Introduction
This is a listing of 124 sites that legally offer free ebooks for children to read.
There is a separate listing of audio books for children at Free Audio Books Online For Children.
This page is geared towards younger children. I recently added a page of site listings for Free Teen and Young Adult Books Online for older children.
All of these sites listed have content that is legal for them to distribute. If you find that any site listed is offering content that can not be legally transferred, please let me know in the comments below.
This list is not comprehensive and if you know of any other sites please post in the comments below or at our forums.
A comprehensive alphabetical listing of free books for reading or listening can be found on these pages:
Libraries are also an excellent source for reading and listening materials for children. To find out more information on your local library, the links here may help: Library Information
There are 16 other book genre pages here at Gizmo’s covering other various popular book genres and offering links to free online books listed here: Book Genre Pages
Children’s Books Series
Someone asked in the comments here about books in the Peter Pan series and I thought that it would be a good idea to gather together the various locations for the books in a children’s series. Since I did not want to take up further web pages here at Gizmo’s, I set up a site at Google Sites to provide the links for these books. As of now, I have listed only one series, but if there is interest I will post up more. Please let me know in the comments below (or at the Google site) if you are interested.
- The Oz Series Most people think there is only the one book (Wizard of Oz), but there are 40 “official” books in the Oz series and several more “unofficial” Oz books. The official series started in 1900 and continued until 1963. I have located copies of the first 38 of the 40 official Oz books and have provided links to them. I have also located a few of the unofficial Oz works and will be posting up those links soon. This was one of my favorites as a child and I hope you enjoy them also.
Children’s Books for Reading
2020ok around 100 books for babies through 12 nicely divided into categories.
AllBooksFree 
has a very nice collection of ebooks for online viewing and listening. Some are also available for download in PDF. These are unique entries that are not available elsewhere.
4tenderheart offers unique stories for online reading and also two television readings of Sir Pot stories.
AaronShephard’sWorldof Stories is a nicely categorized collection of stories from around the world for online reading. The listings give the appropriate age for reading, length of the story and origin.
AlvieTheLittleBrownBurro has seven Alvie stories to read online or download in MP3.
AmazingAdventureSeries offers the children story “June the Prune” for free reading online. The story can also be heard by pressing the audio button at the top of the page.
AmericanFolklore offers many folk stories from USA, Canada and Mexico as well as Native American for online viewing.
AntBee Joe Ant and Boo Bee offer nine illustrated books for younger children for online viewing.
Archive.org (Children’s Library) large collection of children’s books available for online viewing (original books) and download
ArmenianStoryTeller has a few Armenian stories and poems available for free reading online.
BABBooks has 25 free illustrated books available for online reading or listening.
Baby School has a small collection of online flash books for toddlers and young children.
BaldwinLibraryofChildren’sLiterature has almost 6,000 classic , but unique, children’s books for free viewing online. the ones I looked at had beautiful illustrations. A caution that some of the works are unacceptable by today’s standards due to the view of minorities at that time. Not related to the above as far as I can tell.
Baldwin Online Children’s Projects 520 classic children’s books in a variety of genres for online viewing.
BBCSchools has three online illustrated books for young children that can be viewed with or without audio.
Bedtime-Story has a large collection of illustrated books for online viewing. Some are classics and others are unique stories separated into unusual categories.
Beenleigh State School of Queensland, Australia has a large collection of stories to read online with audio built in.
BetweentheLions has a good number of video books with words for younger readers to follow along. Also some games and other activities for young readers.
B For Ball offers books for online viewing geared to preschoolers. These books cover basics such as alphabet, colors, shapes etc. Thanks to Gretish for this suggestion.
Bibliotastic has an interesting and unique collection of 15 free ebooks in their children’s category. These may be viewed online without registration. Free registration is required to download in PDF, KINDLE or EPUB.
BookBox has about 20 free books available for download in pdf (as a single page) and MP3. Also free games and coloring books.
BookPop has a number of illustrated books free for online reading. There are also some coloring pages for download. There are supposed to be music and story downloads, but I kept getting an error when trying to reach those.
BooksShouldBeFree has a good size collection of Childrens and Fairy Tales books available for download in plain text format.
Bored.com (Children’s) has 1572 works available for online viewing in their children’s section. Searchable by author name and title.
BritishCouncil has a very nice collection of flash animated song and audio read-a-long stories. Games and other activities also available. Audio may be disabled for reading only.
BuddhaNet offers about 15 Buddhist books for children as well as textbooks and coloring books for download in pdf.
CandlelightStories has a good number of stories from the Arabian nights collection as well as other story books available for online reading.
CBeebies is a BBC site that offers a good number of free stories, in flash, for online reading and listening. Also, has games, music and coloring books.
ChildrensBooksForever has a nice collection of books in pdf. Additional comments from Cathy of PuzzlEd “I checked out ChildrensBooksForever and the books are just delightful! Gorgeous pictures and some good themes for primary-school kids (anger, bullying etc). Over 20 books available to download and use on computer, Smartboards etc, as well as viewing online (and in quite a variety of languages, too, apparently). Excellent for school or home use.”
Children’s Books Online is an excellent collection (600+) of illustrated antique children’s books for viewing online. They are also available for download at a fee. This little gem was suggested by an anonymous poster.
Children’sLibrary.org has a large collection of books for online viewing. Many appear to be unique classic works that are finely illustrated. Books can be filtered by age, length and fiction/non-fiction.
ChildrenStory offers a nice collection of fairy tales for online viewing as well as Bible stories and coloring books.
ChildrensStories offers 6 free works by Elisa Gianoncelli. 2 are for children 7 and older, 1 for children 6 to 9 and 3 for children under 6.
Childrenstory offers a smaller collection of fairy tales, nursery rhymes and holiday stories. There is also a story that was written and illustrated by 2d grader children. Caution that many of the other links lead to items for sale.
ChildStoryTeller has a good number of short stories and nursery rhymes for reading online. No illustrations to speak of and most of the stories are classics that can be found elsewhere, but there are a few unique entires here.
Classic Literature Library (Fairy Tales) Small collection, but a nice collection of the Oz and Peter Pan books along with Lewis Carroll’s children’s books available for online viewing.
Classicly has a nice collection of free books for children and young readers. Most are available for download in pdf, kindle or MP3 (audiobook). The Young Reader Collection only lists four books, but if you click on links in the introductory paragraph, you will be taken to other works. Thanks to Tyler G for this suggestion.
ClassicReader (Young Readers) Several hundred classic books for young readers available for online viewing.
CyberKids offers free books, written by children, for online viewing. Unique collection divided into several genre categories. Also offers some interactive stories, music and activites.
DLTK-Teach offers free printable children’s books. Most are geared towards pre-schoolers, including a set on the alphabet, but there are some stories for older children also. Suggested by Cathy ofPuzzlEd.
EasyMediaBroadcast has a nice little collection of classic children’s books with many of Beatrix Potter’s works. The works are available for download in TK3 and as .exe. Downloads were a bit slow, but the quality of the works was very good.
e-booksDirectory has some classic children’s books available for online viewing and some for download. Some are the usual classics, but also some unusual entries here.
eduplace offers 14 “leveled” books for online reading or printing.
ePubBooks has an interesting collection of classic fairy tale books, with some unique entries. These are available for free download in EPUB.
ePubBud has several hundred free books available in EPUB. These are divided into categories, mostly by age. These appear to be a mix of classic and original and unpublished works. You can also create your own book to post there. Thanks to lala for this suggestion.
ETextCenter the electronic text center of the University of Virginia has a large collection of works for children and young adults available for online viewing. These are classic works and many are availble elsewhere, but there are some unique ones. Books are sorted by author name.
FableLibrary has an interesting and unique collection of childrens works. Most are available for viewing online, including some flash versions. But a few are available for download. Suggested by Cathy of PuzzlEd.
FarmhouseFables offers 5 short story books about the little creatures that have made their home in the meadow next to the old farmhouse.
Feedbooks (Fairy Tales) has a small but unique collection of fairy tale books from around the globe available for download in Kindle, ePub and PDF.
Fiction eBooks (Children’s Illustrated) 8 of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit books very nicely illustrated.
FictionPress has 2695 free works in its Kids Fiction Archive. These appear to be original and unpublished works and most are short stories. These are available for free reading online.
FloridaDisaster.org offers three books on hazardous weather for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade readers in download in PDF.
GailSpencerLamm offers her illustrated ebook, Emily’s Patience, for free online viewing or download.
Geronimo’s Adventures features 9 good size books on the adventures of Geronimo the teddy bear for online viewing.
Giraffian offers a nice collection of books for pre-schoolers, covering the alphabet, numbers colors and other topics. Suggested by Cathy of PuzzlEd.
GoldenGems a collection of little golden books and other illustrated books for children for online viewing and saving as jpg.
GoodnightStories is a nice little collection of unique children stories for reading online. A good number of the stories were written by children. Some other activities and printable coloring pages are also available.
Google Book Search (Fairy Tales) 578 works for online viewing, from the 1850s-1920s.
Grammaropolis has a book, video, songs and games to help children learn proper grammar.
Gutenberg (Children’s) Large collection divided into sub-categories available for download in several formats.
Hiyah offers some reading skills software for children 18 months to 6 years of age, which may also be used online without download. Thanks to bowhunter1951 for this suggestion.
InklessTales offers 15 stories for online viewing as well as games, poems and activities.
International Children’s Digital Library nice collection of children’s books from around the world in a variety of languages and nicely categorized, available for online viewing.
Joggoon has 30 classic children novels available for free reading online. There are some unique listings here.
Johnnie’s Story Page most of these are links offsite, but it is a very nice collection and well sorted for beginning and more advanced readers. All the ones I looked at were flash presentations and also had audio available.
Kellscraft (Children’s Books) nice collection (100) of childrens books from the 1890s-1920s.
KidsKnowIt is not a book site, but it does have a lot of reading for children, along with educational puzzles and games.
KidsNurseryRhymes a British site featuring over 1200 nursery rhymes for online viewing. Also has sing along rhymes (must have midi player-available there) and some nursery rhyme disco recordings available for download in MP3.
Kidspace A small collection of childrens books, available for online viewing, from the Internet Public Library.
KidsPages offers free illustrated ebooks for reading online as well as other learning activities for younger children. These stories are generally classic children stories.
KidStoriesOnline offers free stories online (with optional audio), free ebooks, audio books and videos. Some require providing an email, but most are available to all.
Kindersite offer a good number of stories in flash for reading and listening online as well as lullabies, music and games for younger children.
Knowledgerush has a small, but interesting, collection with a good listing of Oz and Tom Swift books, along with some other classics for viewing online. Also a young adults section.
LearningIsland Nice collection of children’s books available for online viewing.
LearningPage has a series (38) of printable “Tommy” story books suitable for about 8-10-year-olds, plus some other printable books, for free. Requires free registration. Suggested by Cathy of PuzzlEd.
LibraryofCongress maintains a nice collection of classic children’s books in its Childrens Literature collection of its Rare Book section. these are available for online reading and download in pdf. These are illustrated copies and are a nice mix of well known and unusual.
LilFingers Storybooks Small collection of books for very young children for reading and being read to.
LongLongTimeAgo is a large collection of fables, myths, folk tales, fairy tales and more from around the world. These are available for reading online.
Magickeys small, but interesting and unusual, collection for online viewing
ManyBooks (Young Readers) 2390 books available for online viewing or download in an extremely large variety of formats
MemoWare (Children’s eBooks) 686 books available for download in varying formats
MerpyStories offers several animated flash stories, with accompanying music, for online viewing. The unique stories of Merpy, Jeremy Dragonfly and Rufus the Firefly available in English and Spanish. Other activities available.
Michael Hardgrove offers his illustrated book, “The Echo and the Pixie” for free reading online.
Mightybook is a pay site, but it offers a good size collection of very interesting and free flash animation storybooks, story songs, Beatrix Potter stories and more. I thought the music and art section, which combines classical music and art, was a very good idea.
Munsey’s (Children Books) 2283 free books available in HTML or a good variety of downloads.
Munsey’sMobile has over 2000 free books in its Children’s category. These are all available for free viewing online and are also available for download in PDF, PRC and ePUB. These appear to be different works than those available on the regular Munsey’s site, above.
MuseumofUnnaturalHistory has a small collection of illustrated childrens’ stories for online viewing. these are unique stories not found elsewhere.
MysteryNetKids has a good size collection of mysteries for children to solve. There are 28 “Solve-It” stories, 29 “Chiller” stories from the Darkmaster, 28 “Quick Solve” stories, 28 Magic Tricks and 21 mystery stories written by children that won the mystery writing contest at the site.
PBSKids has a few read along stories as well as several short educational videos for young children.
PlanetOzKids has an interesting collection of stories relating to myths about animals. Also available are detective stories to work along with. All available for online viewing.
ProfessorGarfield offers 11 free books for beginner readers. These are nicely illustrated and are read in their “toon reader”. There is an option to have the book read aloud using human voices as the child reads. Interesting and unique collection. Available in several languages. Other activities also available at the site.
PuzzlEd is not a book site, but has links to sites offering free books (which will be incorporated here when I have time) and a collection of jigsaw and other puzzles and other activities for children.
RIF Reading Planet has an interesting collection of books for online viewing that changes monthly. Also has activities and games as well as Asian/Pacific, Caribbean, Hispanic and native American sections with books and activities.
Robert Munsch has about 60 books by Robert Munsch for reading online and read by him available for download in MP3 format.
RodCockle offers a nice collection of illustrated books for online viewing, as well as games and puzzles for 4-8 year olds. Suggested by Cathy of PuzzlEd.
Room108KidsStories offers about 25 animated stories, with accompanying music, for reading online. These are unique stories not found elsewhere.
Scholastic Small collection of children’s books available for online viewing (or read to you). Featuring Clifford the Big Red Dog, Alice in Wonderland and a couple of others.
Scholastic Mini-books has a good selection of stories available to read or print, many of which are free. Suggested by Cathy of PuzzlEd.
SebastianSwan a collection of Sebastian Swan stories for online viewing.
Shay’s Imagination offers the unique stories and poems of Shay for online reading or download in pdf.
SillyBooks has a number of free books available for online reading. There are also puzzles, games and contests.
Smashwords has over 300 free ebooks for free online viewing or download in a variety of formats. These are generally unpublished works and unique to this site. The site does also offer books for purchase, but all the works in this list are available for free.
Starfall has online flash presentations designed for first graders to entertain and educate.
StoriesForChildren has 8 Christmas stories by Carolyn Rogers for online viewing and apparently some woodland creature stories soon to come.
StoriesForMyLittleSister is a collection of original stories written by a big sister for her little sister. Interesting collection of illustrated stories and also other activites.
StoriestoGrowBy has a large collection of folk and fairy tales for children from around the world for online viewing.
StoryPlace Elementary has six stories and related activities for online viewing geared for elementary school age children.
StoryPlace PreSchool has a nice collection of books and activities designed for pre-schoolers available for online viewing.
StoryTimeForMe a nice site with unique entries aimed for toddlers through 2d grade. Interesting combination of old fashioned animated book and flash video.
SurLaLuneFairyTales offers a very nice and large collection of fairy tales from around the world for online reading.
Talwwins has a interesting mix of classics and original books for children available for free viewing online or for free download in PDF.
TheManorSchool offers a collection of Greek myths and legends for online viewing. Featured within the stories is the artwork of children of the school.
TheMoonlitRoad has 11 stories for children for online reading. A mix of ghost stories, folktales, myths and legends from the American South.
ThePomplemousse has three original stories about the adventures of Pomplemousse, intended for children and adults.
Tikiri has a nice collection of Sri Lankan stories available in English and Sinhalese available as PDF.
ToddlerSchool has a small collection of illustrated books to read and listen to online. Also has educational games for younger children. Suggested by Sefi
Tonight’sBedtimeStory offers 79 classic fairy tales for download or online viewing in PDF.
uMassAmherstAesop’sFables offers a collection of Aesop’s fables, with illustrations from students in the Computing in the Fine Arts course for online viewing.
WackyWebTales offers a good size collection of short tales for 3rd graders and above. Geared to help with parts of speech.
Web-Books has 92 free classic children’s novels. These are all available to read free online or for download in WEB and WEB database. Viewing the downloads requires their Web Viewer (free) which is clean as far as I can tell
WebPop has a very interesting collection of unique and nicely illustrated books available for online reading, listening and download.
WiredForBooks has a nice collection of Beatrix Potter books as well as a few others for online reading and also available in audio.
WorldofTales a collection of folktales, fairy tales and fables from around the world available for online viewing.
YourBedtimeStory There are not a lot of stories and the stories are not very long, but this site does have a nice twist that you can personalize the story. There are also coloring pages along with the stories.
❝Pukka´s Journal❞ 