10 Best Audiobooks for Tweens

Finding the perfect audiobook for your tween can be incredibly difficult. In fact, it can feel downright impossible to find great stories that are thematically mature enough to challenge young listeners without veering over the edge into inappropriately adult content. Thankfully, there are many authors that thread this needle artfully, and we’ve rounded up the best examples of stories that are sure to captivate any listener’s growing mind. No matter what genres are your favorite, there’s something for everyone in our list of the 10 best audiobooks for tweens.

Raymie Nightingale

De: Kate DiCamillo

Narrado por: Jenna Lamia

Serie: Three Rancheros, Libro 1

Duración: 4 h y 25 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 04-12-16

Idioma: Inglés

4.5 out of 5 stars 321 calificaciones

You may recognize Kate DiCamillo’s name as the author of some young reader classics, like Because of Winn-Dixie and The Tale of Despereaux. DiCamillo once again proves herself an expert at capturing the young teen experience with her story of Raymie Clarke, an impossibly hopeful girl who enters the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition in the hopes that her performance will not only bring her a win, but will convince her recently absent father to return home. As she throws everything she has into the competition, she forms unlikely friendships with her competitors—ultimately finding that Little Miss Central Florida Tire may indeed be the thing she needs to heal her familial trauma, but in ways she never expected. What solidifies this audiobook as a masterpiece, though, is Jenna Lamia. The narrator’s fully developed characterizations of not just the three main competitors but every character in between, no matter how small, make this listen a work of art.
The Graveyard Book: Full-Cast Production

De: Neil Gaiman

Narrado por: Neil Gaiman, Derek Jacobi, Robert Madge, Clare Corbett, Miriam Margolyes, Andrew Scott, Julian Rhind-Tutt

Duración: 8 h y 24 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 09-30-14

Idioma: Inglés

5 out of 5 stars 19,541 calificaciones

Another author on our list whose name precedes him, Neil Gaiman—author of major hits like American Gods, Neverwhere, Good Omens, and more—is an expert at spinning fantasy tales for all ages. The Graveyard Book is a perfect choice for fans of Gaiman’s earlier work, Coraline, as both stories offer a distinctly chilling, otherworldly aura that has become one of the author’s most beloved hallmarks. In fact, the story is more otherworldly than even its protagonist, Nobody “Bod” Owens, may realize—which is saying something, since he lives his life entirely within the confines of a graveyard, unable to leave without inciting an attack from a man he knows only as Jack. This listen is a sure bet for those looking for a more theatrical listening experience; the audiobook is narrated by a full cast of truly elite actors (including Fleabag’s Andrew Scott and Miriam Margolyes, who listeners may remember as Professor Sprout in the film adaptations of Harry Potter) as well as a unique and appropriately sinister soundtrack.
The Girl Who Drank the Moon

De: Kelly Barnhill

Narrado por: Christina Moore

Duración: 9 h y 31 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 08-09-16

Idioma: Inglés

4.5 out of 5 stars 10,691 calificaciones

Winner of the 2017 Newbery Medal, The Girl Who Drank the Moon seems to be on track to become a classic that is passed down from generation to generation. It helps that the audiobook is narrated by veteran children’s voice actor Christina Moore, narrator of classics like Julie of the Wolves and The Beverly Cleary Audio Collection. Moore’s voice is both preternaturally comforting and crackling with energy that matches the pacing of the story in her hands. In this case, that story is Xan’s—the gentle witch who lives in the forest, rescuing the children that nearby townspeople mistakenly believe she requires as a sacrifice. When Xan accidentally gifts one of these children a powerful magic, she names her Luna and raises her herself. But when Luna begins to come of age and her powers emerge, it sets in motion a sequence of chaotic events that endanger everything this unusual family holds dear.
Interview with the Robot

De: Lee Bacon

Narrado por: Kevin T. Collins, Ellen Archer, Josh Hurley, Eileen Stevens, Erin Mallon, Jonathan Davis, Stephen Bel Davies

Duración: 3 h y 42 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 01-02-20

Idioma: Inglés

4.5 out of 5 stars 20,035 calificaciones

While many audiobooks were first released in print, Interview with the Robot was created to be listened to. This audio-first element is something the listener can sense, in everything from the writing to the narration to the sound production. Described by some listeners as a more age-appropriate Blade Runner, Interview with the Robot is the story of a young hyper-realistic robot named Eve who, after discovering the truth about herself, flees the laboratory she’s always called home, running from what she now understands is something far more dangerous than she ever realized. Performed by a full cast of voice actors, the audiobook takes the format of a series of interviews between Eve and the Child Welfare Services representative assigned to her after she’s caught shoplifting. As the interviews go on, Eve’s story unfolds through both conversations and flashbacks that loop in the unique cast of characters in Eve’s life, allowing the listener to explore not just Eve’s timeline but also complicated questions about humanity, artificial intelligence, and society.
I Am Malala

How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World (Young Readers Edition)

De: Malala Yousafzai, Patricia McCormick

Narrado por: Neela Vaswani

Duración: 4 h y 53 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 08-19-14

Idioma: Inglés

4.5 out of 5 stars 867 calificaciones

Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani educational activist who was shot by the Taliban when she was just 15, is a globally renowned agent of peace and the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history. Her best-selling autobiography tells her story of life in the Swat Valley before she was attacked, as well as the events that took place during and after as she rose to international prominence and faced the opportunity and challenge of turning her most painful experiences into a vehicle for global change. It’s a story for all ages, but it holds a special potential for touching the hearts of those young people who see themselves in Yousafzai and can draw strength, inspiration, and power from everything she accomplished and overcame. Given Yousafzai’s advocacy for young learners, it should come as no surprise that the activist chose to release a Young Readers Edition of her story, making it accessible to those listeners who, at the time the story takes place, would be her peers. Neela Vaswani’s narration, paired with Yousafzai’s own performance of the introduction, won the Grammy for Best Children’s Album in 2015.
Howl's Moving Castle

De: Diana Wynne Jones

Narrado por: Jenny Sterlin

Serie: Howl's Castle, Libro 1

Duración: 8 h y 34 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 11-14-08

Idioma: Inglés

4.5 out of 5 stars 12,536 calificaciones

Listeners may be familiar with this story if they’ve seen Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-nominated film adaptation of this classic tale. But the original Howl’s Moving Castle is absolutely bursting with additional plot intricacies, character details, and humor that make the audiobook a top-quality experience all on its own, no matter how familiar you are with the tale. Narrator Jenny Sterlin is at her best whenever an audiobook brings together big, colorful characters and suspenseful plot turns under the aura of the supernatural, so she’s in her element bringing main character Sophie to life—both as a 17-year-old girl and the old crone she becomes when a powerful witch curses her. Sophie runs away to work, in crone form, as a housekeeper for the arrogant young wizard Howl. As Sophie desperately looks for a way to return to her original form, she’s thrown into a fantastical journey full of magical challenges.
Fish in a Tree

De: Lynda Hunt

Narrado por: Kathleen McInerney

Duración: 5 h y 44 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 02-05-15

Idioma: Inglés

4.5 out of 5 stars 2,740 calificaciones

This audiobook takes its name from a famous quote often attributed to Albert Einstein: Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. So follows the theme of Lynda Hunt’s story, which features a young dyslexic student named Ally who responds in frustration to her disability, leading most to conclude she’s just a run-of-the-mill troublemaker. But when a new teacher spots the potential underneath Ally’s chaos-causing veneer, she realizes she just might be able to do the things she once thought impossible. Clocking in under six hours, Fish in a Tree is relatively short but packs a powerful punch, making it a perfect choice for young learners looking for inspiration to help them view their own learning conditions as a tool rather than a burden—or for anyone who simply knows what it’s like to feel fundamentally different.
Esperanza Rising

De: Pam Munoz Ryan

Narrado por: Trini Alvarado

Duración: 4 h y 42 m

Fecha de lanzamiento: 10-31-03

Idioma: Inglés

4.5 out of 5 stars 2,657 calificaciones

This historical fiction story begins in Mexico during the Great Depression, where Esperanza Ortega is comfortably sheltered from the realities of the outside world by her family’s wealth and the promise of someday taking over her birthright: the beautiful, bountiful El Rancho de las Rosas. But a series of tragedies suddenly pull everything Esperanza once knew out from under her, forcing her and her mother to flee to California and work alongside other migrant farmers to survive. Pam Muñoz Ryan perfectly portrays the sheltered Esperanza’s gradual adjustment to a life of physical labor as what she disdainfully calls a “peasant,” using the protagonist’s abrupt class shift to illuminate poignant messages about culture, family, and community that will resonate with listeners of any background. Trini Alvarado’s performance electrifies Ryan’s already vivid sketches of life both above and below the border, transforming the audiobook into a full sensory experience.