Audio books have provided some of my family's warmest memories. When my son was 2, he adopted a line from an audio version of William Steig's "Doctor De Soto." When the mouse dentist wonders if he should treat a wolf with a toothache, his wife says, "Let's risk it!" My son used that line at every possible opportunity, his small squeaky voice imitating the tape. Before I knew it, my husband and I were quoting it too.

When my daughter was in middle school, we survived a long trip to and from Florida aided by the audio of Bette Greene's "Summer of My German Soldier," the story of Jewish 12-year-old Patty Bergen who survives her parents' cruelty with the help of Anton, a German prisoner-of-war detained near her Arkansas town. We reached home before the ending, so we drove around town until the conclusion.

Whether you're cavorting around town or driving to a vacation spot, you can build family memories en route with audios. New releases offer great family listening for all ages.

Jeff Brown's "Flat Stanley" is a fantasy about young Stanley Lambchop who is flattened to a 1/2-inch thick when his bulletin board falls on him. Stanley has wonderful adventures -- he's mailed to California and even foils an art theft. The situational bizarreness is balanced by the normalcy of the Lambchop family. Stanley's brother is jealous, his mother constantly corrects grammar and his father tries to fix everything. This book and its three sequels ("Invisible Stanley," "Stanley in Space" and "Stanley Flat Again!") are read by Daniel Pinkwater on the "Flat Stanley Audio Collection" (HarperAudio, $22, unabridged, 3CDs, ages 5 and up). Pinkwater's unpretentious delivery matches the stories' drollness, and his pauses accent the humor.

Beverly Cleary's books have stood the test of time and with the energetic dramatization by Neil Patrick Harris, they stand the read-aloud test in "Henry and the Paper Route" and "Henry and the Clubhouse" (both from Harper Audio, $22, unabridged, 3CDs, ages 5 and up). Both books track Henry Huggins and his friends as they surmount everyday problems with humor and ingenuity. Harris easily slides in and out of voices to perfectly portray the characters.

Young mystery lovers and fans of author Andrew Clements will enjoy his newest novel, "Room One" (Simon and Schuster Audio, $19.95, unabridged, 3 CDs, approx. 3 hours, ages 9 and up). The hero is mystery-loving Ted Hammond, a fifth-grader whose Nebraska town is so tiny that its school will be closed if enrollment doesn't grow beyond five. When Ted sees a mysterious face in a boarded-up house, his investigation leads to an act of charity that receives national attention, changing his life and saving his school. Keith Nobbs' reading is fairly straightforward, with smooth pacing and effective intonations.

If you're looking for an old-fashioned story with enough adventure to please young listeners, try Jeanne Birdsall's "The Penderwicks: The Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits and a Very Interesting Boy" (Listening Library, $39, unabridged, six CDs, seven hours; ages 9 and up). It's the story of a professor who takes his four daughters on vacation in a cozy cottage on an estate called Arundel. While their loving, but distracted father studies the flora and fauna, the girls meet Jeffrey, the withdrawn only son of the overbearing estate owner, Mrs. Tifton. The author does a fabulous job describing a family that has built a caring bond after their beloved mother's death. These four girls reach out and warmly include Jeffrey in their adventures, much to his mother's displeasure. Susan Denaker's gentle narration gives the audio an old-fashioned feel, and her dramatization makes characters easy to distinguish.

Older listeners will enjoy the audio of Richard Peck's newest novel "Here Lies the Librarian" (Listening Library, $27, unabridged, 3CDs, almost 4 hours, ages mature 10 and up). Peck's books make history accessible, presenting a wealth of detail through crisp writing and sophisticated humor. Set in rural Indiana in 1914, "Librarian" centers on 14-year-old PeeWee (Eleanor) McGrath. A happy-go-lucky girl despite having lost her parents, she idolizes her brother Jake, who ekes out a living as an auto mechanic. PeeWee loves cars, but school's a different story. That changes when the librarian dies (as Peck puts it, "heaven having stamped her overdue") and four energetic young library students move to town. Immediately they start improving everything from the library to PeeWee's life, showing her that she can be a young lady and a strong individual. There's lots of adventure, automotive history, touches of feminism, and even a little love interest. But what shines splendidly in Lara Everly's skilled reading are her wry tones that maximize the humor and the many voices that she uses to make all the characters unique.

Introduce your children to a fabulous new fantasy series with Linda Buckley-Archer's "Gideon, The Cutpurse" (Simon and Schuster Audio, $39.95, unabridged, 10 CDs, 11.5 hours, ages 10 and up). Begun as a radio drama, this time-traveling novel makes an easy translation to audio. In this fast-moving adventure, modern day heroes, Peter Schock and Kate Dyer, are transported to 1763 and thrown into relationship with cutpurse Gideon Seymour who seeks to escape the villainous Tar Man. Gerald Doyle gives a wonderfully nuanced reading -- with a simple shift of tone he differentiates the voices of narrator, Kate, Peter and Gideon Seymour, and provides the needed separation of present and past time settings.

Sadly, even great audios can fall out of print. Happily, Listening Library is bringing back a long unavailable gem: The wonderful Rabbit Ears series, which pairs celebrity readers with classic tales. Rabbit Ears released 60 titles between 1985 and 1996. This month Listening Library will begin a major reissue program with four CDs -- Rabbit Ears Treasuries of "American Tall Tales," "Fables and Other Stories," "Fairy Tales" and "World Tales" ($19.95 each). Highlights include Holly Hunter reading "The Three Little Pigs," Cher's performance of "The Ugly Duckling" and Denzel Washington's take on "Anansi."

Audios don't have to be confined to summer listening. When school starts and you struggle through days packed with activity, audios can relieve stress and exhaustion and help you refind family closeness.

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