One of the BEST audiobooks I listened to for a long road trip was the true story “Shadow Divers” by Robert Kurson. I think being a scuba diver added to being riveted, but I think the story is gripping enough to keep you occupied.
Another good true story is “The Emerald Mile” by Kevin Fedarko. Along with telling the story of this amazing “speed run” through the Grand Canyon, the book also gives this great background to the entire history of the exploration of the Grand Canyon and surrounding area, and of the Glen Canyon dam.
The Cheshire Cheese Cat, a Dickens of a Tale. I listened to the audio book on a drive, and was both entertained and charmed. Excellent voices. Listen to it as a break from the more action-oriented sf works. It’ll make reading Dickens easier once he reaches that age, too.
The audiobook for The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi is also read by Wil Wheaton. It starts with the sentences: “Dirk Moeller didn’t know if he could fart his way into a major diplomatic incident. But he was ready to find out.”
It’s intergalactic adventure and intrigue, with many alien species and callbacks to a recent war. One of the main characters died in the war, and there is an ongoing body count (a dozen or so, unless you count the sheep). But most adventure stories have a body count.
In Redshirts, also by Scalzi, the body count is more cartoonish and easier to ignore. It’s also Wil Wheaton’s first audiobook. This one is a Star Trek send-up.
IMHO the only objection to Prydain would be that it’s too good and you’re saving it for a more special occasion. If he’s reading Tolkien and appreciating it, Prydain is much less complicated. And Alexander manages to evoke the druidic wildness of ancient Britain hauntingly.
But the characters are wonderful and will stay with him forever, and it’s SO good at exploring the moral questions a young person faces growing up.
The hero is orphaned but not in any tragic way that might be triggering; its main effect on the character is in causing him to feel slightly out of place and search for himself.
After Lord of the Rings, you need to get The Silmarillion. It’s a challenge to read, as it comes across like an Elvish phonebook/Old Testament, but listening to the audiobook makes it more like oral folklore and much easier to take in. If you are fresh off of Lord of the Rings, it enriches it, as it goes into more detail on some of the stories mentioned by the characters.
all six HHGttG radio dramas in the trilogy are available (I got the “big box”)
(when he’s ready , the BBC LOTR radio drama is very good, except some of the singing)
Sadly, neither of my kids are into classic literature. But from my own experience, Alice In Wonderland/Through the Looking Glass and Swiss Family Robinson come to mind.
In my opinion Ready Player One is not appropriate for an 8-year-old but a similar book aimed at younger readers is Click Here to Start and is pretty good.
I love the Artemis Fowl books (so does one of the kids, haven’t gotten the other to read them yet) and the audiobook version is terrific. In the first book Artemis’s mother is ill but she is healed at the end of book 1.
I love Redwall but I think some of the violence is a bit graphic for young elementary ages.
I strongly recommend Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon. It’s a lot of fun, with no dead parents or pets, and the audio version is 7 1/2 hours long.
I also suggest The Rolling Stones by Robert Heinlein. Again, fun and no dead parents or pets. It’s also available in an audiobook format, but I can’t find the length. Shouldn’t be longer than Castle Hangnail, though.
I do not need to buy EVERYTHING that Ursula Vernon writes - - I do not need to buy EVERYTHING that Ursula Vernon writes - - I do not need to buy EVERYTHING that Ursula Vernon writes - -
Dammit - not working. I’m betting it was written under T. Kingfisher, or I’d already have it.
are available (I got the “big box”)