Those who have heard me speak know that I’m a huge proponent of audiobooks for children. So it is with enormous pleasure that I announce that the first two Andy Shane books are now out on audio by Live Oak Media. Check out the Kirkus review.

Why audiobooks? First and foremost, they’re fun. Recorded books are read by professional actors and are produced with lively sound effects. (Wait to hear what Live Oak can do!) But there are many, many educational reasons for giving students plenty of access to audio books. Here are a few:
 

They:

• Provide a read-aloud model
• Introduce students to books above their reading level
• Model fluency
• Teach critical listening
• Expose students to new vocabulary (and the pronunciation!)
• Allow all students to be full members of a community of readers (and participate in flexible grouping)
• Support struggling readers by helping them focus on meaning rather than the decoding of text
• Increase students’ writing fluency and voice
• Foster a love of literature and reading.

Listening to story has an amazing effect on writing fluency. Most accomplished writers write “by ear.” We know it’s important to write sentences of varying length, to use a variety of sentence beginnings, to choose words that have vitality, because we hear good writing (whether it’ recorded or simply the narrative voices in our heads) . Students who read and who are read to will always write with more fluency.

I recommend purchasing MP3 players for students’ reading pleasure. They need not be iPods. In fact, it is still easier to download books on the less expensive players. (Many public libraries subscribe to a service that allows free downloads.) Listening to an MP3 player is cool and  . . .so are books.