We have done our share of long-distance driving as a family—be it a cross-country move, a weekend visit with the family, or just a simple day trip. Few things make a road trip more palatable (dare I say enjoyable?) than an amazing audiobook to listen to.

For me, this tradition goes way back to my childhood. Anytime we drove anywhere (sometimes even just around town), we always popped a cassette tape/CD into the car’s stereo and listened to an audiobook. It was tradition! 

I still vividly remember sitting in the back of the car with a bag of sunflower seeds and some Dr. Pepper (you know, to be just like Dad) and listening to The Wheel of Time and Harry Potter as we drove between our house and my cousin’s house about 12 hours away. Apart from my sister’s sharp elbows, those are some of my fondest memories.

Now, Michela, Geekling, and I enjoy listening to good books together in the car. Whenever we have a trip planned, one of the most important things is to pick a good book that we can all listen to together. Here are five of our favorites from over the years. All of these awesome audiobooks are available on Audible (except for The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer).

Harry Potter and the…Well All of Them by J.K. Rowling

Jim Dale’s voice is the voice of my childhood. I have listened to each of the Harry Potter books multiple, multiple times, to the point where I can quote sections by heart. I don’t think the series needs much introduction or explanation (especially if you are a fan of fantasy to begin with).

Before she married me, Michela had only ever read Harry Potter in print. I’ve read them with my eyes, too, of course. But listening to them adds a completely new aspect. Jim Dale is one of the best narrators you can find. Period. At one point, he held the world record for most unique voices created in a single audiobook (134 to be exact), and he won several awards for his performance. If you’re new to Harry Potter, then the audiobooks are definitely a great way to get started. If you’re a series veteran, give them a listen on your next road trip anyway. You might be surprised at how much you enjoy them in this new medium.

The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm

We have previously recommended The Lion of Mars by Jennifer L. Holm, so you should definitely check that one out too. But the reason we even knew about The Lion of Mars is because of The Fourteenth Goldfish. It was a book Michela had been wanting to read, and we borrowed the audiobook from our library’s app and listened to it on a family trip last summer.

The Fourteenth Goldfish centers on eleven-year-old Ellie Cruz. Life is changing for Ellie, and she’s not a fan. She misses fifth grade. She misses her best friend. She even misses her most recent goldfish who went to that great porcelain bowl in the sky.

Then one day a strange boy shows up at Ellie’s house. He’s snarky, bossy, crotchety —basically all the things you would associate with a curmudgeonly old man. Well, it turns out that he is a curmudgeonly old man. He’s Ellie’s grandfather, Melvin Sagarsky. Melvin is a scientist who’s a bit obsessed with unlocking the secrets to de-aging (because who wants to get old, right?).

Having found the secret to “the fountain of youth” hidden in the genes of a particular type of jellyfish, Melvin created a serum to de-age himself. It worked a little too well, though, and when the security guards at his lab discovered an eleven-year-old boy claiming to be the aged scientist, they thrust him bodily from the building. Rude. 

Now he needs Ellie’s help getting back into the lab to save his work and reverse what he’s done to himself. And she needs his help processing all of the changes in her life.

The Fourteenth Goldfish is a really sweet story about growing up. It’s got that fun magical/sci-fi element of the fountain of youth, and it’s wholesome to its core. Melvin’s crotchety comments always made us laugh, too. We particularly loved the exchanges between Melvin and Ellie’s mother, who is Melvin’s daughter. She’s a theatre teacher, and Melvin is not into theater at all. So they butt heads a bit, but in a rather charming sort of way. All of the characters grow in subtle, heartwarming ways over the course of the story. It’ll definitely leave a smile on your face when you get to wherever you’re going this summer.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

The Rithmatist is one of Brandon Sanderson’s forays into middle grade. The book takes place in a world similar to the modern United States, except that each state is an island instead of a state and the names have been changed somewhat. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same.

Oh, except for the magic. That’s a big difference.

You see, in this world, rithmatists can use chalk to draw geometric lines (I.e., fancy math shapes and stuff on the ground) that have physical effects. They can also draw little creatures called chalklings to do their bidding. Rithmatists will train at Armedius Academy to hone their skills before going out to protect from the invading wild chalklings. Things haven’t been going well on that front, especially in The Nebrask (which is where the main front lines of the fighting are located).

Joel Saxon is not a rithmatist. But he desperately wants to be. So, he studies all of the geometric patterns and theories of rithmatics at Armedius. And when students start disappearing from the school, he has to team up with Melody Muns, a rithmatist with zero drive and zero ability for the geometry involved in rithmatics but tons of sass and artistic ability, to figure out what’s going on.

The Rithmatist showcases Sanderson’s creativity and ability to subvert the reader’s expectations. He spends the whole book building up to special moments that you think are going to end one way only to trick you and make you realize that all of those hints he dropped were actually for an entirely different purpose. It is masterful storytelling.

On top of the great story and fun magic system, the characters are fun and well-rounded. We particularly enjoyed reading about Melody because she reminds us of one of Michela’s sisters, who is also a gifted artist who hates math but loves sassing everybody. That connection made it more fun for us to listen to the story.

The audiobook is wonderful, too. How could it be otherwise with Michael Kramer narrating? But, a word to the wise: if your road trip includes driving through Nebraska at dusk, like ours did when we listened to this book…maybe pick a different book on this list.

The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer

Georgette Heyer wrote The Corinthian around the same time she wrote The Talisman Ring (which we loved and also recommend). And like The Talisman Ring, The Corinthian is an absolute riot of a period romance.

Sir Richard Wyndham does not want to get married. “Too bad,” says his family. “You’ll need to get married pretty much tomorrow.” Rather than face a life of *gulp* domesticity, Wyndham sneaks out in the middle of the night to run away from his troubles.

And who should he meet but young Penelope Creed, dressed in boys clothing and hanging from a window. They don’t know one another, but she has also decided to flee the unpleasantness of a marriage foisted upon her. She wants to marry her childhood sweetheart, but she has to get to him first. United in the common cause of not getting married, the two decide to make their way to where Penelope’s sweetheart lives so that she can marry him.

But of course, things won’t be that straightforward. It doesn’t take long before the two of them are caught up in additional marriage plots, theft, murder, skullduggery of every sort, and probably some other stuff I’m forgetting. Just about everything that can go wrong almost certainly will.

And that’s exactly what we have come to love about Georgette Heyer: nothing is too absurd to happen in one of her books. The Corinthian stays true to form and lets all of the craziness unfold in hilarious fashion. To be honest, we probably should have pulled over a few times when we were laughing too hard to see straight. (Whoops…)

The Mystwick School of Musicraft by Jessica Khoury

The Mystwick School of Musicraft actually reminded us of Harry Potter in the best way possible. It’s a charming story set in a world where all magic is performed with music. Songs equal spells. Amelia Jones desperately wants to get into the Mystwick School of Musicraft, which is the best school for music/magic ever. But when she fails harder at her music audition than I did on my first Algebra 2 exam, she’s absolutely positive she won’t get it.

But then she does. Magically (ba-dum-ts), Amelia receives a letter of acceptance to Mystwick! She’s thrilled, until she arrives and discovers that there has been a mistake. Another girl named Amelia Jones was supposed to receive the acceptance letter, but she died in a tragic accident the day the letters were sent out. In a rather sad mixup, our Amelia was incorrectly notified of her acceptance. The school decides to give her a probation period to prove her worth. But between the teacher who doesn’t like her, a huffy roommate who doesn’t like her either, and the odd supernatural occurrences that seem to follow her around the school and ruin just about everything she tries to do, Amelia will have her work cut out for her.

Mystwick has plenty of creativity, heart, and humor. The audiobook, which is exclusively available on Audible, is absolutely amazing as well. Given the book’s musical themes, the audiobook also includes musical overlays whenever a song/spell is being performed. The music adds to the ambiance and draws you into the moment. 

The amazing story and musical background are amplified even further by the incredible performance of Suzy Jackson, who just knocks it out of the park as the narrator. Mystwick hits all the right notes for a fun, cozy romp that’s very family friendly.

What are some of your favorite books to listen to on road trips? Did we miss something amazing? Let us know in the comments!

Featured Image by Karan Shiwalkar on Unsplash