Oooh, Arwen, I’m eagerly awaiting suggestions that I can use with my four year old.

We’ve enjoyed Winnie-the-Pooh and a volume of A.A. Milne’s poetry (I think Now We Are Six, though it might have been When We Were Very Young.) I’d bet Wind in the Willows might be a good fit. We’ve been reading that aloud.

Maybe you could find a collection of classic children’s stories? That way, the stories would be a little shorter (for breaks), but still enough of them to pass the time.

A friend recently started reading the Little House on the Prairie series to her 4-year-old, who loves it. Surely there’s an audiobook version of that!

The Chronicles of Narnia. We have a set with 4 of the books (abridged) - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawntreader, and The Silver Chair. The narration is excellent and it really came in handy in a similar travel situation with my travel-sickness prone kiddo last year. This is the set: http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Narnia-Audio-Collection-Lewis/dp/0694524662

A lot of Beverly Cleary’s books are available on audiotape.  Our family enjoyed “Socks” on a drive last summer. The early Ramona books would be good for her, too. They’re simple enough to be understood on tape.

Ditto the Narnia and Little House ideas, too.

My children (including 4 year old dd) LOVE audiobooks.  We own and have listened dozens of times (in the car) to: 1.  Mr. Popper’s Penguins - a nice long story, highly enjoyable even for adults.  Kids’ favorite, I love it too (really, even after 10 times!)  Anyone with a car and children should own it.  Ok - enough said!  2.  A Bear Called Paddington - also long and quite enjoyable.  3. Frog and Toad collection and 4.  Mouse Tales collection - both shorter stories but very cute and enjoyable for grown-ups too.

How about the 3 book series, My Father’s Dragon, Elmer and the Dragon, and The Dragon’s of Blueland?  My children really like those stories.
We have also enjoyed Jim Weiss’ story CDs.  They aren’t audio books per se since he doesn’t read the book, he tells the story.  We have a number of them and really enjoy them.  (I especially like his Treasure Island and his Prince and the Pauper, although these might not be the best to start with.)  His website is http://www.greathall.com/.  I just looked at it briefly and you can search by age range.  He has some new ones since we last purchased any and he does have some books that he reads.
I agree with the Narnia suggestion.  There is a series that includes all seven books and they are read word for word, each book by a different person, all famous actors.  (Find in on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Chronicles-Narnia-Complete-Box-Unabridged/dp/0694524751)  I highly recommend it. 
We also listen to unabridged recordings (narrated by Rob Inglis) of Tolkien’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.  I know Camilla is only four, but we have been listening to it since my 6 1/2 yr old was born and my current four year old enjoys it too.

We have several that get car sick and these, plus a dose of Dramamine, usually get us to our destination.  Make sure he brings a container with a lid, just in case.

We’ve enjoyed many Beverly Cleary books and the wonderful Little House books read by Cherry Jones. (Farmer Boy was our favorite.) My 6 year old and 3 year old were frightened by the dramatized Narnia books, though. Be sure to get just the regular audio books (which they both loved). I also second the Weiss CDs. We’ve enjoyed many of those as well especially the Bible stories. You might want to have at least a few books so if one doesn’t pass muster (my kids disliked Paddington and The Wind in the Willows), he can toss it aside and pick a different one to try. On our most recent trip (12 hours each way), I had lots of audio CDs, but my kids got a little antsy listening to them. It might be a good idea to have some music to break up all the talking. My four year old loved “One Hundred Sheep.” It’s a CD of skip counting songs based on Gospel stories and is remarkably good. My four and two year old girls also love the Cat Chat CDs which have talking and singing. iTunes has a bunch of free books you can download to iPods, too, including quite a few classics. I haven’t tried listening to them yet, but my husband and I were astounded at the list. You can search by grade level. Good luck!

Our girls favorite audiobook was Beverly Cleary’s “Ramona Quimby:Age 8”, read by Stockard Channing.

Good Luck!

My 5 yr. old grandson, Seth, loves the Magic Tree House series, read by the author, Mary Pope Osbourn. He has been listening to them for at least a year and I think they’re interesting too.

We took Little House in the Big Woods for our almost 4 yr old on an 8 hour trip this month. My husband has never read the Little House books, so he was as fascinated as the kids were!

I don’t know about audiobooks, but They Might Be Giants or John Lithgow are fun, upbeat music cds that are fun and educational for kids without being so saccharine or insipid that it makes adults want to fling themselves off the nearest bridge.

Anything by Jim Weiss is fantastic.  I usually get his recordings at the library.

My 3,4, and 5 year olds love to listen to audiobooks. I have the older two listen to cds during quiet time everyday actually. My kids don’t really enjoy chapter books yet so this list is aimed at the younger crowd. Also, they like to have the book to look along with if at all possible.

1. Curious George: You can get all the classics (5 CDs) and a hardback book with all the stories for under $20.00 on Amazon.com. I can’t believe I was even able to buy such a nice book for that price, much less the CDs.

2. The Frances Audio Collection by Russell Hoban: This has five of the Frances stories on it. It is read by Glynis Johns, who is awesome. I love listening to her voice. It doesn’t come with the books, as far as I know, but I just check the books out from the library.

3. Frog and Toad by Arnold Loebel: All the Frog and Toad books come on CD and are read by the author, which I love. Again, I just check the books out from the library to read along with.

4. A Flower Fairy Alpahabet by Cicely Mary Barker: This puts the poems in one of Cicely Mary Barker’s book to music. My kids just love it and have memorized most the poems.

5. Little Bear Audio Collectio by Else Miniark: The kids don’t like these quite as much, but they still enjoy it.

6. Peter Pan: This is the one longer story they will listen to. I’ll try to figure out who reads it; she does an awesome job!

Overall, I find the library and Amazon.com to be great resources for audiobooks. Also, there are a lot of great websites that you can download books for free. I haven’t used them because we don’t have a mp3 player, but I’m sure you could get a lot of good stuff that way. Finding good readers is the key, I think.

Oh, and I second the Cat Chat CDs. They are a bit annoying for adults, but my kids ADORE them.

I think Amazon and Audible.com are the same organization.  Anyhow, they have a ton of free books or $1 books for the kids.  Anything that’s “famous” is out there.  I saw the Narnia recommendation.  That might seem odd for a four year old, but I second it.  But there’s a better production by Focus On the Family: it’s dramatized with music and narration by Paul Scofield (whose voice I could listen to all day).  I got it for my big kids, but my 3 and five year olds like it too!

My children- 1-7 yrs enjoy The Magic Tree House series- we were able to get most from the library- I enjoy listening to them too.

I third or fourth the Weiss stories. Also Glory Stories (from the Holy Heroes folks). They are dramatized saint stories and my kids love them. They also sell “The Altar Gang” which are cute dramatized stories that may not be too sacharinne for you husband (I chuckle at them myself).
We have always preferred the dramatized versions of things, but that may depend on the story. As someone said earlier, I can see how some stories, like Narnia, might be too much dramatized.

Not sure about audio books, but my 4 year old loves Cat Chat which is a Catholic Audio show for kids.  The music is good, and the story is good too.  They have different ones on Jesus, Mary, Saints, ect.  We have the one on Jesus and he requests it anytime we are in the car for long periods.  Here’s a link, and I think you can listen to a sample at their website: http://www.catchat.ca/

Our kids listen to audiobooks or Old Time Radio story shows every night.

Their longtime favorites:
* The House at Pooh Corner and other Pooh stories
* Paddington Bear
* Cinnamon Bear (radio serial from the 30s)
* Magic Tree House
* Magic Island (another OTR adventure serial)
* Kids poetry (Jack Perlutsky—but 4-year-old might not get some of the word play or humor

And there are probably more. The funny thing about the old radio shows are the old commercials—really just sponsor mentions. But your kids might ask for Kellogs Pep or cream of wheat (at least that one’s available still!).

I know the James Herriot Treasury has an audiobook accompaniment at my library. We haven’t tried it yet but we love his children’s stories and my husband and I enjoy reading his adult books aloud to each other. When we take a roadtrip next that’s one of the distraction techniques I plan on bringing.

Good luck to Bryan!

My children have enjoyed Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan narrated by the author, E.B. White.  Understand, my 14 and 13 yo ask to listen to this every summer.  There is something about the dry New England wit and voice of the author that is just amusing.

My daughter is the same age as yours and we recently got the Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter from the library for a long car ride—she loved it and the two year old listened in pretty well, too!  I don’t have the CDs on hand anymore, but I think it must have been this:

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Rabbit-Friends-Unabridged-Classics/dp/1400108519/ref=tmm_abk_title_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1296235194&sr=8-1

I would definitely recommend them heartily!

A 5 hour car trip isn’t really that long for a book on tape - many of the stories listed would take the entire trip.  I don’t know many 4yos that would be happy listening to the same thing for that long.  So I would suggest a collection of short stories or songs.  I also second the suggestion of ANYTHING by Jim Weiss.  He does not read books, he tells stories.  The difference is something you notice as soon as you listen to them - great inflection, uses different voices for different characters etc.  All my kids love him!  I would get as many of those as possible.  Usually each cd or tape is about an hour long - and they’re so good, she won’t mind listening to them again on the trip home!.  He also has mp3 downloads, which are great for the car if you can plug it in to your stereo system.

Mrs. Piggle wiggle even got my 4 yr-old’s attention. Our library had 3 of that series on audio. They are chapter books, but really funny—for her adult, too!

Definitely Betsy-Tacy, as read by actress Sutton Foster!  It’s one of my favourites. 

The Rabbit Ears Listening Library has so many titles that would be perfect for a 4yo! A good one to start with is their Treasury of Fables: 3 Billy Goats Gruff, 3 Little Pigs, Rumplestiltskin, the Tiger and the Brahmin and The Ugly Duckling. They are read by actors/actresses like Holly Hunter and Ben Kingsley, with original music that helps move the story along. They are really well done! We take long (12+hr) trips several times a year and we never get tired of these! They also have bible stories from the Old and New Testaments! I cannot recommend them highly enough for a little one!

Jim Weiss
Philadelphia Chickens (so fun!)
Wee Sing Nursery rhymes and stories

Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner, yes, but—this is key: the version performed by Judy Dench, Geoffrey Palmer, and Stephen Fry.

My 4 year old girl LOVES our abridged version of Heidi.  We got it at Barnes and Noble and it is about an hour long and it is her choice for bedtime almost everynight and roadtrips - needless to say the rest of us are eagerly waiting for her to outgrow it.

For music fun, all of the Sandra Boynton CDs are very good.  The most recent, Dog Train, is one of our whole family’s favorites.  Laurie Berkner is also a music favorite.  Also, check out Adventure in Odyssey at http://whitsendblog.org.  You can subscribe to their podcast and look for those labeled ‘Free Episodes’ or you can buy the CDs.  There are also free episodes at http://whitsendblog.org/thriving/.  All my kids love these, even my 3 and 4 year old.

The Chronicles of Narnia

Oh..and if you have an MP3 player Librivox has free audiobooks.  My son has really enjoyed the Railway Children by Edith Nesbit and Five Children and It by the same author.

We loved Cinnamon Bear.  It was great for the younger ones.  My young kids found the Narnia series a little intense, but the older ones liked it.  Adventures in Oddyssey are great, but be careful with these as some of the ones in more recent years get kind of intense/heavy.  Also, if there are Cracker Barrels along the route they have a great program where you can buy audio books and then return them at any Cracker Barrel and get most of your money back.  If you haven’t already tried them for carsickness, try sea-bands.  We had great success with them for our queasy kids.

Also, check out storynory.com. They have free downloads of fairytales. When my daughter wakes up early on the weekend we sit her down with one.