Every year, like clockwork, my family travels to New Jersey and Pennsylvania over the Christmas or Thanksgiving break. Instead of flying, we would drive the ten or so hours on I-80 all the way to the East coast. During the drive, we would listen to audiobooks from excellent authors.
Specifically, in the most recent years, we obsessed over the Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place by Maryrose Wood. My dad would slide the disk into the CD player, and we’d be regaled by Katherine Kellgren’s incredible reading skills the whole drive long. Sometimes we’d pause and discuss, as the entire series is a mystery tale. Every detail could be something that was important to the overall story. But mostly, we’d listen and laugh at the antics of the characters.
This literary experience was impactful in several ways. It is thanks to audiobooks that I have developed a love for books and a strong vocabulary. I have long been convinced that I am an auditory learner. When I perform music, I don’t read the music, I hear it in my head. Same with a book, I don’t read it, I hear it. This, of course may not be the case for every reader and writer, but audiobooks can be an incredible way of passing the time. There’s something special about listening to a very calm, clear voice reading your favorite classic, or a new, exciting fantasy.
The amount of audiobooks I listened to while creating a 6 foot tall, 128,600 strand latch hook numbered somewhere in the 30s. I would encourage every writer, reader, and teacher to listen to an audiobook one day. You may never know what part of the story may stand out to
you that you missed while reading.
Whenever I encounter a challenging text, I immediately go and get the audiobook, and for many of these texts, it makes understanding much easier. I remember many of these audiobooks because they impacted my entire reading method. It’s not for everyone, but we should all encourage others to read, whether it is an audiobook or a real book. Either way reading enhances vocabulary and a portal into a new world is opened.
A few good audiobook recommendations (with links to Amazon): Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Any of the Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart (Del Roy). Anything Rick Riordan, especially the Trials of Apollo serial. Maryrose Wood’s Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place. Harry Potter (Jim Dale).
You can find audiobooks at the library, on Libby, if you have a library card, or on Hoopla, which also requires a library card. Many audiobooks are also on the internet for free, or for a small fee. Amazon’s Audible service has thousands of audiobooks that you can peruse as well.
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