Although nothing can replace a parent sharing a book one-on-one with a child, audiobooks for kids are a wonderful solution to junior reading struggles. Great for road trips, camping, or simply some quiet time for 15 minutes, audiobooks can help to develop a child’s literacy skills and spark a love for reading in a unique way, fun way.
“Children who listen to audiobooks learn to understand language above their reading level, and learn new words and advanced constructs,” says Karen Gawen, Young People’s Services Supervisor at the Sunshine Coast Council.
“Hearing books aloud also teaches an appreciation of phrasing. Some books are specifically written to be read aloud, so listening to them is more authentic than reading them!” Karen adds.
6 reasons we love audiobooks for kids
- Listening to a book helps a child learn punctuation, enunciation and the flow of language, all which bring text to life. This in turn helps improve a child’s speaking skills.
- Audiobooks can help develop a child’s imagination because they must picture the scenes and characters described.
- Audiobooks are wonderful for developing listening skills because they require quiet concentration.
- Audiobooks open up a completely new world of books, introducing new genres and new concepts in an accessible format.
- Audiobooks are excellent tools for children with other reading difficulties because listening is more distraction-free than reading.
- Children who find it hard to sleep alone may find it easier to do so if they listen to stories when they go to bed, in order to relax and feel comforted.
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What are Vox Books?
Vox Books take audiobooks one step further by mixing audio with an existing picture book.
“Vox books are all-in-one audiobooks for kids where the kids can read along to the book as a narrator reads it,” says Karen. “They are seriously awesome for kids of all reading levels, but in particular for those that are struggling to connect with traditional reading books.”
Sunshine Coast Libraries has a wide range of Vox books at their libraries across the Coast. They can also be reserved online.
Our favourite Vox books for kids now available at Sunshine Coast Libraries
- The Monsters’ Monster; by Patrick McDonnell
- Not Quite Snow White; by Ashley Franklin
- Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type; by Doreen Cronin
- The Hiking Viking; by Laura Gehl
- Nour’s Secret Library; by Wafa Tarnowska
- The Thingity-jig; by Kathleen Doherty
- It Fell from the Sky; by Terry Fan
- Maybe; by Kobi Yamada
See the full collection at Sunshine Coast Libraries.
