Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones if your kids liked early Harry Potter.

Call of the Wild (Jack London). We did this on audiobook during a road trip and kids and the adults loved it.

Count of Monte Cristo is another good audio one

Alice in Wonderland

The Nevermoor series is great!

Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz series. There's a full cast version but it's abridged. We listened to the solo narrator version and loved it.

Next year when your youngest is a little older, Brandon Sanderson's Skyward series.

The Hobbit

Anonymous wrote:Gregor the Underlander is a fun listen. We've also done Holes and Maze Runner.

Both Holes and Maze Runner are dark, but my 10 loved them.

Gregor the Underlander is a fun listen. We've also done Holes and Maze Runner.

I got into this podcast with tweens recommended somewhere on DCUM - Judge John Hodgman.

JUDGE JOHN HODGMAN is a weekly podcast in which I, John Hodgman, listen to real life disputes on issues such as:

-is chili a soup or a stew?

-is this room in my house called an “office” or a “den” or “a room full of junk.”

-when is it may someone else’s Chinese food be legally considered abandoned property?

-is it OK to rifle through the trash for prize coupons in a Canadian pizza parlor?

-is a machine gun a robot?

Then I tell the disputants who is right and who is wrong.

My kids loved the audio book of 'Three Times Lucky' - they didn't want to get out of the car sometimes so they could keep listening.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Times-Lucky-Dale-Mysteries/dp/0142426059

The Kane chronicles if Percy Jackson works it's written as a recording so it would be good audio book but again there are antagonists after the MCs

Percy jackson, the action seems more in line with the first HP books not dark. Not sure if your 10 yr old would find it scary as monsters do go after the MC and friends and they are based off myths so some of them have scary appearances. But it's not super descriptive from what I remember. It's one of the tamest MG middle grade book.

I'd search for cozy middle grade or beach reads for middle grade or older elementary.

Audiobook version of Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead. We just listened and all my kids (9, 11, 13) liked it!

We did the Penderwicks one road trip, which everyone liked even though it is not a book either of my kids would have read on their own. It’s not scary at all. The Spy School series also has really nice audiobooks.

What is good listening, audiobook or podcasts that can download in advance, for a road trip?

Last road trip the entire family enjoyed listening to Harry Potter. Another trip we did Anne of Green Gables, which everyone loved. Harry Potter's later books are pushing up against our scary tolerance for the youngest so hoping to avoid too dark/dystopian. 10yr old and just turned 13yr old.