Learning about other children around the world through stories is one of the ways in which audiobooks can teach young listeners. No matter the setting or time period, the emotional struggles these characters face and the values they learn are universal. Listen to these eight audiobooks with the children in your life:
Life is quiet and ordinary in Amal’s Pakistani village; she’s busy pursuing her dream of becoming a teacher one day. Then the unimaginable happens—after a run-in with the son of her village’s corrupt landlord, Amal must work as his family’s servant to pay off her own family’s debt.
Listen to an excerpt Amal Unbound
She is the envy of every teenage girl in Mexico City. Her mother is a glamorous telenovela actress. Her father is the go-to voice-over talent for blockbuster films. But when her mom gets cast on an American TV show—as a maid—and they move to L.A., everything changes.
Listen to an excerpt The Go-Between
The year is 1242. On a dark night, travelers from across France cross paths at an inn and begin to tell stories of three children: William, an oblate on a mission from his monastery; Jacob, a Jewish boy who has fled his burning village; and Jeanne, a peasant girl who hides her prophetic visions.
Listen to an excerpt The Inquisitor’s Tale
One year after Stephie Steiner and her younger sister, Nellie, left Nazi-occupied Vienna, Stephie has finally adapted to life on the rugged Swedish island where she now lives. Soon she’ll be attending school on the mainland. She’s eager to pursue her studies again in a cultured city, and to be reunited with her charismatic friend Sven.
Listen to an excerpt The Lily Pond
A Scottish medieval adventure about the youngest member of a war-band who must free her family from a castle prison after knights attack her home.
Listen to an excerpt The Mad Wolf’s Daughter
Tree-ear is an orphan boy in a twelfth-century Korean potters’ village. When he accidentally breaks a pot, he must pay for the damage by setting off on a difficult and dangerous journey.
Listen to an excerpt A Single Shard
A boy tries to steer a safe path through the projects in Harlem in the wake of his brother’s death, in this outstanding debut novel that celebrates community and creativity.
Listen to an excerpt The Stars Beneath Our Feet
