I’m not going to give you a definitive answer in this post. I’m not going to sway you one way or the other. Not even a hint… All I intend to do is give you my own personal opinion which is both For and Against and let you make up your own mind.
I was initially drawn to Audio books for my children by pure, damn laziness. You know that, “Read to your children, it’s a shared experience…” yadda, yadda… I never fell into that whole guilty reading thing. I was bored after the third time round on a book and usually fell asleep. Not much fun for the poor kid who was trying desperately to prod you awake to hear the ending.
It was then I turned to books with CD’s. Aha… saviours! I could say “Night, night”, give my kids a loving kiss and a hug, press Play and leave some other poor bugger to do the boring bit while I poured a glass of wine. They would inevitably fall asleep during the reading. And I could finish the bottle. Bliss.
As they grew older we moved up the scale. We have the entire set of Harry Potter’s on CD, the Spiderwick Chronicles, all of Just William, Lemony Snicket, the full set of Alex Rider’s… it goes on.
But then I grew wise. My children weren’t actually reading. They knew the stories but within that there were drawbacks. My son was tested and (the average child being at 100) he had a vocabulary level of 129 but a spelling level of 90. He was illiterate. He could barely write and he absolutely could not spell. And no-one could understand why. His vocabulary score was massive. He used words and sentence construction that adults would find difficult to master. The reason was… he never actually read a book! He didn’t look at words, he heard them.
So, what to do?
I started by buying the audio books of the first in a series. I bought the first in the Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy, the first book in the Spooks series by Joseph Delaney, the first in the Cherub series by Robert Muchamore. But I refused to buy any more audio books. If he wanted more… he had to actually read them. And read them, he did.
The initial reading (by someone else) of the book set the hooks in place. He loved these characters and these stories and he wanted more of the same. But more meant effort… and he loved them enough to put in the effort. He read them himself.
So, I find myself in a position of recommending to parents of reluctant readers, for kids who are 
less than interested in books and stories, that they buy Book 1 in audio format. Let the kids play with lego, draw, make things out of sticky backed plastic while at the same time absorbing these characters and situations. Then hold them to ransom. You can find out what happens next… but only if you do it by yourself. For the most part they read. I have had enough parents coming back to tell me it worked, to know that it is a successful idea.
However, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes the kids only want the audio versions. And to be honest… I think they should just have them. Better all audio than nothing at all. They will be able to follow a sustained narrative, they’ll have a huge vocabulary, they will be able to construct complex sentences. Maybe they won’t be able to spell… but then, that’s why God invented Spellcheck.
Words of wisdom here, Eve – thanks so much. I think I’ll be showing this to my library colleagues (when I get back from hols) as we too deal with our share of puzzled – and anxious – parents. A pragmatic and balanced view here.
Oh my, I never thought of that happening! Here I was thinking what a clever parent you were & then bad spelling happens. It’s really interesting that despite lack of spelling & writing skills, his vocabulary was terrific, so at least he WAS learning. Your solution to the problem is creative, too. You really know how to think outside the box.
But what scary book covers! EEEEEKKKK!
I’ve not experienced that problem with audiobooks (yet!). We have lots of kids audiobooks, though I never really set out to buy any. The majority are ones included with books (so you can read and listen along) or were free with newspapers. My 6 year old can read fluently but I would never have expected to rely only on audiobooks. And they do enjoy them very much and they are great for long car journeys.
Like Jackie, that problem had never occurred to me! But as someone who has worked in a school for a while, I know the problems facing children these days. Often their reading and writing is quite poor and their vocabulary not great either. Therefore I would agree that audio is better than nothing – after all, spelling is something that can be worked on throughout life. But if you can hook them into books and words in any format early on, at least it’s a boost to their vocabulary. And it’s an hour away from Grand Theft Auto!
I have always been a big fan of audio for kids on car trips or other “outings” designed for parents where kids need something quiet and entertaining to keep them occupied. We were generally readers at night. I say “we” but I mean my husband. He has been through the whole Little House series twice and is working on it a third time with our third daughter, bless his soul! But I am not sure that audio books are the culprit when it comes to bad spelling. I was a voracious reader. My two younger daughters, who love to listen, also love to read. All three of us are abysmal spellers. Either we aren’t very good at it, or at some base level we can’t be made to care.
Great post, Eve.
Interesting, about luring kids into reading a series (or new author) using the audiobook of Book One. This has worked for me with mine in all kinds of ways: reading the first of a series to them at bedtime (Harry Potter, Narnia, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, James Herriot), but also with audiobooks (P.G. Wodehouse), with seeing a theatre adaptation (Agatha Christie) and even – shock – seeing the movie (Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging) or TV series (Tracy Beaker)… Anything, I think, which exposes them to more authors and stories, can only be good.
I think audio books for kids can be a great advantage. I do remember as a kid listening to audio books and following along with a regular book. It actually helped my reading speed and vocabulary skills. I believe it helps with word recognition skills and enables you to read more quickly.