she gets when she snuggles in to bed with them. This is not, however so good for the Watsons' bed. BOOM! CRACK! Welcome to the wry and endearing world of Mercy Watson.
Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride-
Mr. and Mrs. Watson's porcine wonder, Mercy, loves nothing more than a ride in the car. It takes a fair amount of nudging and bribing and a "You are such a good sport, darling" to get the portly pig out of the driver's seat, but once the convertible is on the road, Mercy loves the feel of the wind tickling her ears and the sun on her snout.
Frog and Toad, by Arnold Lobel- The Audio Collection.
Read by the author and accompanied by background music. 23 minutes.
Celebrate the power of friendship with all four of the beloved Frog and Toad I Can Read stories by Arnold Lobel. This audio collections includes all four classics: Frog and Toad Are Friends, Frog and Toad Together, Frog and Toad All Year, and Days with Frog and Toad. Share the adventures of best friends Frog and Toad as they fly a kite, resist the temptation of cookies, and search for a lost button. No matter what kind of situation they find themselves in, one thing is certain: Frog and Toad will always be together.
The Collected Stories of Winnie-the-Pooh, by A.A. Milne.
Read by a full cast including Stephen Fry and Judi Dench. 4 hours 27 minutes.
Blackstone Audiobooks presents, from the unabridged collection A. A. Milne's Pooh Classics, the ten stories of Winnie-the-Pooh performed by Peter Dennis.
Come with us to an enchanted place, a forest where Winnie-the-Pooh lived with Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, Kanga, and Little Roo. The stories are about Christopher Robin and these good companions having wonderful times getting in and out of trouble. It is all very exciting and, really, quite thrilling no matter how young or old you may be.
This reading has earned the prestigious Audie Award, Parents' Choice Gold Award, Ohio State Award of Merit, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Silver Award.
This is the only reading of these immortal stories authorized by A. A. Milne's son, Christopher Robin, who wrote, "Peter Dennis has made himself Pooh's Ambassador Extraordinary and no bear has ever had a more devoted friend. So if you want to meet the real Pooh, the bear I knew, the bear my father wrote about, listen to Peter."
Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, by Betty MacDonald.
2 hours 42 minutes.
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle lives in an upside-down house and smells like cookies. She was even married to a pirate once. Most of all, she knows everything about children and can cure them of any ailment. Patsy hates baths. Hubert never puts anything away. Allen eats v-e-r-y slowly. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle has a treatment for all of them.
Magic Treehouse series, by Mary Pope Osborne.
Collection: Books 1-8 lasts 6 hours. Read by the author.
Jack and his younger sister, Annie, are just regular kids. But when they discover a tree house in the woods, something magical happens. In books 1-4, Jack and Annie are whisked back in time to the Age of Dinosaurs, a medieval castle, ancient pyramids, and treasure-seeking pirates. In books 5-8, Jack and Annie's friend, Morgan le Fay, is in trouble! They must find four "M" things to free her from a spell. Their adventures take them to meet a ninja master in ancient Japan, flee a crocodile on the Amazon River, discover the cave people of the Ice Age, and blast off to the moon in the future. It's a difficult and dangerous mission, but Jack and Annie will do anything to save a friend!
The Cat in the Hat and Other Dr. Seuss Favorites. Featuring performances by John Cleese, Billy Crystal, Ted Danson, Kelsey Grammar, Dustin Hoffman, Dustin Lithgow, and more. 1 hour 59 minutes.
11 complete stories!
Featuring:
The Cat in the Hat read by Kelsey Grammer
Horton Hears a Who read by Dustin Hoffman
How the Grinch Stole Christmas read by Walter Matthau
Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? read by John Cleese
The Lorax read by Ted Danson
Yertle the Turtle, Gertrude McFuzz, and The Big Brag read by John Lithgow
Thidwick, the Big-Hearted Moose read by Mercedes McCambridge
Horton Hatches the Egg read by Billy Crystal
The Cat in the Hat Comes Back read by Kelsey Grammer
Older Kids
Wayside School beneath the Cloud of Doom, by Louis Sachar.
Read by the author. 3 hours.
Your favorite students and teachers are all here. That includes Sharie, who loves her striped-and-spotted umbrella more than anything; Kathy, who has a bad case of oppositosis; Jason, who has to read the longest book in the world; and the rest of Mrs. Jewls's class on the thirtieth floor, who are busily collecting toenail clippings. Everyone is scrambling to prepare for the all-important Ultimate Test, but meanwhile, there is a mysterious Cloud of Doom looming above them... More than fifteen million readers have laughed at the clever and hilarious stories of Wayside School. So what are you waiting for? Come visit Wayside School! Kids 7 to 13 will zoom through these chapter books—laughing their way through the fast, funny, silly but relatable stories.
The Adventures of Captain Underpants, by Dav Pilkey.
Read by a full cast. 1 hour.
George and Harold are a couple of class clowns. The only thing they enjoy more than playing practical jokes is creating their own comic books. And together they've created the greatest superhero in the history of their elementary school: Captain Underpants! His true identity is SO secret, even HE doesn't know who he is!
Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Juster.
Read by Rainn Wilson. 4 hours 41 minutes.
For Milo, everything's a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he's got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason! Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it's exciting beyond his wildest dreams. . . .
How to Train Your Dragon, by Cressida Cowell.
Read by David Tennant. 3 hours 30 minutes.
Read the New York Times bestselling book that inspired the hit movies!
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon. Can Hiccup do it without being torn limb from limb?
Join his adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons—and becomes a hero. This action-packed, hilarious, and perfectly illustrated novel is a modern classic beloved by millions across the globe.
The Ramona Quimby Audio Collection, by Beverly Cleary.
18 hours 57 minutes.
Join Ramona Quimby, one of Newbery Medal winner Beverly Cleary's most beloved characters, on all her wacky adventures in this audio collection!
Meet Ramona. She lives on Klickitat Street with her mother, father, and big sister, Beezus. She's not afraid of anything and is always up to something. And that's just the beginning....This audio collection includes:
Beezus and Ramona
Ramona the Pest
Ramona the Brave
Ramona and Her Father
Ramona and Her Mother
Ramona Quimby, Age 8
Ramona Forever
Ramona's World
From the Mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg.
3 hours 46 minutes.
When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money. Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie had some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she bad discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too. The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her—well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home.
Holes, by Louis Sachar.
4 hours 37 minutes.
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes.
It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment
—and redemption.
The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart.
13 hours 16 minutes.
ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD Looking for special opportunities?
When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear listener, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful
children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.
As our heroes face physical and mental trials beyond their wildest imaginations, they have no choice but to turn to each other for support. But with their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?
Welcome to the mysterious benedict society.
The Roald Dahl Audio Collection.
3 hours 40 minutes.
Roald Dahl’s wickedly funny novels have turned him into the world’s number 1 storyteller. In this collection five splendiferous stories are brought to life by the author himself.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Abridged)
Willy Wonka’s famous chocolate factory is opening at last!
James and the Giant Peach (Abridged)
A little magic can take you a long way
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Unabridged)
Nobody outfoxes Fantastic Mr. Fox!
The Enormous Crocodile (Unabridged)
This greedy crocodile loves to guzzle up little boys and girls
The Magic Finger (Unabridged)
Horrible neighbors learn their lesson from a little girl with powerful magic!
A Series of Unfortunate Events, by Lemony Snicket.
Book one, The Bad Beginning, is 2 hours 30 minutes long. Entire series is 51 hours long.
In the tradition of great storytellers, from Dickens to Dahl, comes an exquisitely dark comedy that is both literary and irreverent, hilarious and deftly crafted. Never before has a tale of three likeable and unfortunate children been quite so enchanting, or quite so uproariously unhappy.
Are you made fainthearted by death? Does fire unnerve you? Is a villain something that might crop up in future nightmares of yours? Are you thrilled by nefarious plots? Is cold porridge upsetting to you? Vicious threats? Hooks? Uncomfortable clothing?
It is likely that your answers will reveal A Series of Unfortunate Events to be ill-suited for your personal use. A librarian, bookseller, or acquaintance should be able to suggest books more appropriate for your fragile temperament. But to the rarest of readers we say, "Proceed, but cautiously."
Teens:
Cinder, by Marissa Meyer.
10 hours.
A wicked mash-up of fairy tale and Terminator—set in a Star Wars kind of world—Marissa Meyer's Cinder is a fresh and fiercely ingenious futuristic retelling of Cinderella
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She's a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister's illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai's, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world's future.
Promise Boys, by Nick Brooks.
Read by a full cast. 6 hours 30 minutes.
Winner of the 2024 Odyssey Award for Excellence in Audiobook Production for Young Adults! The Urban Promise Prep School vows to turn boys into men. As students, J.B., Ramón, and Trey are forced to follow the prestigious "program's" strict rules. Extreme discipline, they've been told, is what it takes to be college bound, to avoid the fates of many men in their neighborhoods. This, the Principal Moore Method, supposedly saves lives.
But when Moore ends up murdered and the cops come sniffing around, the trio emerges as the case's prime suspects. With all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. But is the true culprit hiding among them?
Ready Player One.
15 hours, 40 minutes.
A world at stake. A quest for the ultimate prize. Are you ready?
In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the OASIS, a vast virtual world where most of humanity spends their days.
When the eccentric creator of the OASIS dies, he leaves behind a series of fiendish puzzles, based on his obsession with the pop culture of decades past. Whoever is first to solve them will inherit his vast fortune—and control of the OASIS itself.
Then Wade cracks the first clue. Suddenly he’s beset by rivals who’ll kill to take this prize. The race is on—and the only way to survive is to win.
The Amulet of Samarkand, by Johnathan Stroud. Book one of the Bartimaeus Trilogy.
13 hours, 30 minutes.
Nathaniel is eleven years old and a magician’s apprentice, learning the traditional arts of magic. All is well until he has a life-changing encounter with Simon Lovelace, a magician of unrivaled ruthlessness and ambition. When Lovelace brutally humiliates Nathaniel in public, Nathaniel decides to speed up his education, teaching himself spells way beyond his years. With revenge on his mind, he masters one of the toughest spells of all and summons Bartimaeus, a five-thousand-year-old djinni, to assist him. But summoning Bartimaeus and controlling him are two different things entirely, and when Nathaniel sends the djinni out to steal Lovelace’s greatest treasure, the Amulet of Samarkand, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of magical espionage, murder, and rebellion.
Set in a modern-day London spiced with magicians and mystery, The Amulet of Samarkand is an extraordinary, edge-of-your-seat thriller with many unexpected twists. Following Bartimaeus and Nathaniel in turn, the story introduces us to two wonderfully memorable characters–destined to go through many adventures together and bound by a spell that is nearly impossible to break.
The Maze Runner by James Dashner.
10 hours, 50 minutes.
When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He’s surrounded by strangers—boys whose memories are also gone.
Outside the towering stone walls that surround them is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It’s the only way out—and no one’s ever made it through alive.
Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying: Remember. Survive. Run.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
13 hours, 56 minutes.
Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read.
When Death has a story to tell, you listen.
It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.
Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living outside of Munich, who scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.
In superbly crafted writing that burns with intensity, award-winning author Markus Zusak, author of I Am the Messenger, has given us one of the most enduring stories of our time.