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Best audiobooks for families

Listens that kids and grown-ups can enjoy together.

  1. How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

    Audiobook narrated by David Tennant

    Lively voices and lots of laughs for younger listeners.

    + Farcical, funny Viking adventure with genuinely fierce dragons and a hero of wit and loyalty. (summed up from Kirkus Reviews)

  2. The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

    Audiobook narrated by Tim Curry

    Gloomy, funny and clever, the first Series of Unfortunate Events book.

    + Exciting, humorous and appropriately dark, with truly sympathetic orphans at its centre.
    − Its macabre tone is uncomfortable at times: not for the squeamish. (summed up from Wikipedia (reception))

  3. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

    Audiobook narrated by Kevin R. Free and Katherine Kellgren

    Egyptian gods and sibling banter for Percy Jackson fans.

    + Opens with a bang and never lets the pace drop as it switches between the two siblings.
    − Mayhem erupts every few pages and exposition piles up, and it follows the Percy Jackson formula closely. (summed up from Wikipedia (reception))

  4. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

    Audiobook narrated by Neil Gaiman

    A boy raised by ghosts. Slightly spooky, best for ages 10 and up.

    + Creative, touching, suspenseful and funny, with memorable characters and vivid scenes such as Bod's trip to the ghouls' kingdom.
    − The early chapters are episodic and lose the main arc of the family's killer until Bod is older. (summed up from Kendall Giles)

  5. Northern Lights by Philip Pullman

    Audiobook narrated by Philip Pullman and a full cast

    A big adventure for older kids and adults.

    + Won both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian prize, plus top US honours.
    − Some critics object to its negative portrayal of organised religion. (summed up from Wikipedia (reception))

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