We love books here at the library. We love them all from ebooks to traditional print, classic literature to modern graphic novels. We believe books of all forms have their benefits. Audiobooks are a medium that can be overlooked by children and parents alike, with some detractors saying that they don’t really count as reading. But before dismissing them, it’s important to understand the advantages that listening to a book can provide.
Regularly listening to audiobooks can teach pronunciation, improve reading comprehension, and increase reading accuracy. When combining print and audio, recall increases 40% over reading print alone. Many children are auditory learners. When listening to a story, children can comprehend two levels above their reading level. For children who struggle with reading, we recommend listening to an audiobook as well as following along in a print copy. Audiobooks can also just be more fun! Narrators often use different voices, or make jokes easier to comprehend. Fostering a love of reading can often be as simple as making sure books are enjoyed.
We have so many options at the Saline County Library when it comes to audiobooks. Vox books are physical book copies that also read the book aloud, and are available for picture books, first chapter books, and even some of our J novels. We also have books on CD and playaway. Our last options are our apps, Libby and Hoopla. Simply download these apps onto your phone or tablet, log in with your library card and you will have ebooks and audiobooks right on your device.