Audio books
Audible has provided access to over 200 full-length audiobooks for free for the duration of school closures. There’s no log-in or registration required and it’s not a free trial. All the titles in the collection are available to stream straight from the web and there’s no limit to how much you can listen.
All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.
It’s a great option for some family or personal listening. Here are some suggestions for different year groups.
Year 7
The Open Boat by Stephen Crane
(good inspiration for original writing. What would you do if you were on a sinking boat?)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/109400006X?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Enchanted Castle by E Nesbit
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002V0JS1E?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002UZLIN6?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Shade’s Children by Garth Nix (dystopian fiction)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00BOWT1GW?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Call of the Wild by Jack London
(experimenting with point of view writing from an animal’s point of view)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B07DPTMHG6?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B0062QFT5C?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Grimm’s Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B007BFCGPY?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Aesop’s Fables by Aesop
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B073PDH2NT?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Year 8
White Fang by Jack London
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002V8MC7S?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_1
Cirque du Freak by Darren Shan
(good/fun intro into gothic fiction)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00DW7BSUE?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00FQRCM9O?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Astrophysics for Young People in a hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/198259151X?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
90 Miles to Havana by Enrique Floris-Galbis
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00E3XPGZY?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002V1BVK4?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
(fully dramatized)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00K7EG2QK?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Year 9
A Little History of the World by E. H Gombrich
(something to dip in and out of)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002VA9EC2?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_1
Titanic: The Long Night by Diane Hoh
(good introduction to context for An Inspector Calls)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00BBL5J80?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B06X9PN7BW?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Near Witch by V E Schwab
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/1982648244?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B01COOZ5C2?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Year 10
The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson
(introduction to 17th superstitions and beliefs about witches useful context for Macbeth)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00OYASV44?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Witch of Duva by Leigh Bardugo
(traditions of witchcraft)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00LSYXEXC?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
A Way in the World by V S Naipaul
(this might be useful background to poetry about colonial experience)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/1538555026?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
A little History of the World by E. H Gombrich
(something to dip in and out of)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002VA9EC2?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_1
The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis
(heaven/hell, ideas about demons, fallen angel etc)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002V8DJ16?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
(a moral defence of capitalism how does this contradict the message set out by Priestley in An Inspector Calls)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002UZL9G2?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
(fully dramatized and featuring another interesting protagonist, good to compare and contrast Macbeth/Hamlet, the use of ghosts, female roles Ophelia/Lady Macbeth, the portrayal of insanity)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B004ZM7UGQ?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Year 11 those who want to study A Level English
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
(fully dramatized and featuring another interesting protagonist, good to compare and contrast Macbeth/Hamlet, the use of ghosts, female roles Ophelia/Lady Macbeth, the portrayal of insanity)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B004ZM7UGQ?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
(compare/contrast with Doctor Faustus)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002VAEOY0?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B00FQRCM9O?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002V07ZY6?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
The Screwtape Letters by C S Lewis
(heaven/hell, ideas about demons, fallen angel etc)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002V8DJ16?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
A Way in the World by V S Naipaul
(this might be useful background to poetry about colonial experience)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/1538555026?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
(a moral defence of capitalism how does this contradict the message set out by Priestley in An Inspector Calls)
https://stories.audible.com/pdp/B002UZL9G2?ref=adbl_ent_anon_sc_pdp_pc_0