AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
If you're a parent like me, you know how hard it can be to keep kids entertained. There's always the temptation to hand them an iPad or a cellphone, but Melissa LaSalle presses play on audiobooks. She's a children's book critic known to her followers as The Book Mommy, and she joins us now to tell us the surefire winners for getting kids to listen to a story. Thank you for being with us.
MELISSA LASALLE: Thank you. I'm delighted to be here.
RASCOE: So when do audiobooks come in handy?
LASALLE: So listening to an audiobook as a family is great anytime, even over dinner, through errands, but it is a game changer on long road trips.
RASCOE: 'Cause I know with my kids, they can get really annoying and (laughter) - should I - can I say that? They get a little - they get annoying when they're confined, and they don't have anything to do. So an audiobook has to work pretty good in that situation.
LASALLE: Yeah. So I like it for three reasons. First, you're creating a shared experience with your kids. So I did, when my kids were little, think that I should just set them up in the back seat with an iPad, and let them do their own thing. And then we realized there was so much joy in us all listening to something together. Secondly, today's children's audiobooks have celebrity narrators or full-cast productions, so they're a blast to listen to. And then, thirdly, by doing this, you are essentially modeling for your children that you enjoy reading as well.
RASCOE: Well, let's dive into it. Like, give us some recommendations. What are some of your favorites? And I assume you'll kind of tell us a little bit about, you know, the ages and stuff.
LASALLE: Absolutely. So classics can actually translate really well in audio, especially if there's a book that you loved as a child and maybe your child isn't interested in picking it up. So this is a sneaky little way to get that book in front of them. One of my childhood favorites is Roald Dahl's "The Witches," which is narrated by Miranda Richardson, and it is unhinged in the best way.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK, "THE WITCHES")
MIRANDA RICHARDSON: (Reading) A real witch gets the same pleasure from squelching a child as you get from eating a plateful of strawberries and thick cream. She reckons on doing away with one child a week. Anything less than that, and she becomes grumpy. One child a week is 52 a year.
(SOUNDBITE OF SQUISHING NOISES)
RICHARDSON: Squish them and squiggle them and make them disappear.
RASCOE: Oh, yeah. Yes, yes.
LASALLE: I think it's a fascinating topic for kids, the idea that there could be witches...
RASCOE: Yeah.
LASALLE: ...Walking around, posing as regular old ladies.
RASCOE: Yes. Yeah.
LASALLE: And the fact that this boy uncovers this conspiracy...
RASCOE: Yes.
LASALLE: ...Is perfect.
RASCOE: Yes. Yeah. And what's another one?
LASALLE: So my favorite magic school fantasy series ever, and also my favorite set of audiobooks that I've ever listened to is Jessica Townsend's "Nevermoor," which is read by Gemma Whelan.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK, "NEVERMOOR")
GEMMA WHELAN: (Reading) You cheated death. Well done.
LASALLE: "Nevermoor" is a universe that this girl finds herself in when she learns that she is cursed.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK, "NEVERMOOR")
WHELAN: (Reading) Why were they chasing us? Well, they weren't chasing us. They were chasing you. And they weren't chasing you. They were hunting you. They hunt all the cursed children. That's how cursed children die.
LASALLE: She is an orphan, and she discovers a found family in a bunch of teachers and classmates, and they all learn to harness this magic that they have and to fight a villain. I compare it a lot to "Harry Potter" in the sense of creating a world that kids just want to live in and characters that become like family to them.
RASCOE: And how much of a commitment is this to kind of get through these audiobooks? - 'cause they can take a while.
LASALLE: They can, and, you know, some of them can take eight, 10, 12 hours, but there's plenty that are smaller. And, you know, the younger kids, you know, some of the sort of simple early chapter books are only going to take, you know, 45 minutes to 90 minutes. So those are very doable. And honestly, some of them are so funny. So one of my favorite short-chapter series is called "Dory Fantasmagory" by Abby Hanlon. And she is a total spitfire, who has a host of imaginary friends, and they're an absolute riot.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK, "DORY FANTASMAGORY")
UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: (Reading) Things are always happening to me. But my brother and sister just say I'm annoying, and they say I eat gross. Every morning, Luke and Violet build a wall of cereal boxes around me so they can't see me eat. I just can't watch her slurping up her soggy cereal, says Luke. I just can't look at the milk dripping down her chin, says Violet. But I'm not listening to them because Mrs. Gobble Gracker is on the back of my cereal box. I don't know what it says, but I can tell it's bad news.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
LASALLE: Dory is your classic youngest child who...
RASCOE: OK.
LASALLE: ...Just desperately wants to be noticed by her older siblings.
RASCOE: (Laughter) I mean, that sounds like my kids would like that. I think they would get a kick out of that (laughter). So I'll have to give that one a try. Well, do you have tips for parents who are thinking about giving this a shot, who got this idea like, where do I get started? What should I do?
LASALLE: Yeah. So I think if you get reluctance from your kids or you find that their attention span isn't quite there because it is a muscle that needs to be developed - they're sitting in the back seat. They're watching out the window. They're listening to this disembodied voice, trying to picture things themselves. You can help build their attention span and stamina by doing shorter books, by doing things that are already familiar to them. And you can also just go funny. A great example of that is Mac Barnett's "Mac B, Kid Spy" series. Now, Mac Barnett, who also voices the books, is our current national ambassador of Young People's Literature. He is beloved because he is very funny.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUDIOBOOK, "MAC B, KID SPY: MAC UNDERCOVER")
MAC BARNETT: (Reading) I liked answering the phone, even though it was never for me. One afternoon the phone rang, and it was for me. It was the queen of England. Hello, I said. Hello, she said. Can I speak to Mac? Speaking, I said. Mac, this is the queen of England, she said. I would like to ask you for a favor. Last night, somebody stole the crown jewels. No, I said. Yes, said the queen. This is the favor, you shall find the missing treasure and bring it back to me.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
LASALLE: I could listen to Mac read the phone book.
RASCOE: Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
LASALLE: He is so priceless...
RASCOE: Yeah.
LASALLE: ...The way he narrates. And his stories are so fun, and they never talk down to kids, so the kids love them.
RASCOE: I mean, that's a great idea for getting started - funny. What about if you, like, don't want to break the bank, and you want to give a book a try?
LASALLE: Well, you can use your library. Most public libraries have programs where you can rent an audiobook, so that is a good low-risk way to try.
RASCOE: OK. Low pain threshold for that one (laughter).
LASALLE: Yep, absolutely.
RASCOE: Well, thank you so much. That's children's book critic Melissa LaSalle. Thank you for being with us.
LASALLE: Thank you so much for having me. This was really fun. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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