5 Reasons Why You Should Listen to Audiobooks

Submitted by CCCL_RobynB

1. They are perfect for multitasking.
   What do walking the dog, cleaning your room, and practicing handstands in the backyard have in common? You can listen to audiobooks while doing all of them! Audiobooks are the perfect background noise for any activity, whether you’re stuck in the backseat of the car on a family roadtrip, baking up some delicious cookies, or perfecting your tie dye technique. 
2. Poetry sounds so much prettier when it is read out loud.
   I’ve got three words for you: Novels in verse. They are like a whole book told in poems and it is gorgeous to hear one read out loud. I highly recommend Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, a story about two half-sisters, one living in New York and one in the Dominican Republic. They have the same father but don’t know it until he dies… and all the secrets come spilling out. 
3. They have fun narrators.
   Many books have celebrity narrators or narrators with different accents. It’s like a fun little party for your ears! A couple of our favorites are The Black Flamingo (narrated by the author, Dean Atta, who has the BEST British accent) and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (narrated by Lin-Manuel Miranda.)
4. They are easy to keep track of.
   Gone are the days of hunting down smooshed books at the bottom of your backpack! No more wondering where you left that romance you were reading yesterday. Is it under the bed? In your little sister’s room? No, everything is on your phone now! 
5. You can learn how to pronounce different words.
   I’ll be honest, I didn’t know how to pronounce Hermione’s name until I heard Jim Dale read it out loud. If a book has words in a different language, it is super helpful for me to listen (rather than read a hard copy of the book). For example, in Gabi, A Girl In Pieces (by Isabel Quintero), the author peppers the story with words in Spanish. It’ll make you think “Ohhh, that’s how you say it!”

Happy reading/listening! (And yes, audiobooks DO count as reading books!).