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I’ve heard rumors that there are people out there who don’t have TVs, or don’t let their children watch them for hours on end. I’m not one of them, but I definitely enforce lots of screen-free time around my house, especially with endless hours of summer free time that can be spend in much better way.

Listening to books on CD is a great way to spend some time together as a family. I always picture families gathered around the radio in the living room, like they did in pre-television days. Even if you don’t use them that way, they are a great way to while away long hours in the car, or even to encourage your child to have some quiet solitary time in his or her own room. My daughter Amanda is such a bookworm that if she has a book on CD to listen to, she is much more likely to tackle the project of cleaning or organizing her room.

Brown Bear & Friends is read by Gwyneth Paltrow and contains the full text of that story, Polar Bear, Panda Bear, and Baby Bear in English and Spanish. The first two books have been board book staples in my home–beloved by my daughter many years ago and equally appreciated more recently by my son. Eric Carle’s bright creative pictures and Bill Martin’s simple and mellifluous text hold up to many repeat readings. Kyle just turned four, so we don’t read these books much anymore, but I thought that he’d like to follow along with the CD. I put the copies of the book in the car and invitbrown-bear.jpged Kyle to follow along with the story. Paltrow uses her professional dramatic skills to read slowly and expressively. You can hear the mom in her as well, as she makes the animal sounds come alive. The music in the background adds a nice touch, resulting in a calming, attention-grabbing few minutes.

There are also a few bonus interviews with Eric Carle, which provide interesting information about his background. For some reason, Kyle found these funny, and asked to listen to the “lobster story” more than once (It’s part of Carle’s story about how he and Bill Martin teamed up to create these books).

This audiobook would be perfect for ages one to three (and their Eric Carle-loving parents).

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden is a book that Amanda read as part of a school-wide reading project when she was in the first grade. I cricket.jpgremembered that book from my childhood, so each night I loved introducing her to Chester Cricket who finds himself in Grand Central Station after accidentally getting taken away from his home in Connecticut in a New Yorker’s picnic basket, Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse who live in the subway station and befriend and protect Chester Cricket, and the young boy Mario who keeps Chester as a pet and discovers his unique musical talent.  This new audiobook version is read by actor Tony Shalhoub. He does a fantastic job voice-acting and distinguishing each character.

I highly recommend this story, and specifically this audiobook version, suitable for ages four and up. You could listen to this on a trip or on TV-free evenings at home and I think that the whole family from preschooler to tween to Mom and Dad would be rapt with attention.

In Travel Time Stories you’ll find classic fairy tales told in a calming voice (Have you noticed that I’m big on “calm”? Iftravel-time.gif you had met my children, you’d understand why) introduced by a snippet of classical music. The narrator also provides a bit of background about the particular story or author and then launches into a retelling of such stories as Rumpelstiltskin or The Emperor’s New Clothes. Each CD includes several stories and is over 60 minutes long.

I recommend these collections for children from about five to ten years old, because these aren’t quick cutesy tales–but rather full detailed original stories, with the characteristic strong moral lessons that the Grimm brothers are known for. The telling of the story grabbed Kyle’s attention, and he listened for a bit, but because the content was above his four-year-old comprehension, he soon got lost in the detail.

A unique feature of these CDs is that it comes custom-printed with the child’s name you specify, which adds to the “wow” factor in presentation. You can order one of several Travel Time Stories CDs on their website.

Three readers will win a set of all three CDs. They each target a different age group, but even if you don’t have a child in that age range, these make great gifts–My son has already given a copy of the Cricket in Times Square CD to his best buddy for his fourth birthday. His mom was thrilled, since they have a long car trip coming up this summer. Those Eric Carle books are one of my standard baby gifts, so I’m thinking that the CD would be a wonderful addition.

Leave a comment here if you’d like to win and come back on June 24 to see if you won this or any of the other giveaways designed to help encourage some Creative Summer Days.

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301 Comments

  8. My daughter and family will travel this summer with their 5 year old and 17 month old, and these cd’s would be wonderful to keep the kids occupied (not to mention quiet)!

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  14. I would LOVE to have these to share with the children when I travel on service learning trips. Brown Bear and Friends in Spanish would be so awesome in the Colonias in Mexico.

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  17. Books on tape; do it for continuing education within my profession. why not for entertainment by the pool, in the vehicle, and in relaxing night time. Many thanks SW

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  18. i’d love some calm too! we listen to books in the car all the time. this would be great to add to our listening.

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  22. I would so love to win this, for my own children, and for use in my classroom! I’m a teacher, and am always looking for more books to add to my listening center. Thank you!!

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  23. The first two are both wonderful books and the Travel Time Stories sounds great as well! We certainly don’t need stimulation in the car, do we? Thanks for a great contest!

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  39. Wow….as a speech therapist in the school system, these books are great!! I love it when sites promote reading to our children. Thanks!

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  42. I’m getting ready to go on two long road trips at the end of Summer. These would be so great to help ease the pain of sitting in the car that long!
    Thank you for the great contest!

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  51. These sound great! I’ve never read The Cricket in Times Square. Please enter me. skullaria at gmail (dot)com

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  72. We’ve got some car trips coming up and this would save me a trip to the library (and those pesky overdue fines as the CD’s disappear into the black hole otherwise known as the back seat of my car!)

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  79. I listen to books on cd’s all the time, when there are no children in my car, but I did not know they had them for children.

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  80. These CD’s are great when we are in the car. The kids love them and I don’t have to worry about what is being said on the radio. Thank you so much.

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  98. Not only would my boys love these, I could use ’em in my first grade classroom! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  104. I would love to introduce my 3 year old to books on cd. he already has a love for books read to him.

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  114. This would be great for the kids for our LONG road trip in July to North Dakota! The more unique entertainment I can find for them the better! Please enter us to win! sweetpeacakesetc (at) yahoo (dot) com

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  115. These would be great to listen to during our 12 hour trip to see Great Grandma! How fun! Thanks for this thoughtful giveaway!

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  118. We’re driving 13 hours with a 22-month-old, 6 year old, and 10 year old. I think this would cover everyone! Thanks for a chance!

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  123. I would love to win these and give them to the childcare center down the street. I’m sure it would bless someone who can’t afford them.

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  125. this is great, my little girl is legally blind so she loves audio books because she does’nt have to strain her eyes trying to see the words.

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  126. I don’t have any books on CD but this would be great on our 1 hr. daily compute to and from work/daycare.
    Thanks!

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  128. we don’t have any books on CD at our house…so this we be something different and fun. plus i love gwyneth paltrow!!! count our family in….thanks :o)

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  130. We love Eric Carle’s stories. The other two CDs also sound very interesting for when the kids grow older. Thanks!

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  136. I would LOOOOOOOOVE this and so would my kids. Especially my bookworm girl, age 3! Thanks for all the great giveaways! You girls rock!

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  139. I would be absolutely thrilled to win these. Our kids love to listen to audio books, and these would be perfect!

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  141. I love these boks and with a daughter who is 12 I no longer get to read them but we plan on become foster parents so this would be a wonderful gift to win. PICK ME< PICK ME

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  142. i think the kids would really enjoy listening to these. then they can read along when they learn the story.

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  144. These would be a nice prize to win. I want the kids to develope good listening skills and this would help encourage that. Thanks

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  149. These all sound great! My family could use the Eric Carle one, and the others would make great gifts!

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  152. We’re those people who don’t let our son watch a lot of tv. He’s hooked on listening to books…while reading the book at the same time.

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  158. well, we have a tv but no cable. It’s been a year without and I love it! These cd’s sound great!

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  165. Love it… please enter me. Oooh.. I hate just love it comments. These would be great for our car rides. Thanks.

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  168. I “do” books on CD for myself but have not yet tried them out on my boys. I’d love to win so I could!

    Thanks,
    Maureen (jnomaxx at hotmail dot com)

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  171. My daughter is taking a long road trip in July with her husband, a two month old, a two year old, and a big dog. A book on cd would probably help on this trip (which sounds like a nightmare to me).

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  174. we love to listen to stories when we drive around. keeps the kids quiet so they can hear the story.

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  175. We’d LOVE this. My daughter can’t sleep without listening to books on tape (this is after we read to her for 1/2 hour), and gets tired listening to the same ones over and over. And my 2 year old adores Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

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  185. This would be perfect – my son & I are in the car 1-2 hours each day and he gets tired of me singing to him – but I don’t want him to listen to the trash that is on the radio nowadays.

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  186. We are one of those no TV families! We love to listen to books in the car when we are driving down to visit the grandparents so these would be wonderful! And we’ve already heard the Cricket in Times Square, but it’s good enough to hear many times!

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  193. We are HUGE Eric Carle fans . . . and have all the books except for Baby Bear (which I have to go find now!). My preschool aged son is really enjoying getting books on CD and tape from the library, too, as it gives him some great indepedence to sit and “read” a book on his own. As an educator, I also know that the CDs are great for bolserting confidence of struggling readers and helping them build good reading skills “independently”.

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  195. I don’t want to enter the contest, but I did want to say that my favorite place to get books on tape/cd is my local library. Our library even has read along packages you can check out where there is a cd/tape, along with the corresponding book.

    Reply

  197. This is a fantastic idea for traveling. Our library has kids books on CD. We’re going on a trip in 2 weeks and I think I’ll pick some up before we leave. Great idea.

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  198. Brown Bear is my son’s favorite book right now, and we love to listen to books on CD on our many trips to FL to visit our family!

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  200. would love the chance to win this CD set…sounds like something to listen to before bed with my kids. Just another way of bedtime story nights….

    Would love to win!!

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  204. I would love to have these for the visits from my great grandkids! I didn’t realize they even made audio books for kids. Great idea! This old lady learns something new everyday, thanks to the internet!

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  207. What a great idea! We have zero books on cd and this would be awesome for a very long upcoming car trip!
    Thanks so much,
    ~Lana~

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  208. I’ve personally used audio Cds while traveling long distance and it’s great. I’m sure my family would like it as well.
    gkstratos @yahoo.com

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  210. I think we could use these on one of our road trips when we cannot seem to get any radio stations. I could also see my husband getting into them and enjoying them (although he would not ever admit this)

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  215. “Cricket in Times Square” was a favorite of mine too. I believe I still have a stuffed mouse (with pink gingham ears) that I named “Tucker.”

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  219. My little girls would love this! It would be great to have this summer. Thanks for this awesome giveaway!

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  220. Those would come in mighty handy for our car trip to the lake with Big Boppa and Grandma! And for homeschooling and for toddlers coming home from China and for mommies who ADORE children’s books . . .

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  222. Eric Carle is am absolutely favorite as a mommy and teacher. Books on CD are wonderful additions to any traditional library.

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  225. I sure that my grandson would just love listening to these audio books before going to bed. I hope that I win them for him.

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  227. My daughter listens to audio stories every night while going to sleep. We would love these new additions.

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  229. Brown Bear, Brown bear is my daughter’s favorite! She is 2 1/2 and “reads” it to herself all the time! I would LOVE to win these!

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  230. They couldn’t have picked a nicer collection of stories to make these CDs with. Classic and timeless. Thanks for the giveaway.

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  231. I would love to win these. I love these stories and as a teacher, I know my students would love them too.

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  249. I absolutely LOVE the Brown Bear series of books!!! I read them all to my son (over and over again) and they were a staple for my kindergarten class as well. What a wondeful prize!!!

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  253. My two sons listen to stories every night before they go to sleep! They read a book with me or their dad and then they want a story CD on! Please enter me in your drawing for these wonderful story CDS. Thanks very much…..Cindi

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  256. we are taking a road trip with the girls and can no longer play movie in the car so it should be interesting

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  257. Sign me up for this drawing too! Hey, if I enter enough of these, I’m bound to win one – right?

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  259. ooooh, i’m a HUGE fan of books on CD….we get them from the library all the time and I would love to win these for my girls!

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  261. Oh I used to love to listen to books on tape when I commuted. I don’t have a CD player in my car, but I think the kids would love this. It would sure give me a little quiet time … I’d much rather listen to a book (especially if they enjoyed it to) then the antics they can come up with!

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  262. This would be great to have. The different age groups would be no problem whatsoever. Please enter me.

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  263. These sound like fun. I remember reading a cricket in times square when i was in elementary school. Good stuff!

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  266. Our family loves listening to stories on audio. The kids play a different one every day while they eat their lunch. We would really enjoy something new and different to listen to.

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  267. I would love to win these to listen to in the car – it would be a wonderful change from the same old kids songs over and over… 🙂

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  274. The way we handle “quiet time” (we wouldn’t *dare* use the n*p word around here LOL only *babies* take THOSE!) is both Vikings received a small CD-playing boom box for their rooms from DaGrandparents. The deal for quiet time is this: I put in an hour long CD and they have to stay in bed, keep their feet off the floor for 60 minutes doing something quiet. Ninety per cent of the time 2-year-old Pojke conks out. About 50% of the time 4-yr-old Flicka does.

    Regardless, we could *really* use some kid-friendly new CD’s around here! LOL

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  276. I loved A Cricket in Times Square when I was younger and when I found a copy the other day at a garage sale I had to buy it. I love the idea of audiobooks and I would love to win!

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  283. I’m new to the site and this is great! I will definitely bookmark it! I am also a stay-at-home mom with 2 children!

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  286. oh i’d love to win these. i don’t think you can ever outgrow eric carle and i’ve never read the cricket in times square.

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  287. Please enter me! The Cricket in Times Square was one of my favorite childhood books and I’d love to share the audio version with my son.

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  289. Oh, we LOVE audio books here. I haven’t read The Cricket in Times Square with my son yet, and I’m sure he’d enjoy it. Thanks for the contest.

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  291. We love stories on CD in our house! These look great, and we’d love to add them to our listening repertoire.

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  294. Hadn’t really thought of books on “tape” for my 4 year old daughter but I love the idea! And would love even more to win them! Thanks!

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  296. I would LOVE those!!! I’ve been reading Brown Bear to my kids since they were babies ( & I love Gwyneth Paltrow – she seems like such a devoted mom)and “A Cricket in Times Square” was one of my favorites books to read with my 4th graders. I’m so excited! I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

    Reply