26 thoughts on “List of Public Domain (Free) Books for Kids, by Grade Level”

1. Erin July 10, 2019 at 6:38 pm

   What a great resourse! May I read any of these out loud on my Reading Teacher FB site? I want to read Aloud classics for children who may not otherwise read them. Thank you!

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   1. Erin July 10, 2019 at 6:39 pm

      *resource

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   2. Matt Morgan Post authorJuly 10, 2019 at 10:13 pm

      These are public domain works. You can read them aloud, satirize them, reprint them and claim them as your own, or print them out and chop them into thousands of tiny bits to make a children’s literature collage. Go for it!

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      1. Tara March 22, 2020 at 8:09 pm

         Can anyone suggest a good one that doesn’t have too much content that is now considered politically incorrect.

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         1. christina March 22, 2020 at 10:07 pm

            When I was a kid I loved the Secret Garden and Heidi. I don’t think they have controversial issues in them except that they both are about orphans – and I know some people are wary of reading kids stories that are about the death of a parent. Alice in Wonderland is also great for kids who like silly stories.

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         2. Jennifer Embry August 17, 2020 at 5:52 pm

            My Father’s Dragon trilogy is great for young children and at least the first one is pretty PC.

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      2. chanthy June 1, 2020 at 5:46 am

         Hi

         Thank you so much for sharing this!
         I wonder if these books are actually still hold copyright to them? My 7 years old love books and she is very interested to read children books aloud and share them on youtube. I am just wondering if you know there is copyrighted on these books still?

         Thanks

         Chanthy

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         1. Matt Morgan Post authorJune 2, 2020 at 5:49 pm

            They are public domain works, in the USA and in many other countries. I encourage you to look up what that means in your jurisdiction. Thanks!

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2. Cathy Frazier March 22, 2020 at 5:59 pm

   Hi, I discovered Project Gutenberg looking for The Boxcar Children (they show as Box-car) a good 2/3 book which my students always love even though it is so old fashioned. Thank you for this great resource, especially now in the time of sheltering in place.

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   1. Cathy Frazier March 23, 2020 at 3:01 am

      Oops, read the beginning of the download of The Boxcar Children and the book has been significantly revised since this version. Can’t share it with my students. Sorry.

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3. Cathy Frazier March 23, 2020 at 3:02 am

   Oops, read the beginning of the download of The Boxcar Children and the book has been significantly revised since this version. Can’t share it with my students. Sorry.

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   1. Cathy Frazier March 23, 2020 at 3:18 am

      I loved The Secret Garden too, however, since the parents die of a cholera epidemic it could probably be a little scary for children right now. Peter Rabbit is always fun for younger children and this has all the beautiful illustrations.

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   2. Cathy Frazier March 23, 2020 at 3:19 am

      Sorry for duplicate post. My internet is hinky right now.

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      1. Matt Morgan Post authorMarch 23, 2020 at 1:05 pm

         Hey, I’m just thrilled that people are finding this ancient post of mine (which is the one I worked hardest on!) useful. Thanks for coming & thanks for all the helpful thoughts!

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         1. Sarah Kurvinen March 31, 2020 at 9:26 pm

            Hello,

            Are any of the modern stories for younger kids in the public domain?
            This is a very useful list thanks

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            1. Matt Morgan Post authorMarch 31, 2020 at 9:53 pm

               You’re welcome!

               There are lots of newer books that are out of copyright, but that’s a pretty new development so it may be hard to find digitized copies of them. See

               https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/a3534j/libraries-and-archivists-are-scanning-and-uploading-books-that-are-secretly-in-the-public-domain

               for more information on work New York Public Library has done to get people access to newer books, and work some other orgs are doing to make them available.
            2. Matt Morgan Post authorApril 1, 2020 at 11:24 am

               More on this question:

               https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wxeya5/you-can-now-access-14-million-books-for-free-thanks-to-the-internet-archive

               (there has been progress since I last looked).
4. Jerome Small April 17, 2020 at 4:47 pm

   Thank you Matt Morgan. Your unselfish work is much appreciated.

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5. Amanda May 22, 2020 at 8:25 pm

   Hello Matt, I want to thank you for your generous share. This is a fantastic resource. I appreciate you and what you do.

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6. Hala May 30, 2020 at 2:22 pm

   Hi Matt,

   I would like to ask you please can I use any of the listed stories and make some new graphic and animation on it and upload it on my YouTube Channel, with out any legal issue,
   is there any copy rights for re using them.

   Please advise.

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   1. Matt Morgan Post authorMay 31, 2020 at 1:05 pm

      They are public domain (at least, in the USA, and in many other places). I encourage you to look that up and understand what it means so I can avoid giving you legal advice. Or look further back in the comments here to a time I was less concerned about that and answered a similar question. Thanks!

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7. Amanda Uluhan December 21, 2020 at 4:25 am

   Thanks for the post. I’m researching children’s books authors of color who are in the public domain. Any ideas?

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   1. Matt Morgan Post authorDecember 23, 2020 at 1:19 am

      It’s hard. I find it frustrating that all the various sites where you can get public domain books only make it easy to search by author and title. There’s no subject or other categorization. So if you already know what you’re looking for, you can see if it’s available, but there’s no easy way to browse what’s available.

      I would watch the New York Public Library as they continue to find more books with lapsed copyright, and see what they do.

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8. Jackie Morales December 25, 2020 at 12:51 pm

   Matt,
   I love this list. Have you considered updating it to include new works entering the public domain? For example: Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Felix Salten, When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne, A Gallery of Children by A.A. Milne, & The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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   1. Matt Morgan Post authorDecember 25, 2020 at 11:39 pm

      Thanks for the tip! I’d be happy to add anything, but it’s a lot of work. I need a link to a downloadable edition, plus reliable/authoritative assessments of reading level. If you (or anyone) can help with any of those it will speed me up.

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9. Stephanie R December 31, 2020 at 5:24 pm

   This is just fabulous! Thank you thank you thank you! I’ve been spiraling down the internet of never ending lists looking for public domain books and this helps so much!

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