Audio Books for the Family

I have been combing through Amazon.com today, trying to find new audio books for all of our car travels this summer. Our family has really enjoyed listening to books on car trips. I like them because I can get the kids to listen to books that I loved as a child but that they might not be interested in by cover alone.

We buy them on CD, although you can download them from places like audible.com. Our car is not really set up to play books off of our iPods, and we like to enjoy the books together.

I was wishing that someone had a (frequently updated) list of good audio books for kids. Then I remembered I had a blog where I could put ours! Here are some of our favorites, in no particular order.

• Beverly Cleary's books about Ramona Quimby. Read by Stockard Channing, these books are fun and very relatable. We were sorry when we were done with the series.
  
• Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary. Neil Patrick Harris does a GREAT job narrating these stories about a boy, his dog, and their misadventures. We love them!
• The Peter & the Starcatchers series, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. These are good for long trips, because they are long books. They are the stories of Peter Pan before Wendy & the boys came to visit. They are fantasy books, dark & mysterious, so not for small children. Jim Dale (who also narrates the Harry Potter series) narrates them and does an excellent job on all the distinctive voices. Dad and the kids are big fans of this series.
  
• The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden, read by Tony Shalhoub. Shalhoub does a great job with all of the voices and New York accents.
  
• The Pain and the Great One, by Judy Blume. This is a series of books about a 3rd grade sister and 1st grade brother. The chapters are told back and forth by one, then the other. I like the narrator, but I don't like when Judy Blume makes her guest appearances (once per book) to tell a tale from the point of view of the cat. Our children can definitely relate to the sibling rivalries and the secret fears (learning how to ride a bike, getting haircuts, losing a stuffed animal) of each child.
• The Saturdays, by Elizabeth Enright. This book is a bit dated now, but it is still fun to listen to the adventures of the children. We lost our place at one point and our kids were able to tell me right away where we had been in the tale, which is a sure sign that they are enjoying the book and not staring off into space! We have just ordered the next in the series, The Four-Story Mistake.
  
• No Talking, by Andrew Clements. The narrator (Keith Nobbs) gets the tone just right in this book about 5th graders who have a contest to see who can do the best job not talking in school, boys or girls.
  
• Jim Copp Will You Tell Me A Story? This is the weirdest little collection of tales, but our kids LOVE it. They were originally told in the 1950s. They are not PC, but they are funny.
• Farmer Boy and Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I don't see how I'm going to get my kids to read these books, sad to say, except through audio books. Cherry Jones is a beautiful narrator. My son's most notable observation: "They sure eat a lot in these books! Pies, turnovers, donuts..."
• Geronimo Stilton books narrated by Edward Herrmann. We got our first Geronimo Stilton audiobook from a fast-food kids' meal and became fans. I have read that the other narrator of the Geronimo Stilton books is not as good, but I do not know that personally. Herrmann reads the first 9 in the series.
• The Watsons Go to Birmingham (1963), by Christopher Paul Curtis and narrated by LeVar Burton. This book was the "All Trinity Reads" book when our son was in kindergarten, and he was definitely too young for it! However, he (and we) LOVED the first half of the book. Burton (of "Reading Rainbow" fame, not to mention Star Trek) is a beautiful narrator, and the first half is a great story about a family in Detroit in the early 1960s with some funny adventures. The second half is about the actual trip to Birmingham, and it can get a bit heavy in the segregated South, not to mention the church bombing that kills the four girls in Sunday school. Now that our children are 8 and 10, this would be a good family book.
  

Books that have met with mixed reviews:

• Mr. Popper's Penguins. Kids loved it, Dad gave it a thumbs' down.
• Magic Tree House series. Again, kids liked them, but the author's voice drove me bananas.
• Junior Classics about King Arthur, Greek mythology, etc. They don't sugarcoat those myths and legends--lots of beheadings and bloodiness, so be warned!
• Rabbit Ears collections. We have liked some more than others. These are a good way to introduce your children to classic stories like Paul Bunyan and Annie Oakley.

To Do: Stock up on some audiobooks for summer car trips.

Dine Out for Kids

Tuesday, June 15, is the 11th Annual Dine Out for Kids event to benefit the Charlotte chapter of Communities in Schools (CIS). 65 local restaurants will give a portion of the day's sales to Communities in Schools. Click here to see the list of restaurants, which includes everything from Bonterra to Brixx to the food service at the airport.

Communities in Schools is "the nation's largest and most effective dropout prevention program." Its services include school-based drop-out prevention, college access and career exploration, support for teen mothers, and working with youthful offenders housed in Jail North. CIS has a philosophy of "5 basics," which include:

• a one-on-one relationship with a caring adult
• a safe place to learn and grow
• a healthy start--a healthy future
• a marketable skill to use upon graduation
• a chance to give back to peers and community

CIS in Charlotte currently serves 4,800 students in 44 selected Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

You may have seen some of the good press on members of the CIS community. The Charlotte Observer has been running a series called "The Graduates" which tells the stories of a handful of CMS high school graduates. One, called "Teen Mom: 'Everyone Told Me It Was The End,'" shared the story of Hawthorne High graduate Olivia Leverette, who was supported by a CIS teen-parenting program. She is off to UNCC with two multi-year scholarships. "Parents Deported, He Pushed On," told the tale of Bill Ngha, who was supported by CIS as he finished his high school education at Philip O. Berry Academy after his parents were deported to Cameroon. Ngha is headed to Georgetown College in Kentucky on a full scholarship.

To Do: Dine out on June 15 to support a program with a great success rate. 97% of the students in CIS Charlotte stay in school. 88% are promoted to the next grade. 94% of the seniors in CIS graduate.

Write to a Camper

Our son leaves for 3 weeks at sleepaway camp tomorrow. He'll only be two hours away, but psychologically (on both sides) it is a much longer and harder trip. I've been encouraging as many friends and family as possible to drop him a line. So my thought for the day is...

WRITE TO A CHILD AT CAMP.

I bet you can easily find one--a neighbor, your child's classmate, a child you teach in Sunday school, maybe even a child who your church or synagogue is sponsoring for camp. If you attended camp, you know the thrill when there is a piece of mail--any kind of mail!--for you. As I am telling everyone, it is truly the quantity, not the quality, that counts when it comes to camp mail.

There are a few thoughts floating out there about what a camp letter should and should not contain. Falling Creek Camp, where my son is headed, makes this suggestion:

"When you write to your son, it is helpful to center your attention on what the child is doing at camp rather than detailed accounts of what is happening at home. In all cases, be sure to set a positive and encouraging tone."

Don't dwell on "we miss you so much" or "the dog keeps looking in your room for you." Sharing a funny story from your memories of camp is probably much safer. You don't want the child crying after reading your letter, after all. If you see an interesting newspaper article or funny comic, be sure to tuck that in. That's a fun read during quiet time in the cabin.

Some camps, like Falling Creek, allow you to email campers. In our case, the email is printed out and delivered to the camper, so it really counts as actual mail. This is a great way to be in touch if you are a on-the-spot, cross-it-off-my-list kind of person. You may need to get permission from a parent to be on the email list for a camper. I purchased "e-stamps" from Falling Creek's online mail partner and I emailed one or two off to grandparents, aunts & uncles, and anyone who I thought might be interested in sending a note.

Happily, we aren't even allowed to send packages, so I don't have to worry about that. However, if you are in touch with a child who CAN receive packages, make sure you check with the camp to see what their policies are regarding them. Most camps forbid sending food these days, even though we all remember the pride when Mom send Rice Krispy treats for the whole cabin.

PS Also, don't forget The Summer Camp Fund, which provides scholarships for local children to attend outdoor day and overnight camps. Partners in Out-of-School Time (POST) administers the program, partnering with the Charlotte Observer.

To do: If you don't have a camper of your own, seek out a camper and send a random note. Mail is mail!