These audio books from Librivox are always free! There is an app that might make these easier to access for your kids. The Pro version with no ads is $2. Sometimes the narrators are unpleasant to listen to since they are all volunteers and don’t always have good recording equipment, so you need to check first. I’m including ones that seem pretty good from the samples. If you don’t like a particular narrator, check the site/app to see if there is another version you would like better. These are all books we did use in our homeschool or would have used if I’d known about them. The age ranges are just my best guess and may not be right for your particular children. I did try to note any that I remembered being somewhat scary. Don’t skip the ones with “princess” in the title if you have a boy. These are great stories for all!….
AGES 4+:
My Father’s Dragon (This is the most adorable thing you will ever hear!)
Collection of Beatrix Potter Stories (Dramatic Readings by a cast of children)
When We Were Very Young (delightful poetry by A.A. Milne)
The Aesop for Children (various narrators)
The Adventures of Peter Cottontail
The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel
The Adventures of Johnny Chuck
The Adventures of Lightfoot the Deer
The Adventures of Old Man Coyote
The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad
The Adventures of Paddy Beaver
Mother West Wind “Where” Stories
AGES 6+:
Five Children and It (Dramatic Reading)
Rikki Tikki Tavi (short story)
A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (Greek Myths)
A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys (another version)
The Light Princess and Other Tales
The Princess and the Goblin (possibly scary for sensitive children)
Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books (some stories are scary for sensitive children)
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
The Railway Children (Dramatic Reading)
Hans Brinker (or The Silver Skates)
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (The whole series is available on the site here.)
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Understood Betsy (This is especially good for fearful/shy children to listen to!)
Little Lord Fauntleroy (Dramatic Reading)
Heidi (Dramatic Reading)
Peter Pan (Dramatic Reading)
AGES 9+
The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tales of Troy
The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles
The Story of Rolf and the Viking’s Bow
The Story of the Other Wise Man (Christmas story)
Grammar-Land (Good intro to parts of speech)
Books we haven’t read but I thought looked interesting:
The Book of Art for Young People (This would be good for art study during school!)
Royal Children of English History
Stories of Great Composers for Children
Uncle Wiggily and Old Mother Hubbard
Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers
And here is a list of books for you to find in your library app if possible:
- Winnie the Pooh
- The House at Pooh Corner
- Just So Stories
- Books by Thornton Burgess
- Farmer Boy
- The Blue Fairy Book by Lang (may be scary)
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz series
- Charlotte’s Web
- Mr. Popper’s Penguins
- Peter and the Wolf (music and story)
- Fifty Famous Stories Retold
- Little House in the Big Woods
- The Little Duke by Yonge
- The Wind in the Willows
- Homer Price
- Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
- Otto of the Silver Hand (child loses a hand, combat to the death)
- Along Came a Dog
- The Door in the Wall
- The Light Princess by Macdonald
- King of the Wind
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
- The Secret Garden
- Peter Pan
- A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales by Hawthorne
- All-of-a-Kind Family
- Five Children and It
- The Hundred Dresses
- Pippi Longstocking
- Children of Noisy Village
- The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle
- The Indian Captive
- Little Britches
- Day Boy and Night Girl
- The Princess and the Goblin
- Call It Courage
- Stuart Little
- The Cabin Faced West
- The Sign of the Beaver
- Bud, Not Buddy
- A Bear Called Paddington
- The Mouse and the Motorcycle
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and sequels
- Ben and Me
- Mr. Revere and I
- Rabbit Hill
- By the Great Horn Spoon
- Carry On, Mr. Bowditch
- Chitty-Chitty Bang-Bang
- The Great Turkey Walk
- My Side of the Mountain
- Understood Betsy
- A Little Princess
- Our Island Story
Newer Publications:
- The Green Ember and sequels
- American Tall Tales by Osborne
- The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
- The Borrowers
- The Moffats
- The Saturdays
- Redwall
- Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (and others by Grace Lin)
- Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes
- On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness and sequels
- The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
- TumTum and Nutmeg series
- Wonder
- The Wild Robot
- Because of Winn Dixie
- The Phantom Tollbooth