Audiotapes for the Road

In the course of logging about 60,000 travel miles with my kids in the past eight years, I've found that most complaints from the backseat can be tempered with simple solutions that can actually make it fun to travel as a family. A good game, for example, makes the miles fly by. In addition to games, I've developed many activities and strategies designed to amuse the most bored backseat passengers (click on the following links to see them all: car-ride treats, classic road-trip games, getting-to-know-you games, inventing, finding and counting games, scavenger hunt for the car, scavenger hunt for the plane, tray-top games and the ultimate travel activity bag). I hope they'll help smooth your own family's journey.

READ ME A STORY

I love to read to my kids, but not while I'm in the car. Inevitably, I get nauseated and have to stop at the best part of the story. Now, I stop at the library before every trip and check out several books on tape. When we fly east to visit grandparents, I stop at the Boston-area grandma's local library to check out books on tape before we make the round trip to New York to visit the other grandparents. That way, I don't have to lug all the tapes on the plane with me from California.

Here are some of our favorites audiocassettes (we've included recommended ages for these books, but they're all guaranteed to please the entire family!):

• GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret Wise Brown. Recommended for preschool-aged kids.

• BLUEBERRIES FOR SAL by Robert McCloskey. Recommended for preschool-aged kids.

• FROG AND TOAD ARE FRIENDS by Arnold Lobel. Recommended for ages 4-8.

• MADELINE by Ludwig Bemelmans. Recommended for ages 4-8.

• LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE AUDIO COLLECTION by Bernard Waber. Recommended for ages 4-8.

• GREEN EGGS AND HAM by Dr. Seuss (Beginner Book and Cassette Library). Recommended for ages 4-8.

• WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE AND OTHER STORIES by Maurice Sendak. Recommended for ages 4-8.

• ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY by Judith Viorst. Recommended for ages 4-8.

• CHARLOTTE'S WEB by E.B. White. Recommended for ages 7-11.

• BUD, NOT BUDDY by Christopher Paul Curtis. Recommended for ages 8-12.

• HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (Book 1 - Unabridged) by J.K. Rowling. Recommended for ages 9-12.

• THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA AUDIO COLLECTION (abridged) by C.S. Lewis. Recommended for ages 9-12.

• THE SECRET GARDENby Frances Hodgson Burnett. Recommended for ages 9-12.

• DANNY, THE CHAMPION OF THE WORLD by Roald Dahl. Recommended for ages 9-13.

• FREAKY FRIDAY by Mary Rogers. Recommended for ages 9-13.

When she isn't on the road listening to how Charlotte saved Wilbur's life, Susan Fox is a freelance writer in Palo Alto, California.

Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated July 2005.