Family friendly audiobooks for kids of all ages.

Reading paper books is irreplaceable, but audiobooks are great for the times and places where this is not feasible – such as for the many kids who get sick while reading in the car! (This is VERY common, as motion sickness is caused by spatial disorientation and can be exacerbated when kids eyes are focused on a stationary subject while there is motion in the peripheries). Audiobooks are a great way to keep your kids engaged in books even during long vacation car rides or commutes.

However, it can be difficult to find an audiobook that is interesting enough to hold a child’s attention without being unendurable to the adults in the car. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of the best family friendly audiobooks for kids. All of the audiobooks in this list are timeless classics that are great for a wide range of ages.

100 best audiobooks for kids

Image	Book	Description	Recommended Age	Recommended Grade	Author	Narrated By	Duration	Learn more
	The Mouse and the Motorcycle	A daring young rodent named Ralph comes across a boy in room 215 of the Mountain View Inn and learns to motorcycle	3 years+	Grades Pre-K and up	Beverly Cleary	‎B. D. Wong	2:18	Get it free
	Thornton Burgess animal stories	Old Mother Nature must teach peter about the animals who share the Green Meadows and Green Forest	3 years+	Grades Pre-K and up	Thornton W. Burgess	Tom Weiss	8:06	Get it free
	Nuts to You	Two squirrels must traverse thick and thin to save a comrade who is kidnapped by a hawk	3 years+	Grades Pre-K and up	Lynne Rae Perkins	Jessica Almasy	2:43	Get it free
	Anna Hibiscus	Anna Hibiscus lives in Africa but desires nothing more than to see snow	4 years+	Grades Kindergarten and up	Atinuke	Mutiyat Ade-Salu	1:06	Get it free
	The Froggy Books	Froggy attempts to make his mother a birthday cake using flour, sugar, and the chocolate candy his mother had hidden since Halloween	4 years+	Grades Kindergarten and up	Jonathan London	John McDonough	0:10	Get it free
	Alice in Wonderland	A timeless tale of a journey through the looking glass	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Lewis Carroll	Cindy Hardin Killavey	5:58	Get it free
	The Wingfeather Saga	Janner Igiby, his brother Tink, and their crippled sister Leeli must survive the evil pursuit of the venomous Fangs of Dang	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Andrew Peterson	Peter Sandon	8:05	Get it free
	The Penderwicks	Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, quickly proves himself to be the perfect parnter in crime for their misadventures	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Jeanne Birdsall	Susan Denaker	6:43	Get it free
	Bunnicula	Misadventures of the vampire bunny, Bunnicula	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	James Howe	Victor Garber	1:35	Get it free
	Frindle	Nicholas Allen dreams jup a prank to play on Mrs. Granger's fifth grade language arts class	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Andrew Clements	Keith Nobbs	1:40	Get it free
	Thimble Summer	Once 9-year-old Garnet linden uncovers a silver thimble in the dried-up riverbed, the rains come and end the long drought on the farm	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Elizabeth Enright	Joan Allen	3:25	Get it free
	Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing	Peter encounters an ever increasing problem in his demanding two-year-old brother	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Judy Blume	Judy Blume	2:33	Get it free
	The Boxcar Children	The Aldens begin their adventure by making a home in a boxcar	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Gertrude Chandler Warner	Phyllis Newman	1:57	Get it free
	The Willoughbys	The Willoughby children devise a diabolical plot to convert themselves into worthy and winsome orphans	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Lois Lowry	Arte Johnson	2:55	Get it free
	Fortunately, the Milk	A ridiculous tale of time travel and breakfast cereal	6 years+	Grades 1 and up	Neil Gaiman	Neil Gaiman	0:58	Get it free
	The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Case	A young African girl named Precious who fancies herself a detective takes on the case of the missing cake	7 years+	Grades 2 and up	Alexandra McCall Smith	Adjoa Andoh	0:55	Get it free
	Beezus and Ramona	It's no easy task for Beezus Quimby to be patient with her 4-year-old little sister, Ramona	7 years+	Grades 2 and up	Beverly Clearly	Stockard Channing	2:22	Get it free
	The Magic Tree House	Jack and Annie get inton trouble when Magic Tree House takes them off to the center of the ocean.	7 years+	Grades 2 and up	Mary Pope Osborne	Mary Pope Osborne	5:26	Get it free
	The War That Saved My Life	9-year-old Ada's life is forever changed after she follows her brother who is sent away from London during the war	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Kimberly Brubaker Bradley	Jayne Entwhistle	7:38	Get it free
	Prince Caspian	A battle of honor between two men alone will decide the fate of the entire world.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	C.S. Lewis	Lynn Redgrave	4:42	Get it free
	Stuart Little	A bittersweet story of friendship and adventure starring a E.B. White's charming mouse	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	E.B. White	Julie Harris	1:55	Get it free
	Clementine	A funny story of Clementine's disastrous week	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Sarah Pennypacker	Jessica Almasy	1:29	Get it free
	Navigating Early	A landlocked Kansas boy is unexpectedly uprooted to a Maine boarding school following his mother's untimely passing.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Clare Vanderpool	Robbie Daymond	7:20	Get it free
	The Wind in the Willows (BBC edition)	A special dramatisation for BBC Radio 4 including a varied original cast	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Kenneth Grahame	Kenneth Grahame	2:20	Get it free
	Sarah, Plain and Tall	Anna and Caleb's lives are changed for good after their widowed father orders a mail-order bride for the farm	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Patricia MacLachlan	Glenn Close	1:01	Get it free
	The Year of Billy Miller	Billy might be worried about second grade, but he's sure that this is his year	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Kevin Henkes	Dan Bittner	2:21	Get it free
	Charlotte's Web	Charlotte's spiderweb reveals her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	E.B. White	E.B. White	3:28	Get it free
	Coraline	Coraline encounters a magic door into another house that's identical to hers	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Neil Gaiman	Neil Gaiman	3:36	Get it free
	The Jumbies	Corinne follows an agouti all the way into the forbidden forest	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Tracey Baptiste	Robin Miles	5:09	Get it free
	Masterminds	Eli, Tori, Amber, and Malik make their ways to the real world in order to expose the leaders of Serenity.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Gordon Korman	Ramon de Ocampo	6:48	Get it free
	Elijah of Buxton	Elijaj is the first child born into freedom in the Black community of Buxton, Canada during the mid-1800s	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Christopher Paul Curtis	Mirron Willis	8:58	Get it free
	How to Train Your Dragon	Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III tries to pass his Viking clan's initiation test by catching and training a dragon of his own.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Cressida Cowell	David Tennant	3:30	Get it free
	The Invention of Hugo Cabret	Hugo's undercover life in the walls of a busy Paris train station, as well as his most guarded secret, are put in jeopardy	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Brian Selznick	Jeff Woodman	2:51	Get it free
	The One and Only Ivan	Ivan the gorilla meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family and begins to miss his old life in the jungle	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Katherine Applegate	Adam Grupper	3:46	Get it free
	Listen, Slowly	Mai travels to Vietnam with her grandma to discover the truth about her grandpa after the Vietnam War.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Thanhha Lai	Lulu Lam	7:32	Get it free
	Matilda	Matilda must uncover her magic powers in order to get back at the Trunchbull.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Roald Dahl	Kate Winslet	4:18	Get it free
	A Snicker of Magic	Midnight Gulch was once an enchanted land where residents could sing up thunderstorms and dance up sunflowers, until a curse ruined everything	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Natalie Lloyd	Cassandra Morris	8:12	Get it free
	Greenglass House	Milo's inn home is suddenly full of strange and secretive visitors, each one with a strange story to tell	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Kate Milford	Chris Henry Coffey	11:41	Get it free
	Princess Academy	Miri's mountain-top home is converted into a princess academy	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Shannon Hale	Laura Credido	7:53	Get it free
	The Wolves in the Walls	Noone believes Lucy that there are wolves living within the walls of their house	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Neil Gaiman	Neil Gaiman	0:16	Get it free
	Because of Winn-Dixie	Opal enters the Naomi, Florida Winn-Dixie supermarket and unexpectedly walks away with a dog.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Kate DiCamillo	Cherry Jones	2:28	Get it free
	Ramona Quimby Collection	Ramona gets into zany adventures, makes trouble, and learns about growing up across every single Ramona Quimby book in one.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Beverly Cleary	Stockard Channing	19:00	Get it free
	Hank the Cowdog	Sally May is planning a dance in her yard and launches a major Spring Cleaning Offensive	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	John R. Erickson	John R. Erickson	1:16	Get it free
	Better Nate Than Ever	Small-town kid Nate Foster has big dreams of starring in a Broadway show	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Tim Federle	Tim Federle	5:54	Get it free
	Howl’s Moving Castle	Sophie gets transfigured into an old lady by a witch and must struggle to break the enchantment.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Dianna Wynne Jones	Jenny Sterlin	8:34	Get it free
	Holes	Stanley's quest to uncover what he is digging for brings him to danger and adventure and to a confrontation with his own family's history.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Louis Sachar	Kerry Beyer	4:23	Get it free
	Little House in the Big Woods	The inaugural book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House collection, based on her experiences growing up as an American pioneer.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Laura Ingalls Wilder	Cherry Jones	3:41	Get it free
	My Father’s Dragon	Three timeless tales of Elmer Elevator and his flying baby dragon	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Ruth Stiles Gannett	Robert Serva	2:24	Get it free
	The Lions of Little Rock	To remain friends, Marlee and Liz must take on segregation and the dangers their companionship could bring upon their families.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Kristin Levine	Julia Whelan	8:22	Get it free
	The Betsy-Tacy books	Tracy moves into Betsy's neighborhood on Hill Street and becomes her new best friend.	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Sutton Foster	Maud Hart Lovelace	2:02	Get it free
	Save Me a Seat	Two boys find out they have a common adversary, the class bully	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan	Josh Hurely and Vikas Adam	4:01	Get it free
	One Hundred Dresses	Wanda Petronski, an immigrant girl in an American school, is made fun of for wearing the same faded blue dress every day	8 years+	Grades 3 and up	Eleanor Estes	Christina Moore	0:54	Get it free
	The Count of Monte Cristo	A man who is wrongfully imprisoned escapes from jail and acquires a fortune.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Alexandre Dumas	Alan Munro	9:18	Get it free
	Mr. Popper’s Penguins	A Newbery Honor winning children's book that lent iteself to the rambunctious Jim Carrey movie	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Richard Atwater	Nick Sullivan	2:14	Get it free
	See You in the Cosmos	A space-obsessed 11-year-old names Alex Petroski attempt to launch Alex’s golden iPod into space	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Jack Cheng	Kivlighan de Montebello	6:10	Get it free
	Inside Out and Back Again	A young Vietnamese girl must get accustomed to life in America after she flees her war-torn homeland in 1975	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Thanhha Lai	Doan Ly	2:30	Get it free
	Island of the Blue Dolphins	An Indian girl spends 18 years alone on the island of San Nicholas in the early 1800s	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Scott O'Dell	Tantoo Cardinal	4:00	Get it free
	Ghost	An uplifting story about a 13-year-old inner-city Black kid Castle Crenshaw, known as “Ghost,” who stumbles into joining a track team.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Jason Reynolds	Guy Lockhart	3:29	Get it free
	Wonder	August (Auggie) Pullman has always had a facial deformity that precluded him from going to a public school - until now.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	R. J. Palacio	Diana Steele	8:06	Get it free
	Shingaling: A Wonder Story	It's not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	R. J. Palacio	Taylor Ann Krahn	3:08	Get it free
	James and the Giant Peach	James mistakenly adds some magic crystals to the old peach tree and interesting things start to transpire.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Roald Dahl	Julian Rhind-Tutt	3:18	Get it free
	Odd and the Frost Giants	Odd comes across an eagle, bear and fox that turn out to really be Norse gods, trapped in animal form by the villainous frost giants	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	Neil Gaiman	Neil Gaiman	1:46	Get it free
	The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe	The inaugural book of The Chronicles of Narnia	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	C.S. Lewis	Michael York	4:21	Get it free
	The Magician's Nephew	The second to last installment in the Narnia series	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	C.S. Lewis	Kenneth Branagh	3:57	Get it free
	The Voyage of the Dawn Treader	Edmund and Lucy, along with their reluctant cousin Eustace, once again enter the magical world of Narnia.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	C.S. Lewis	Derek Jacobi	5:50	Get it free
	The Silver Chair	Book 4 in the classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	C.S. Lewis	Jeremy Northam	5:25	Get it free
	The Horse and His Boy	Two runaways meet and join forces for a battle that will finalize their destiny and the fate of Narnia itself.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	C.S. Lewis	Alex Jennings	4:40	Get it free
	The Last Battle	Eustace and Jill must return to Narnia to overcome the Ape Shift and expose the fake Aslan who is wreaking havoc all over this formerly peaceful land.	9 years+	Grades 4 and up	C.S. Lewis	Patrick Stewart	4:49	Get it free
	A Wrinkle in Time	Meg must try to find her father after experiments with time-travel go wrong	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Madeleine L'Engle	Hope Davis	6:08	Get it free
	Where the Mountain Meets the Moon	Minli embarks on an astounding adventure to meet the Old Man on the Moon	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Grace Lin	Janet Song	4:56	Get it free
	Princess Academy	Miri's princess academy friends have been brought to Asland to help the future princess Britta prepare for her wedding	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Shannon Hale	Cynthia Bishop	7:53	Get it free
	Inkheart	Mo reads aloud from Inkheart and an evil ruler named Capricorn frees himself from the boundaries of fiction	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Cornelia Funke	Lynn Redgrave	15:27	Get it free
	Peter and the Starcatchers	Peter and his friends are exiled to an island governed by the evil King Zarboff	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Dave Barry	Jim Dale	8:39	Get it free
	The Wizard of Oz	Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away into the magical land of Oz	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	L. Frank Baum	Anne Hathaway	3:52	Get it free
	Brown Girl Dreaming	A memoir of a childhood spent across New York and South Carolina	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Jacqueline Woodson	Jacqueline Woodson	3:55	Get it free
	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone	A young wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry must overcome the evil Voldemort	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	J.K. Rowling	Stephen Fry and the Jim Dale	8:34	Get it free
	Diamond Willow	An Athabascan Indian girl named Willow must overcome a critical mistake while mushing the sled dogs to her grandparents' home in the Alaskan winter.	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Helen Frost	Jennifer Ikeda	2:02	Get it free
	Just So Stories	Charming classic children's tales of unusual natural phenomenon	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Rudyard Kipling	Cathy Dobson	2:55	Get it free
	Treasure Island	Jim Hawkins, a young cabin boy fights the pirate Long John Silver for a lost treasure	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Robert Louis Stevenson	Alfred Molina	8:10	Get it free
	The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary	Poems from 18 kids in a fifth grade class highlight a particularly transformative year	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	Laura Shovan	Multiple	3:14	Get it free
	The Hobbit	The classis saga of Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit who must depart the Shire for adventures throughout Middle Earth	10 years+	Grades 5 and up	J.R.R. Tolkien	Rob Inglis	11:08	Get it free
	One Crazy Summer	3 Gaither sisters unwittingly become involved in the Black Panther movement while trying to visit the mom who abandoned them.	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Rita Williams-Garcia	Sisi Aisha Johnson	5:06	Get it free
	Hidden Figures	A child-adapted non-fiction account of African American female mathematicians who transform NASA’s space program	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Margot Lee Shetterly	Bahni Turpin	4:11	Get it free
	The Incredible Journey	A Labrador retriever, bull terrier and a Siamese cat band together to find their way home	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Sheila Burnford	Megan Follows	3:09	Get it free
	Redwall	A young mouse must save his woodland friends at Redwall Abbey from the villainous Cluny the Scourge	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Brian Jacques	Brian Jacques	10:26	Get it free
	The Graveyard Book	Adventures in the graveyard with the lovable Nobody Owens, AKA Bod	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Neil Gaiman	Neil Gaiman	7:47	Get it free
	Anne of Green Gables	An 1890s Canadian classic tale of an orphaned girl finding a home	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	L.M. Montgomery	Rachel McAdams	9:30	Get it free
	Okay for Now	Doug Swieteck just relocated to a new city, with no friends and a terrible older brother	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Gary Scmidt	Lincoln Hoppe	9:16	Get it free
	Esperanza Rising	Esperanza must transition from young daughter of wealthy landowners to Mexican farm worker	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Pam Muñoz Ryan	Trini Alvarado	4:42	Get it free
	The Mysterious Benedict Society	Four kids must embark on a secret mission at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Trenton Lee Stewart	Del Roy	13:15	Get it free
	The Golden Compass	Lyra and her daemon, Pantalaimon, must rescue Roger from a team of scientists are conducting unspeakably horrible experiments	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Philip Pullman	Philip Pullman	10:41	Get it free
	The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson & the Olympians)	Mythical creatures appear to be arising straight out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology textbook and into his life	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Rick Riordan	Jesse Bernstein	10:02	Get it free
	Rain Reign	Rose Howard, a girl with OCD and Asperger's syndrome, must go outside of her comfort zone to find her lost dog	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Ann M. Martin	Laura Hamilton	4:07	Get it free
	A Series of Unfortunate Events	The Baudelaire children must fight back against the evil Count Olaf using books	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Lemony Snicket	Tim Curry	2:31	Get it free
	Come On, Seabiscuit	The true story of a couragous horse that would not quit during the Great Depression	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Ralph Moody	Cameron Beierle	4:01	Get it free
	The Dark is Rising	Will learns that he is the last of the Old Ones, immortals sworn to keeping the earth safe	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Susan Cooper	Alex Jennings	8:47	Get it free
	The Amber Spyglass	The legions of both heaven and hell are gathering to participate in Lord Asriel's daring rebellion.	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Philip Pullman	Philip Pullman	14:47	Get it free
	The Subtle Knife	A world where soul-eating Specters patrol the land and witches barrle with troops of angels in the sky	11 years+	Grades 6 and up	Philip Pullman	Philip Pullman	9:02	Get it free
	The Crossover	Poems about talented 12-year old basketball player Josh Bell	13 years+	Grades 8 and up	Kwame Alexander	Corey Allen	2:16	Get it free
	The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy	Aliens demolish the Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass	14 years+	Grades 9 and up	Douglas Adams	Peter Jones	3:56	Get it free

Best audiobooks for kids

100 Best audiobooks for kids

Why we love audiobooks for kids

Never forget that hearing books read aloud is a critical way for kids to learn listening, pronunciation, and comprehension skills. Talented and engaging narrators are commissioned to recreate these books in a way that is entertaining to kids and adults.

Of course there is no substitute for a parent reading to their child, but guess what! You can’t always do that! Audiobooks are a great way to expose your kids to literature when you’re driving, doing chores, or just have your hands busy.

Audiobooks are a great way to productively entertain kids while they are multitasking.
If you think that your kids may be watching too much TV, try turning off the screen and putting on a book while your kids draw, paint, play with Legos, etc. It’s guaranteed to be less of a distraction from more worthwhile playtime endeavors.

How to listen to audiobooks in the car

We love to use audiobooks during a long car ride. When I was a kid, they were “books on tape.” Now, it’s easy to get recorded books to play from your phone over your cars speakers. If your car has an AUX port (AKA 1/8 inch cable port), a small circular hole the same diameter as your phone’s headphone jack, an inexpensive adaptor like [this one] should do the trick.

Besides road trips, audiobooks are great for helping to drift off to sleep at night, or for a sick day. When do your kids listen to audiobooks?

All of the books in this list of the best audiobooks for kids are free a part of an Audible by Amazon FREE trial. There’s no obligation and you can cancel anytime. It’s great!

Author’s note:
The age recommendations on this list of the best audiobooks for kids are intended to be used as a general guideline for selecting an appropriate book. Every child is different and picks up reading comprehension on an individual pace. You know your child best – pick an audiobook that is right for them! Too easy, they may get bored; too difficult, they’re likely to get discouraged. If you are looking for other things that you can teach your kids with audiobooks, check out these free Spanish audiobooks. If you want to learn something new yourself, here are some free personal finance audiobooks.

 

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