As a book lover, I was terrified. My kid loved being read to, but it was quickly becoming obvious his ability to read was lagging behind. He avoided school homework - the reading book not turned in for weeks, so he didn’t have to start a new one. Even everyday reading - road names, short instructions, labels, he’d just shrug and pretend they weren’t there.

I hoped his beloved games might get him to read, but even there, he just wanted to get the text off the screen, and where possible would rely on visual cues instead.

Yet, he still loved bedtime stories. There he was way ahead of not only his own reading level but the average for his age. We did chapter books in both languages and I have always been proud of his rich vocabulary. The thought he’d lose that passion once bedtime reading ended was chilling.

It didn’t help that as the books rose in length and complexity my ability to keep reading out loud without tripping over words and not suffering with a sore throat was quickly diminishing. I had to try something. Enter audiobooks.

Keeping the Love of Books Alive

We did have a Tonie Box - which was great for music and recordings, like my mom reading my daughter’s favourite books in Polish. But the catalogue was limited and skewed younger. For that reason, my son graduated to an Alexa with the generous Kids+ catalogue. However we ran into a few problems here too.

It can be hard to know what is available with only a voice interface. Ask Alexa to play a book and you were never sure what you’d get. He didn’t seem to reach for it on his own either.

Around this time I finished reading a deck-building LitRPG series - “All the Skills”. It was mostly clean with a nice message about never stopping learning and fighting evil. There were snarky dragons too. I thought this could be something my son would enjoy. But there were a few moments I was a bit hesitant about, so I resolved to share headphones with him as we listened. That way I would know where he was in the book and could answer any questions that cropped up.

As an aside, we quickly realised that in-ear buds would not work as even the smaller size from my pair kept falling out of his ear. He also liked to run around the playground while listening adding to the likelihood of loosing the earpiece. I ended up getting these over-the-ear headphones instead - cheap and cheerful, but have served us well.

This turned out to be the right call. And I may have created a monster 😂 He loved the story and we quickly listened through all five “All the Skills” books. Now he tries to get listening time not just at bedtimes but anywhere he can - at the park after school, when we’re shopping, on the way to Tai Chi…

The Reading Listening List

Here’s the books we’ve done so far:

All the Skills by Honor Rae

Scrappy protagonist that often has to use his wits to progress. His superpower is learning, well, skills. There is a budding romance, but it's mainly teen feelings. Violence is mainly against monsters, except the very opening (dragon vs guards) and some depictions of general poverty in the protagonist's home village.

Cradle Series by Will Wight

I took a risk on this one as while clean, it can get a bit bloody in places, with a few deaths. But it has very anime vibes with its fights. The main character's motto is 'improve yourself', which seemed an appropriate motivation for my occasionally lazy child. I can now throw 'What would Lindon do?' at him if he's wanting to give up too early...

Friends to couple progression over the course of the 12 books. But on the page there's only hand holding and a kiss.

She of Many Dragons by Honor Rae

This one he didn't want to listen to at first, because 'girls', but once he had no other options when on a trip with dad, suddenly it was a great book 😂 It's another LitRPG with the hero collecting more and more dragons with different abilities.

Totally Chaotic History: The Romans and Totally Chaotic History: The Egyptians by Greg Jenner

He loves the podcast feel to these audiobooks, they are very engaging and funny.

Dungeons & Dragons Academy by Madeleine Roux

We tried to actually read this one about a year ago, but it didn't catch his interest then. I tried the audiobook recently and he actually enjoyed it. We did have a bit of a drama with it though. At first I tried the Polish version (we've been lacking in Polish reading because of the switch to mainly English audiobooks) but it seemed sadly above his vocabulary level. I say 'sadly', because the narrator was much more lively than the English audiobook. The story was on the simpler side, so I as a parent, didn't enjoy it as much as our other listens, but it had a nice message.

Now the real challenge is finding more stories that work for both of us. He loves to listen to his favourites on repeat, while I prefer something new. That’s okay though, as he now enjoys his re-listening sessions while doing chores. 😄 Parental win! But I do need fresh titles for bedtime and our walks.