Family friendly audio books recommendations!

[Bunce1]

dd-11
ds-13
both voracious readers but we are having a hell of a time deciding on something we will all like.

past successes have included
the boy in the striped pjs
the boy at the back of the class
boy
the book thief

i was thinking
we are all completely besides ourselves?

keen to hear of any other suggestions. Nothing too young like David Walliams, David Baddiel, Frabk Cottrel. Nothing too gendered like Mallory Towers. Nothing overtly sexy!

War Horse
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
Goodnight Mr Tom
The Explorer by Katherine Rundell
The 1000 Year Old Boy
Wonder
Bubble Boy
Trash by Andy Mulligan

There is a fantastic reading of Odysseus by Tony Robbinson called 'Odysseus, the greatest hero of them all' which my son is currently listening to. It's ancient, so I'm not sure whether it's available anywhere but if you can find it would recommend that.

Great suggestions @Fivemoreminutes1 . We loved The Explorer, and anything by Katherine Rundell really.

My DD (12) loves audiobooks and I sometimes get family things on my audible account but she uses Cloudaloud on her tablet so she can try out whatever she wants and I don't have to buy something I'm not sure she'll like. She loves the Sophie Andersens and we just listened to Otherland by Louie Stowell on there. Highly recommend!

Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, maybe. They're funny and good satire. No sex, no swears (or minimal, at least). A bunch of them have just been rerecorded with narrators like Indira Varma, Bill Nighy, Peter Serafinowicz.

Time travelling with a hamster and into the sideways world both by Ross welford are really good

Hitchiker's Guide?

The Northern Lights trilogy? Or the Ruby in the Smoke series - also by Philip Pullman but without the fantasy elements (no talking polar bears etc).

Northern lights
Project hail mary
Girl with all the gifts
Neil gaiman (we liked fortunately the milk but my kids were younger at the time,so any might work)
Morrigan crow series (your kids are probably outside age range but my kids are the same age as yours and we are all waiting eagerly for the next one nonetheless!)

The rest of my family really liked "a good girls guide to murder" as well, but I didn't!

We also liked Jasper ffordes Last Dragonslayer series.

My kids are the same age so also looking for recommendations.

I'm wondering about trying "the help"

@SmokeWithoutFire that Tony Robinson Odysseus thing was an obsession of mine when I was kid! It was a TV show not just audio but just involved him roaming along beaches etc shouting the story to camera so I can see it would work on audio only!

Cabin Pressure (not a book, a radio comedy, but lots of young teens love it)

Also: Adrian mole, if you can handle the wet dream parts and him measuring "his thingy"

If you like Phillip Pullman you'd probably enjoy The book of Stolen Dreams. It's by David Farr, who writes for tv and just did the Midwich Cuckoos.

Just finished Fantastic Beasts and about to start The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

We have done Tom's Midnight Garden. And a full BBC cast of The Railway Children. And also a full cast of Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The latter was not terribly successful as the Dcs (aged not quite 13 and 11) got bored.

Oh- adn we get the cds as we have a 40 minute trip to and from school so plough through them.

We listened to Jane Blonde by Jill Marshall about a girl spy. We got the CDs from the library.

When do you listen to audiobooks as a family? I’d love to but can’t see when we’d all be sat somewhere together to stop and listen! Other than long car journeys… which don’t happen all that often…

Yeah only long car journeys for us.

Hunger Games?

We listen in the car but at home we listen while we do jigsaws together. It's a great way to spend a rainy day without turning on the telly.

Ones we’ve all enjoyed include The Hobbit, Northern Lights, and somewhat surprisingly (to me) Tom Sawyer.

The Percy Jackson books? Or some non fiction like the audible ‘grown up guide to [oceans/dinosaurs/planet earth]

@EllenNeedsANap we use cloudaloud too. My sister-in-law told me about it and said it was like Netflix for kids audiobooks and it is a bit- her DD is 12. We downloaded the Captain Underpants series before we left for holiday and my 2 DSs loved it (6 &8). I do think you're right- it's cheaper than anything else we've found (sometimes they're so expensive...) My oldest has a Tonies box and they're really sweet toys but it was so expensive to get new audiobooks for, and now he's outgrown it.

We’ve got Cloudaloud too - strongest for younger children perhaps but give it a trial go - things on there you might like include lots of well read classics (abridged) such as Conan Doyle and the lighter Dickens stories. (There’s a brilliant updating of Oliver Twist called A Twist in the Tale, wonderfully read by Miriam Margoyles.)

There is series of Greek Myths. And an gently educational ecological rock opera(!) called Lost on Infinity.

I’m sure DD would love Evie’s Ghost and Anna’s War from Helen Peters (though those might be a bit young for DS). But since you don’t have to buy to listen, try them out