We have 4 children and we'll be in the car  for over 12  HOURS. THIS is my opportunity to have a captive audience!! I want them to learn to love books on tape (at least as much as my husbands movies!)

Anybody know of some great books on tape- comedy would be popular.

I am determined...I will prevail =)

Not comedy, but we love the Focus on the Family audio dramas of the Narnia series.  They are $7.67 each at Library and Educational Services.  I don't see the set listed there anymore.  CBD has each for $11.99 and the set for $39.99.  They are listed here on PBS, but none are available.

We don't do audio books around here much.

What about checking out Audible.com.  You can join now for 3 months at $7.49/month.  It would give you a chance to download some great ones.

We love Narnia too =)  My girls have listened to all of them, but my boys haven't settled down long enough to go through a whole tape, much less a book. 

What about checking out Audible.com.  You can join now for 3 months at $7.49/month.  It would give you a chance to download some great ones.

Great tip! I'll check into that. Thanks!!

I wonder where I can track down recordings of great speakers from youth retreats and such. Anyone have a website for that kind of thing? 

This isn't youth retreats, but is HS'ing.  It's an "online" convention with speakers.

www.cindyrushton.com/BTSB2008.html

I've never participated - just seen it listed on sites.

JC

The audio of Mr. Poppers Penguins was great!  I can't think of what other ones we have listenend to that were funny...

I second the vote for Focus on the Family Radio Theater's Narnia productions.  (Actually, anything by Focus on the Family Radio Theater is fabulous.)

We also whiled away many 14-hour car trips to Massachusetts with Redwall books by Brian Jacques.  Very exciting....   They are expensive to buy, but my library had them.  (Make sure you get the ones recorded by Brian Jacques himself.  He narrates them with a full cast of voice actors for the parts.  His recordings are unabridged and will cover the whole trip.)

Enjoy your trip!

For free weekly downloads try http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/ or you can buy a membership for under $30 and have access to ALL of their previous programs and more for an entire year.

Many of these are old radio shows, but they also have quite a variety of other resources available.

We bought these on CD, and they go with us on our 8 hour road trip tomorrow!

.

Wow, ladies! These links are a treasure trove!!! Thank you so much =) 

Inkheart (book 1) and Inkspell (book 2)  both are great.  Inkspell is read by Brendon Fraiser and he is a totally awesome reader.  Both books are 12+ cds.

Any Dick King-Smith book would be great for kids up to 12; the Beverly Cleary books are fun for that age as well.  CLassics such as Freckles and Girl of the Limberlost hold the attention of 12-14 year olds.  Those two books have much emotional meat in them.  Do not, I repeat, do not make the mistake my family did one year in the car.  We listened to Rascal, a fun story about a boy who keeps a baby racoon as a pet, then listened to Where the Red Fern Grows, a wonderful story about a boy who raised dogs that HUNT racoons!  I've also collected many of the CDs made by Jim Weiss at www.greathall.com.  Although his voice does not appeal to me personally, he certainly held my sons' attention and they learned much from his recordings when they were younger.

 I also second the recommendation of the Redwall books read by Brian Jacques himself.  I once shopped a whole day at the furniture outlets in NC while my boys listened to these on their own personal cd players.  The salesmen were amazed that two boys, 8 and 11, would sit down on a sofa and not move while I viewed the entire display area.  After a quick nod from me, they followed me to the next store and sit again! 

We LOVE any Narnia on CD....theatre or reading. 

My 3 have also recently discovered Mary Pope Osborne's Odyssey on CD as well.  It is 5 books(8 hours) and my six year old says it is one of her favorite stories.  It also reaquainted me with the story and it is so well done that I reread the "real" version and LOVE it!!!!

This isn't an audio book, but rather an audio CD, but the Beethoven's Wig CD's are a RIOT!  If you've studied any music at all with your kids, they'll love the humor.  If you haven't, it's a great way to expose them!  There are three in the series.

www.amazon.com/Beethovens-Wig-Sing-Along-Symphonies/dp/B000060OLA/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1_rsrsrs0

Oops, change that - there are four now!  Yippee!

You can listen to samples at Amazon.

These aren't books but half hour stories dealing with children and families in a small town named Odyssey, centered around an ice cream shop called "Whit's End," owned by a man named John Avery Whitaker."  The stories are from a Christian perspective. They kept my children quiet on several trips from South Florida to Ohio. For more information on Adventures in Odyssey, visit http://www.whitsend.org. The least expensive place to buy Adventures in Odyssey is Library and Educational Services at http://www.libraryanded.com/current.htm

The Pond is also hilarious. For more information about The Pond, visit http://hiskids.net/

Hope that helps!

Patrice in FL

I can second several of the above posts!  My kids have also just gotten into the Adventures in Odyssey in the last few months.  We also enjoyed the Secret Garden by Focus on the Family Radio Theater on a trip this year.  A friend gave us Tchaikovsky Discovers America and the kids have listened to that one several times!  I even heard my 5 year old playing Swan Lake on the piano downstairs!! 

Ones that I haven't seen mentioned are the Jonathon Park Adventures by Vision Forum.  They are full of suspence and teach about real scientific discoveries that support Creationism.  My kids Love this series, so we invested in the whole thing for our trip to Tenn. last year.  We ended up very Jonathon Parked out!!  But, they have listened to them since.   I am not sure of the ages of your children.  The boys sound younger.  This one is for older kids....The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall.  We borrowed that one from the library on recommendation of the librarian.  Have a great trip!!       Oh yes, with the little ones, maybe Peter Pan.  My 11 yo dd still doesn't want to grow up since reading it when she was little!

My vote is for any Hank the Cowdog book on tape. it is laugh out loud fun for the whole family!

they are all read by the author, who obviously knows exactly what each character should sound like, and is very entertaining to read. If you can get them in order, I'd suggest the first couple, but after that it doesn't much matter, They are all independent adventures, as far as I can tell.