Hand-picked from Project Gutenberg’s catalog of 70,000+ public-domain books. The gems that stand up to modern kids’ taste — Peter Rabbit, Alice, Sherlock Holmes, Wizard of Oz, Treasure Island, Anne of Green Gables. Read them online, with chapter navigation, font-size controls, and read-along narration.
3 titles
Beatrix Potter
Beatrix Potter's beloved naughty bunny who sneaks into Mr. McGregor's garden.
Free · ages 3–7
Beatrix Potter
Cheeky squirrel pesters an owl with riddles — pays the price for his sass.
Free · ages 3–7
Beatrix Potter
Peter Rabbit's cousin helps him get his clothes back from Mr. McGregor.
Free · ages 3–7
4 titles
The Brothers Grimm
The original — Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, and 200+ more.
Free · ages 4–10
Hans Christian Andersen
The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes.
Free · ages 4–10
Aesop
Two thousand years old and still the best 1-page morality tales ever written.
Free · ages 4–10
Rudyard Kipling
How the Camel got his hump, how the Elephant got his trunk, how the Leopard got his spots.
Free · ages 5–9
11 titles
Hugh Lofting
The country doctor who learns to talk to animals — gentle, funny, wildly inventive.
Free · ages 6–10
Lewis Carroll
Down the rabbit hole — talking animals, the Mad Hatter, a queen who screams 'Off with her head!'
Free · ages 7–12
Lewis Carroll
Alice steps through a mirror into a world of chess, talking flowers, and Tweedledee.
Free · ages 7–12
L. Frank Baum
Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion — much weirder than the movie.
Free · ages 6–10
Kenneth Grahame
Mole, Ratty, Badger, and the irrepressible Toad of Toad Hall messing about on the river.
Free · ages 7–11
Rudyard Kipling
Mowgli, raised by wolves; Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the mongoose who defends a family from cobras.
Free · ages 7–12
Johanna Spyri
Orphan girl sent to live with her gruff grandfather in the Swiss Alps. Cozy as cocoa.
Free · ages 7–11
Carlo Collodi
The original — much darker and stranger than Disney. The wooden boy who wants to be real.
Free · ages 7–11
E. Nesbit
Five English siblings find a grumpy sand-fairy who grants one wish a day — chaos ensues.
Free · ages 7–11
J. M. Barrie
Neverland, Captain Hook, the Lost Boys, Tinker Bell. Darker than Disney let on.
Free · ages 7–12
E. Nesbit
Three children discover a real magic ring at a manor pretending to be a fairy-tale castle.
Free · ages 8–12
9 titles
L. M. Montgomery
Red-headed orphan Anne arrives at a farm in Prince Edward Island and changes everyone's lives.
Free · ages 9–13
Mark Twain
Whitewashing fences, finding pirate treasure, getting lost in a cave with Becky Thatcher.
Free · ages 9–13
Mark Twain
Down the Mississippi on a raft with Jim. The greatest American novel for kids.
Free · ages 10–14
Robert Louis Stevenson
Long John Silver, the Hispaniola, the parrot crying 'Pieces of eight!' — the pirate book.
Free · ages 9–13
Daniel Defoe
Shipwrecked alone on a desert island for 28 years. The original survival story.
Free · ages 10–14
Anna Sewell
Autobiography of a horse — heartbreaking, redemptive, the original animal-welfare classic.
Free · ages 9–13
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Wealthy Sara is suddenly destitute — keeps her princess dignity through the worst of times.
Free · ages 8–12
Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mary Lennox discovers a locked garden at her uncle's lonely English manor. Pure magic.
Free · ages 8–12
Johann David Wyss
Shipwrecked family invents a treehouse paradise. Like MacGyver for kids.
Free · ages 9–13
5 titles
Jules Verne
Captain Nemo, the Nautilus, giant squids — Verne basically invented sci-fi here.
Free · ages 10–14
Jules Verne
Phileas Fogg's outrageous wager — trains, ships, elephants, balloons.
Free · ages 10–14
Jules Verne
Down a volcano in Iceland into a hidden world of prehistoric oceans and giant mushrooms.
Free · ages 10–14
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
12 of the greatest detective stories ever written. Baker Street, the violin, the cocaine — all here.
Free · ages 10–16
Charles Dickens
Scrooge, Marley, Tiny Tim, the three ghosts. Required holiday reading for ~180 years now.
Free · ages 9–14
Cullinan Academy turns these classics into a full reading program: AI-narrated audiobooks, age-matched reading level placement, comprehension quizzes, and a real progress log. Plus the rest of K-12 — math, science, writing, history.