[EDIT Oct 2016: changed link to Reading Library to new website]
I’m a frequent user of Project Gutenberg, which distributes free eBook versions of books in the public domain.
Be A Learning Hero, a site I administer, has great lists of suggested books for kids to read at each grade level, and guides to aid parents in discussions with kids about those books. In working on getting that launched this summer, I wanted to know if any of our books were available at Project Gutenberg, so we could just link to them (none were, but we added WorldCat links to make it easy to find them at a local library).
Anyway, while working on that, I realized that there is no convenient online list of free books for kids, organized by grade level. There are lists of public domain books for kids, and there are lists of books for kids by grade level, but nobody seems to have combined it all in one place. So I thought: SEO gold!! And then I put this together.
If you know of more good free books for kids, let me know in the comments and I’ll add to the list.
[Links go to the author page on gutenberg.org; the book page on gutenberg.org; and the source of the grade level recommendation.]
| Book Title |
Author
|
Grade Level (approx.) |
| Fairy Tales |
Grimm, The Brothers |
K-3
|
| Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz |
Baum, L. Frank |
K-6 |
| Raggedy Ann Stories |
Gruelle, Johnny |
1 |
| The Light Princess |
MacDonald, George |
1-2 |
| The Happy Prince and Other Tales |
Wilde, Oscar |
1-4 |
| The Secret Garden |
Burnett, Frances Hodgson |
2 |
| Heidi |
Spyri, Johanna |
2-6 |
| The Tale of Peter Rabbit |
Potter, Beatrix |
3 |
| The Arabian Nights: Their Best-known Tales |
Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith |
3-5 |
| The Swiss Family Robinson |
Wyss, Johann David |
3-8 |
| My Father’s Dragon |
Gannett, Ruth Stiles |
4 |
| The Velveteen Rabbit |
Williams, Margery |
4 |
| The Wonderful Wizard of Oz |
Baum, L. Frank |
5 |
| The Adventures of Buster Bear |
Burgess, Thornton W. |
5 |
| The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel |
Burgess, Thornton W. |
5 |
| Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland |
Carroll, Lewis |
5 |
The Story of Doctor Dolittle
|
Lofting, Hugh |
5 |
White Fang
|
London, Jack
|
5 |
| Anne of Green Gables |
Montgomery, Lucy Maud |
5 |
| The Enchanted Castle |
Nesbit, E. |
5 |
| The Railway Children |
Nesbit, E. |
5 |
| Adventures of Tom Sawyer |
Twain, Mark |
5 |
| Jack and Jill |
Alcott, Louisa May |
6 |
| Peter Pan |
Barrie, J.M. |
6 |
| Jungle Book |
Kipling, Rudyard |
6 |
| Black Beauty |
Sewell, Anna |
6 |
| Little Women |
Alcott, Louisa May |
7 |
| Call of the Wild |
London, Jack |
7 |
| The Princess and the Goblin |
MacDonald, George |
7 |
| Treasure Island |
Stevenson, Robert Louis |
7 |
| Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm |
Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith |
8 |
| The Wind in the Willows |
Grahame, Kenneth |
8 |
| Robinson Crusoe |
Defoe, Daniel |
9 |
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!
*resource
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!
Can anyone suggest a good one that doesn’t have too much content that is now considered politically incorrect.
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.
My Father’s Dragon trilogy is great for young children and at least the first one is pretty PC.
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
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sorry for duplicate post. My internet is hinky right now.
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!
Hello,
Are any of the modern stories for younger kids in the public domain?
This is a very useful list thanks
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.
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).
Thank you Matt Morgan. Your unselfish work is much appreciated.
Hello Matt, I want to thank you for your generous share. This is a fantastic resource. I appreciate you and what you do.
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.
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!