Coronavirus: Free audiobooks in the UAE for kids and families

Dubai: For as long as schools are closed, Audible will be offering unlimited streaming of hundreds of titles for kids and families for free.

The stories were hand-picked by editors and offer a mix of education, entertainment, and general-interest titles, from the classic to the contemporary, with a focus on stories that are suitable for children. The collection includes favorites like Winnie the Pooh, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Aladdin, Jane Eyre and The Call of the Wild.

Listeners can access the site from their computers, tablets and smartphones and enjoy selections in six languages – English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Japanese. You don’t have to log in and there’s no need to be an Audible member. Just visit Stories.Audible.com and start listening.

Here are some of our favourite options:

For the youngest listener

The Lion and the Mouse

Synopsis: Can a lion and a mouse ever be friends? This story, narrated brilliantly by Karthik Kumar, will show you a mighty lion realizing that even the littlest of friends are worth having. A lion was sleeping in a forest. A mouse started playing on it. The lion was disturbed and arose from his sleep. It caught up the mouse angrily and tried to crush it to death. Find out what happens next.

Winnie-the-Pooh

Synopsis: Come to an Enchanted Place, a forest where Winnie-the-Pooh lived with Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, Kanga, and Little Roo. The stories are about Christopher Robin and these good companions having wonderful times getting in and out of trouble.

For the elementary kids

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Synopsis: One hundred and fifty years after its original publication, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland remains one of the most widely read, deconstructed, referenced, and reinterpreted works of Western fiction. It tells the story of the young and imaginative Alice, who grows weary of her storybook, one "without pictures or conversations", and follows a hasty hare underground - to come face to face with a host of strange and fantastic characters.

Interview with the Robot

Synopsis: A sci-fi adventure for young listeners, Interview with the Robot introduces a unique heroine who seeks the truth about herself. Eve looks like an ordinary 12-year-old girl, but there’s nothing ordinary about her. She has no last name. No parents or guardian. She’s on the run from a dangerous and secretive organization that will stop at nothing to track her down.

For the tweens

The Reluctant Dragon

Synopsis: The story takes place in the Berkshire Downs in Oxfordshire. A Boy lives in a cottage there with his mother and father, and the Dragon lives in a cave on the Downs. The Boy is his only friend. The Dragon is not at all the sort of Dragon one might expect to meet, however: he's polite and friendly.

Cirque du Freak: A Living Nightmare

Synopsis: Darren Shan and his best friend, Steve, get tickets to the Cirque du Freak, a wonderfully gothic freak show featuring weird, frightening half human/half animals who interact terrifyingly with the audience. In the midst of the excitement, true terror raises its head when Steve recognizes that one of the performers - Mr. Crepsley - is a vampire!

For the teens

The Liar's Daughter

Synopsis: Piper was raised in a cult. She just doesn't know it. Seventeen-year-old Piper does know that Father is a "Prophet". Infallible. The chosen one. She would do anything for Father. That's why she takes care of all her little sisters. That's why she runs end-of-the-world drills. That's why she never asks questions. Because Father knows best. Until the day he doesn't. Until the day the government raids the compound and separates Piper from her siblings, from Mother, from the Aunts, from all of Father's followers - even from the boy she loves.

Summer State of Mind

Synopsis: Fifteen-year-old Harper McAllister thinks her summer plans are ruined when her parents receive her latest heart-stopping credit card bill and ship her off to camp at Whispering Pines. Suddenly Harper is at the bottom of a social ladder she can't climb while wearing wedge sandals and expensive clothes. Slowly but surely, she starts to find her place, though, even winning over super cute camp "lifer" Ethan. But when she ruins the camp's chance to have a pop star film a music video on campus, Harper becomes an outcast once again. With the help of a few good friends she tries to make things right - and manages to find a whole new summer state of mind along the way.

For those who love literary classics

Brave New World

Synopsis: On the 75th anniversary of its publication, this work of literature is more crucial and relevant today than ever before. Cloning, feel-good drugs, anti-aging programs, and total social control through politics, programming, and media: has Aldous Huxley accurately predicted our future? 

The Jungle Book

Synopsis: Tales of Mowgli, the boy raised by animals in the exotic jungles of India; Rikkitikkitavi, a courageous young mongoose who battles the sinister black cobra Nag; Toomai, the boy who works with elephants; and more.