Let Your Kids Listen To Literature

(CBS)  Audio books are a fun way for the whole family to plunge into a new book this summer. Nancy Better, an editor with Offspring Magazine, a new magazine on parenting, shared advice for choosing the best books on tape for kids on The Saturday Early Show.

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Books on tape are great for young kids because they need to be read to constantly, Better says. Some books are more educational, others are more entertaining but as long as kids are hanging onto every word, it doesn't really matter, according to Better. It's a great literary distraction, she says.

For grownups who get tired of reading or who become carsick or plane-sick, books on tape provide a way to give kids this important experience.

Better's Picks For Kids

• Harriet the Spy By Louis Fitzhugh
  Read by Anne Bobby
  
• Charlotte's Web
  Written and read by E.B. White
  
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
  By Lewis Carroll
  Read by Kathleen Turner
  
• All Three Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling
  Read by Jim Dale

Quality Check

A reader's delivery is essential to an audience's enjoyment of audio books. Some books are read by their own authors; others are read by celebrities or unknown actors and actresses. It's not the fame that matters, it's how well the reader can interpret the story.

When the author is the reader, the result is almost always a hit. After all, nobody knows the nuances of the text quite like the author. The audio books that have fallen flat have mismatched the reader and the story. It's torture to hear Carol Channing read Madeleine with a lisp, Better says.

Choosing Children's Books

Think about how age appropriate a book is for your child. Some readings are very dramatic and can be scary or may have questionable language. Preview a book to make sure it's not too scary or vulgar. Also, Booksontape.com has reviews on its Web site and Amazon.com has customer reviews.

Better's Picks for Adults

• 'Tis: a Memoir
  Written and read by Frank McCourt
  
• The Brethren
  Written by John Grisham
  Read by Frank Muller
  
• Into Thin Air
  Written by Jon Krakauer
  

How to Find Them

There are three ways to obtain books on tape: buying, renting and borrowing. The best
place to buy is often online, either through Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com or Booksontape.com. Bookstores have dozens of titles, but buying may not be the cheapest way to go.

Renting can be arranged online at Booksontape.com or through some video stores.

Or borrow from a library; most libraries stock a generous number of audio books and can get additional titles upon request.

There are also books on CD but they are much more expensive.