With the school closures at the moment, I have also been looking for English leveled readers (also known as guided readers) to boost my kid’s English reading. There are sooo many resources online for English, that are free and generously available. Some are made available only for this period of school closures. These that I have included, have the entire collection for free. (I did not include those that only make available a few free samples for you to try before you buy). Whether you are looking for early readers / emergent readers or for slightly older kids, you should be able to find something in this list. Some of these are phonics readers or decodable readers, some are sight word readers (whole language).
For download
These are readers that you can download and read on your device offline, or print out. They are often in PDF files
SPELD S.A. Phonic Books – About 200 PDF ebooks for about 15 levels, available in device format, or printing format. Also has worksheets and flashcards.
Update June 2021: SPELD SA Phonic Readers – New Series: SPELD has a new series of books, with ten sets of ten books each, with Australian Aboroginal themes, available for free download. SPELD SA Phonic Books follow the sequence of letter-sounds used in the Jolly Phonics synthetic phonics program. The books can be used with other phonics programs.
Progressive Phonics – an all-in-one reading program – More than 40 PDF ebooks, worksheets, flashcards
Fun phonics (19 books + reference guide) – for beginner readers
Clark Ness readers – free stories and ebooks for the beginning reader. Lots of lots of books
Reading Hawk Library – ebooks for sightwords
Free Reading Decodable Passages – Fiction and non-fiction – these are not ebooks, but reading passages
Moon Dogs at Home Series – six books from the series available for download
Reading Street Stories Grade 1 – first grade stories from the Scott-Foresman Reading Street series
Sound City Reading – more simple decodable readers.
Teachers Pay Teachers – many teachers share their resources here. However, unlikely that you will get a full set for free.
For Printing and Assembling into Booklets
These often require cutting and assembling the booklet, and the pages are paginated for print, and may not be in order if you are reading them on your device.
Starfall Cut-Up/Take-Home Books – set of 15 black and white books that can be printed and assembled into books. Can also be used for coloring.
The Measured Mom
- The Measured Mom Mini phonics books
- The Measured Mom sight word readers
- The Measured Mom Little Letter Books
- The Measured Mom ABC books
This Teaching Mama Sight Word Readers
This Reading Mama
- This Reading Mama Phonics by The Book: Beginning Reader Bible Curriculum
- This Reading Mama Printable Word Family Books for Short Vowels
Twisty Noodle Beginning Readers – black and white ink friendly mini-books. Can also be used for coloring. By themes
Hubbard’s Cupboard Printable Books – includes sight word books , word family books and more. Some books have Spanish, German, French versions.
Phonics Play Comics – decodable comics. Can be read on a device. You can also download a PDF.
Book Bot – Free Books for Kids
KidzClub – Level 1, 2, 3 Books. Can be read online (requires Flash) or printed in Black and white, and can be used for colouring.
Making Learning Fun – Emergent readers
Preschool Mom Printable Mini books – these have very basic themes such as shapes, colour, days of the week
Free Word Work Phonics booklets – Simple booklet with black and white and can be coloured in. Available for short vowels, mixed CVC sounds, and Magic e words.
To Read Online
These require an internet connection for reading online. Some will include audio.
Oxford Owl – You can access the Biff, Chip and Kipper primary learning books, and more, online for free
Storyberries Early Readers – animated books with audio
Suzie the Scientist and Millie the Mathematician early reader books – 24-book sets feature an engaging “cool” scientist (Suzie), and her “cool” mathematician sister (Millie), who present interesting scientific and mathematical concepts to engage kids and empower parents to explore these ideas with their children while developing and improving reading literacies and fluency. Each book connects to these science and maths concepts using uniquely Australian contexts and Australian content. Made free during the COVID-19 school closures in Australia
Hi Manny, this is a great collection of stories for kids! Thanks for sharing!
We are two independent authors and illustrators of children’s stories. For many years we have been writing and illustrating stories for children and putting them online for free. We would be very happy if you would check our stories, too.