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There were many more books I would have put here, but they were already on one of my other lists.
(The RC Page has more classics and history, including substitutes not on RC's list.) Be sure to take a look at the Free Books Online page for more great homeschool books, and the links section for free grammar, spelling, phonics books, etc.
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Biographies (and autobiographies) Fiction / Classics Folklore, Myths, and Fairy Tales Geography / Social Studies Historical Fiction History (non-fiction) Holidays Manners |
Miscellaneous Music One-syllable Books Poetry Science (not text books) Series Books or Dime Novels (like supplemental books on RC list) Web Sites with More Free Books |
| BIOGRAPHIES Author | Title | Subject |
| To find more biographies at Project Gutenberg, try searching for a person's last name in the title field. You can also put their name in the "full text" field of the advanced search section. Or try their list of Historical Biographies. | ||
| Abbott, Jacob | Wrote many biographies for children. Some available at Gutenberg, many more available (in HTML) at Baldwin Project. | Numerous biographies for children |
| Abbott, John S. C. | Christopher Carson, David Crockett, Daniel Boone, etc. | Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone, and more |
| Bradford, Sarah H. | Harriet, the Moses of Her People | Harriet Tubman / underground railroad |
| Brooks, E. S. | Historic Boys: Their Endeavours, Their Achievements, and Their Times | Marcus Aurelius, Brian Boru, Olaf II, William the Conqueror, Baldwin III, Frederick II, Henry V, Pope Leo X, King of Tezcuco, Louis XIV, Charles XII, Van Rensselaer, |
| Brooks, E. S. | Historic Girls: Stories of Girls Who Have Influenced the History of Their Times | Zenobia, Helena (mother of Constantine), Pulcheria Augusta, Queen Clotilda, Empress Woo, Good Queen Maud, Countess Jacqueline, Queen Catarina, St. Theresa of Avila, Elizabeth I, Christina of Sweden, Pocahontas |
| Brown, William Wells | The Narrative of William W. Brown, a Fugitive Slave | Autobiography - underground railroad |
| Browne, E. Gordon | Queen Victoria | Queen Victoria |
| Courtenay, Calista McCabe | George Washington - good for younger readers. | George Washington |
| Douglass, Frederick | My Bondage and My Freedom, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, etc. | Autobiographical works of an ex-slave |
| Eggleston, Edward | Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans | Historical Americans |
| Ellis, Edward S. | Thomas Jefferson; a Character Sketch, The Life of Kit Carson, Dewey and Other Naval Commanders | Thomas Jefferson, Kit Carson, Various Naval commanders. |
| Fields, Annie | Authors and Friends | Emerson, Holmes, Longfellow, Stowe, Tennyson, Thaxter, Whittier |
| Fields, James T. | Yesterdays with Authors - Contains a lot of the authors' correspondence. | Thackeray, Hawthorne, Dickens, Wordsworth, Miss Mitford, etc. |
| Hartley, Cecil B. | Life and Times of Colonel Daniel Boone | Daniel Boone |
| Horne, Charles F. (editor) | Great Men and Famous Women - 8 volumes containing many short biographies by various authors. (Scroll down to find.) | Numerous biographies per book. |
| Howells, William Dean | Literary Friends and Acquaintance | Harte, Holmes, Longfellow, Lowell, Taylor, Twain |
| Hubbard, Elbert | Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Numerous volumes | Numerous biographies per book. Sorted by category (authors, statesmen, women, etc.) |
| Keller, Helen | The Song of the Stone Wall, The Story of My Life | Autobiographical works of a deaf and blind woman |
| Ketcham, Henry | The Life of Abraham Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln |
| Lee, Sir Sidney | A Life of William Shakespeare | William Shakespeare |
| Jefferson, Thomas | Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson | Thomas Jefferson |
| Nicolay, Helen | The Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln |
| McSpadden, J. Walker | Boys' Book of Famous Soldiers | Washington, Grant, Lee, Napoleon, Wellington, Gordon, Roberts, Kitchener, Haig, Joffre, Foch, Pershing |
| Oliphant, Mrs. Margaret | Jeanne d'Arc - Her Life and Death | Joan of Arc |
| Parton, James | Captains of Industry | 46 short bios representing many interesting trades (watches, gardening, printing, cotton goods, hammers, ice) |
| Parton, James | Famous Americans of Recent Times | Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Randolph, Girard, Bennett, Goodyear, Beecher, Vanderbilt, Burr, Astor |
| Parton, James | Revolutionary Heroes and Other Historical Papers | Warren, Hale, Washington's Spies, Soldiers at Valley Forge, Adams, Signers of Declaration of Independence, Morris, John Jay, Ames |
| Peterson, De Witt C. | The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson . . . from Facts Narrated by Himself | Kit Carson |
| Plutarch | Plutarch's Lives (complete) Or the Children's version. | Numerous Greek and Roman historical biographies. |
| Stevenson, Burton Egbert | American Men of Action - Great history and biography book. The index lists around 300 famous people. Some are only briefly mentioned, while more attention is given to others. It's not divided into sections for each person, but reads more like a story. | History, character and lives of famous men. |
| Stratemeyer, Edward | American Boy's Life of Theodore Roosevelt | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Sweetser, Kate Dickinson | Ten American Girls from History | Pocahontas, Dorothy Quincy, Molly Pitcher, Elizabeth Van Lew, Ida Lewis, Clara Barton, Virginia Reed, Louisa Alcott, Clara Morris, Anna Dickinson |
| Sweetser, Kate Dickinson | Ten Boys from History | Stephen and Nicholas (child crusaders--may not appeal to all families), Peter of Haarlem, David, Louis XVII, Edward Plantagenet, Tad Lincoln, Samuel Morse, David Farragut, Mozart |
| Thayer, William M. | From Boyhood to Manhood: Life of Benjamin Franklin - a completed biography. (Though Franklin's autobiography is great, it doesn't include his last 30+ years.) | Benjamin Franklin |
| Thayer, William R. | George Washington - a single volume biography. | George Washington |
| Various | Stories of Achievement Vol. III | Desmosthenes, Douglass, Beecher, Booker Washington, Burritt, Gough, Lindsey |
| Various | Stories of Achievement Vol. IV | Rousseau, Burns, Bronte, Dickens, Keller, Greeley, Alcott, H. George, Rideing, Riis |
| Warner, Charles Dudley | Captain John Smith, The Story of Pocahontas, Washington Irving | John Smith, Pocahontas, Washington Irving |
| Watson, Virginia | The Princess Pocahontas | Pocahontas |
| FICTION / CLASSICS Author | Title - Many of the books listed in the other categories are also classics. | Subject |
| Alcott, Louisa May | Little Women, Jack and Jill, Eight Cousins, An Old-Fashioned Girl, etc. | Classic literature |
| Aldrich, Thomas Bailey | The Story of a Bad Boy - similar to Huck Finn, but written earlier. Used to be quite popular with boys. | Literature |
| Austen, Jane | Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, etc. | Classic literature |
| Barrie, J. M. | Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens - includes Peter Pan and similar stories. | Classic juvenile fiction |
| Baum, L. Frank | Wizard of Oz books - click here for series order | Classic juvenile fiction |
| Bronte, Charlotte | Jane Eyre | Classic literature |
| Burnett, Frances Hodgson | Little Princess, Secret Garden, Little Lord Fauntleroy, The Lost Prince, etc. | Classic literature |
| Dickens, Charles | A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, etc. | Classic literature |
| Doyle, Arthur Conan | Numerous Sherlock Holmes, Hound of the Baskervilles, The Lost World, etc. | Classic literature |
| Fisher, Dorothy Canfield | Understood Betsy | Classic juvenile fiction |
| Grahame, Kenneth | The Wind in the Willows | Classic children's fiction |
| Gruelle, John B. | Raggedy Ann Stories, Raggedy Andy Stories, etc. | Classic juvenile fiction |
| Homer | The Iliad (Pope's translation) Or in blank verse (Cowper's translation) Or the child's version in HTML. | Classic literature (epic poetry) |
| Homer | The Odyssey (Pope's translation) Or in blank verse (Cowper's translation in HTML) Or the child's version in HTML. | Classic literature (epic poetry) |
| Irving, Washington | The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon - 34 stories, including Rip Van Winkle, the stories from Old Christmas, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (which some parents may choose to skip, because it's kind of scary.) | Classic short stories |
| Kipling, Rudyard | Kim, Puck of Pook's Hill, Jungle Book, etc. | Classic literature |
| Lamb, Charles and Mary | Tales from Shakespeare - adapted for children | Classics for children |
| MacDonald, George | The Light Princess, Sir Gibbie, Robert Falconer, etc. Some of his books are novels set in the Scottish countryside, and others are fantasy. | Classic literature |
| Mee, Arthur and John Hammerton | The World's Greatest Books - similar to the condensed literature in the "Book of Knowledge". (Read more about it, and find other Mee books.) | Classic literature (abridged) |
| Melville, Herman | Moby Dick, Bartleby, Typee, etc. | Classic literature |
| Montgomery, L. M. | The Anne of Green Gables Series, The Story Girl, The Golden Road, short story collections, etc. See chronological order. | Classic literature |
| Orczy, Baroness Emmuska | The Scarlet Pimpernel and some of the sequels. See the series order here. | Classic literature |
| Porter, Eleanor H. | Pollyanna, Pollyanna Grows Up, Just David, etc. | Classic literature |
| Potter, Beatrix | Collections of her animal stories, as well as individual tales. Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, etc. | Classic animal stories for young readers |
| Pyle, Howard | Robin Hood, Men of Iron, Otto of the Silver Hand, etc. A number of his books deal with medieval folklore, while some are historical. | Classic literature |
| Sewell, Anna | Black Beauty - Or try the Young Folks' Edition | Juvenile literature |
| Shakespeare, William | His complete works. | Classic literature |
| Stevenson, R. L. | Kidnapped, Treasure Island, The Black Arrow, etc. | Classic literature |
| Stratton-Porter, Gene | Freckles, Girl of the Limberlost, Laddie, etc. The author was a naturalist without being like today's environmentalists. She just loved nature. (Most of her books are about people, but a few are about animals.) | Classic literature |
| Twain, Mark | Tom Sawyer, Connecticut Yankee, Innocents Abroad, The Gilded Age, etc. Humor, historical fiction, travel essays, memoirs and short stories. | Classic literature |
| Various | Books from the "Every Child Should Know" library (edited by different people), including: Famous Stories, Legends, Folk Tales, Heroes, Heroines, Fairy Tales, Myths, Tales of Wonder, Poems, Pictures, Birds, Songs, Operas, etc. To find these, search Gutenberg using the phrase "every child should know". Find more at IA, and more at Google Books, and at least one more at Baldwin. | Collections for children. |
| Various | Great Sea Stories - excerpts from 15 novels by Melville, Marryat, Hugo, Cooper and more. | Sea Stories |
| Verne, Jules | Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Voyage in a Balloon, etc. | Classic literature |
| Virgil | The Aeneid (Taylor's translation) Or in prose (Mackail's translation) Or the child's version in HTML. | Classic literature (epic poetry) |
| Wallace, Lew | Ben-Hur; A Tale of the Christ | Early Christianity / Classic literature |
| Wiggin, Kate Douglas | Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Bird's Christmas Carol, Mother Carey's Chickens, etc. | Classic literature |
| FOLKLORE, MYTHS, and FAIRY TALES Author | Title (Sorry for so many tales of Arthur. I didn't know which was best.) | Subject |
| Andersen, Hans Christian | Andersen's Fairy Tales | Fairy Tales |
| Bulfinch, Thomas | Bulfinch's Mythology: 1 - The Age of Chivalry 2 - The Age of Fable 3 - Legends of Charlemagne | Mythology of many countries |
| Cutler, U. Waldo | Stories of King Arthur and His Knights - 42 chapters. | Arthurian Legend retold |
| Gilbert, Henry | King Arthur's Knights: The Tales Re-told for Boys & Girls - 13 chapters | Arthurian Legend retold for children |
| Grimm, The Brothers | Grimm's Fairy Tales | Fairy Tales |
| Lang, Andrew | The Fairy Books - 12 volumes of classic fairy tales from around the world. Warning: These fairy tales are not the watered-down versions, and some are too scary for smaller children. (Learn more about the books.) | Classic fairy tales |
| Mathews, Cornelius | The Indian Fairy Book | Native American legends |
| Radford, Maude L. | King Arthur and His Knights - of all the Arthurian stories listed here, this one seems to be for the youngest readers. (See Cutler , Gilbert, and Tennyson in this section) | Arthurian legend for younger readers |
| Stockton, Frank | The Lady or the Tiger, The Bee Man of Orn, Ting-a-ling, etc. Fairy tales with a moral, written in the 1800s. | Victorian Era Fairy Tales |
| Tennyson, Alfred Lord | Idylls of the King | Arthurian legend in Poetry |
| GEOGRAPHY / SOCIAL STUDIES Author | Title | Subject |
| If you have a particular place in mind you'd like to study, just use the search engine at Project Gutenberg. Or try Explorion for free geography / travel texts. | ||
| Amundsen, Roald | The South Pole | 1st expedition to reach the South Pole |
| Andrews, Jane | The Seven Little Sisters Who Live on the Round Ball That Floats in the Air | World geography for young readers |
| Bird, Isabella | Among the Tibetans, The Hawaiian Archipelago, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, etc. Some parents may not like her example of independence. | Her travels in Japan, Tibet, Malay Peninsula, Hawaii, Rocky Mountains, parts of U.S. |
| Brooks, Noah | First Across the Continent | Lewis and Clark |
| Cooke, Captain James | Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World, A Voyage Towards the South Pole and Round the World | Circumnavigating the globe |
| De Windt, Harry | From Paris to New York by Land | Adventurous travels through Siberia, Canada, and U.S. |
| Eastman, Charles | Indian Boyhood, Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains, Old Indian Days. Autobiographical and biographical works, as well as historical fiction, about Native American life. | Native American life |
| Fairbanks, Harold W. | The Western United States A Geographical Reader - Covers geography, geology, and history of the area. | Geography of Western U.S. |
| Headland, Isaac Taylor | Court Life in China - The author was able to write this interesting book after living in the court. | Life in the old Chinese Court |
| Hudson, Stuck | Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled | Travels in Alaska |
| Jacobs, Joseph | Story of Geographical Discovery | General history of explorers and discovery, in one volume. |
| Kerr, Robert | A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels (18 volumes) | A complete history of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from ancient to modern times. |
| Lewis, Meriwether / Clark, William | The Journals of Lewis and Clark, etc. | Accounts of their travels. |
| MacDonald, Elizabeth Roberts | Our Little Canadian Cousin - HTML | Canadian life |
| Nixon-Roulet, Mary | Kalitan, Our Little Alaskan Cousin | Alaskan life |
| Park, Mungo | Travels in the Interior of Africa, Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa, etc. | Exploration of Central Africa |
| Peary, Robert E. | The North Pole | 1st expedition of reach the North Pole |
| Perkins, Lucy Fitch | The Twins Books - Each story is about a set of twins (usually a boy and a girl) from another country. Some have pictures, some don't. There are more pictures available here, and some more here. Note - You may want to avoid "The Spartan Twins". It focuses on their pagan beliefs. | Life of children in other lands |
| Pike, Henry L. M. | Our Little Korean Cousin | Korean life |
| Polo, Marco | The Travels of Marco Polo Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 | Worldwide travels |
| Shaw, Edward R. | Discoverers and Explorers | History of exploration and discovery |
| Synge, M. B. | A Book of Discovery | Explorers and their journeys |
| Various | "Our Little Cousin" books in HTML. (Scroll down to the "O" titles.) Titles like "Our Little Russian Cousin". The following are available: African, Arabian, Belgian, Dutch, Egyptian, English, French, Indian, Mexican, Russian, Scotch, Servian | Life of children in other lands |
| Wade, Mary Hazelton | Bertha (Our Little German Cousin) | German life |
| Yonge, Charlotte M. | Little Lucy's Wonderful Globe | Fiction about children in many lands |
| HISTORICAL FICTION Author | Title - There are many more suitable books to choose from by most of the authors listed in this section. (In many cases, the author only wrote historical fiction.) Also see the Historical Fiction page for more. | Subject |
| Adams, Andy | The Log of a Cowboy, Cattle Brands, etc. | American West; Cowboy stories |
| Altsheler, Joseph | The Forest of Swords, The Guns of Shiloh, The Scouts of Stonewall, etc. He wrote specifically for young people. Click here for series order. | Historical series |
| Azuela, Mariano | The Underdogs, a Story of the Mexican Revolution | Mexican Revolution |
| Ballantyne, R. M. | The Coral Island, The Lighthouse, The Young Fur Traders, etc. This boys' author was very religious, and his books reflect that. His books focus more on geography than Henty's. | Historical adventures. |
| *Barr, Amelia | Remember the Alamo, The Bow of Orange Ribbon, The Hallam Succession, etc. Her novels were well researched, and full of wholesome characters. | Historical Fiction |
| *Buchan, John | Thirty-Nine Steps and the sequel Greenmantle, The Path of the King, Mr. Standfast, etc. | WWI, and the time leading up to it. |
| *Chambers, Robert W. | Ailsa Paige (This author has the same name, but is not the evolutionist.) | NY during firing on Fort Sumter |
| *Chambers, Robert W. | The Maid-at-Arms (This author has the same name, but is not the evolutionist.) | American Revolution |
| *Churchill, Winston | Richard Carvel, The Crossing, The Celebrity, etc. This is referring to the American novelist, not the politician. (Though his are fine, too.) | Historical Fiction |
| Connor, Ralph | The Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail, The Prospector, The Sky Pilot, etc. His stories are said to be very moral as well as historical. | Canadian frontier |
| *Cooper, James Fenimore | The Last of the Mohicans, The Pilot, The Spy, etc. Read a short description of each book. | Historical Fiction |
| Cox, Stephen Angus | The Dare Boys of 1776 - sort of like a historical Rover Boys. (Similar reading level.) | American Revolution |
| Curtis, Alice Turner | The Little Maid of Old Maine, Yankee Girl at Fort Sumter, A Little Maid of Old Philadelphia, etc. | American History |
| Douglas, Amanda M. | A Little Girl in Old Salem, A Little Girl in New York, A Little Girl in Philadelphia, etc. She wrote historical fiction for girls. | History (North America) |
| *Doyle, Arthur Conan | The Exploits of Brigadier Gerard and The Adventures of Gerard | Napoleonic Wars |
| *Doyle, Arthur Conan | Sir Nigel (prequel to "White Company") | Hundred Years War |
| Drinkwater, John | Abraham Lincoln (a novel) | Abraham Lincoln |
| Drinkwater, John | Oliver Cromwell (a novel) | Oliver Cromwell |
| *Dumas, Alexandre (pere) | The Three Musketeers, Le Chevalier de Maison-Rouge, etc. Most of his works of fiction were historical. You could probably choose any. | Historical (Mostly French) |
| *Ebers, Georg | Homo Sum, Cleopatra, In the Blue Pike, etc. Ebers was an Egyptologist who also wrote historical fiction. At first his novels were only about Egypt, but later he also covered other historical subjects. | Historical Fiction |
| *Ellis, Edward S. | The Huge Hunter, Brave Tom, The Daughter of the Chieftain, etc. Mostly historical fiction, but also some historical non-fiction. Great books for youth. | History, mostly American |
| Fox, John Jr. | The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come | American Civil War |
| *Frederic, Harold | In the Valley | American Revolution |
| *Johnston, Mary | 1492, Lewis Rand, Sir Mortimer, etc. Her books are supposed to contain a bit of romance, so girls may particularly like them. | Historical Fiction |
| King, Charles | A Daughter of the Sioux, Sunset Pass, Warrior Gap, etc. This Civil War General put his war and frontier experiences into his novels. These books may appeal to girls as well as boys, because they are said to contain a bit of romance. | Historical Fiction, mainly American |
| *Lang, Andrew | Pickle the Spy, or, The Incognito of Prince Charles | Charles E. Stuart |
| *Muhlbach, Louise | The Daughter of an Empress, Marie Antoinette and Her Son, Prince Eugene and His Times, etc. | Historical Fiction |
| Otis, James | Richard of Jamestown, The Minute Boys of Mohawk Valley, Neal the Miller, etc. | American History |
| *Parker, Gilbert | When Valmond came to Pontiac, Donovan Pasha and Some People of Egypt, Pierre and His People, etc. | Historical Fiction (mostly Canadian, but some others as well) |
| Parrish, Randall | Molly McDonald: A Tale of the Old Frontier, When Wilderness Was King: A Tale of the Illinois Country, Wolves of the Sea, etc. | Historical Fiction |
| Sabatini, Rafael | Scaramouche, The Lion's Skin, The Snare, etc. These historical novels are often referred to as "swashbuckling" adventures. | Historical Fiction |
| *Stowe, Harriet Beecher | Uncle Tom's Cabin - Or try the Young Folks' Edition Or there's also The Juvenile Uncle Tom's Cabin (at Google Books), which is more difficult than the other kid's one. | Slavery in America |
| Watson, Henry C. | The Old Bell of Independence, or Philadelphia in 1776 | American independence |
| Watson, Henry C. | The Yankee Tea-party, or Boston in 1773 | Boston Tea Party |
| Watson, Virginia | The Princess Pocahontas | Early American History (Jamestown) |
| Webb, Mrs. J. B. | The Pilgrims of New England | Pilgrims in America |
| *Yonge, Charlotte | The Dove in the Eagles Nest, The Lances of Lynwood, Unknown to History, etc. Choose any of her books. See a list and summary of all her works, and links to all known e-texts (besides just at PG) at Charlotte Mary Yonge Fellowship. | Historical Fiction - girls may particularly like her work. Said to be the lady equivalent of Henty. |
| HISTORY (non-fiction) Author | Title - Be sure to see the Biographical Section above, for more great books about history. | Subject |
| Baldwin, James | Fifty Famous People, Fifty Famous Stories Retold (and Thirty More...), Four Great Americans, Old Greek Stories, etc. Find more at Baldwin Project in HTML. | History for Children (worldwide) |
| Bailey, W. F. | The Story of the First Trans-Continental Railroad | First trans-continental railroad |
| Bradford, William | Bradford's History of 'Plimoth Plantation' - written by the leader of the Plymouth Colony | Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony |
| Bradley, Glenn D. | The Story of the Pony Express | The Pony Express |
| Carpenter, John A. | The Star Spangled Banner | Francis Scott Key and the writing of the song. |
| Crane, A. O. | Tea Leaves - Being a Collection of Letters and Documents relating to the shipment of Tea to the American Colonies in the year 1773, by the East India Tea Company. (With an introduction, notes, and biographical notices of the Boston Tea Party). | Boston Tea Party |
| Davis, William Davis | A Day in Old Athens; a Picture of Athenian Life - illustrates what day-to-day life may have been like. Interesting details, clear down to the furniture. | Life in ancient Athens |
| Dickens, Charles | A Child's History of England | History of England for children |
| Earle, Alice Morse | Home Life in Colonial Days | Colonial Life in America |
| Eggleston, Edward | Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans | Historical Americans |
| Eggleston, George C. | Strange Stories from History for Young People - Strange meaning less familiar, or uncommon. | History for children (worldwide) |
| Ferris, W. A. | Life in the Rocky Mountains - HTML or PDF. Written by a fur trapper. Tells of life with Native Americans, trapping, clothing, food and cooking, tools and weapons, travel and geography, daily life, health, etc. | Life of a fur trapper |
| Gordy, Wilbur Fisk | Stories of Later American History - elementary school level. | American History |
| Hall, Mrs. Cecil (Mary) | A Lady's Life on a Farm in Manitoba - this books is a series of letters she wrote after leaving England, that tell about adjusting to her new life. | Pioneer life |
| Headland, Isaac Taylor | Court Life in China - The author was able to write this interesting book after living in the court. | Life in the old Chinese Court |
| Henry, Patrick | Give me Liberty or Give Me Death | Historic Speech |
| Higginson, Thomas W. | Army Life in a Black Regiment - written by a white commander. This is supposed to be one of the best Civil War narratives written from the Union point of view. | Civil War (Union) |
| Larcom, Lucy | A New England Girlhood | Childhood in Early America |
| Lord, John | Beacon Lights of History (14 volumes) - written from a religious perspective. | Ancient to modern times |
| Marshall, Logan | The World War: A History of The Nations and Empires Involved and a Study of the Events Culminating in The Great Conflict | World War I |
| Morris, Charles | Historical Tales - The Romance of Reality - Numerous volumes. There are more available in HTML at Baldwin Project. | Each volume is devoted to a different world region |
| Paine, Thomas | Common Sense | Pamphlet written during American Revolution |
| Pratt, Mara L. | American History Stories - Multiple volumes in HTML at Baldwin Project. Or visit my free files page to get them in Text Format. | American History for children |
| Roosevelt, Theodore and Henry Cabot Lodge | Hero Tales from American History | Tales of American heroes and historical events. |
| Stevens, William O. and Allan Westcott | A History of Sea Power - from ancient times through World War I. | Naval History - Worldwide |
| Stevenson, Burton Egbert | American Men of Action - Great history and biography book. The index lists around 300 famous people. Some are only briefly mentioned, while more attention is given to others. It's not divided into sections for each person, but reads more like a story. | History, character and lives of famous men. |
| Still, William | The Underground Railroad | The underground railroad |
| U. S. Army Corps of Engineers | The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki | WWII |
| U. S. Presidents | Various works of the Presidents. Some include their speeches, or writings. See the 2 listings below for speeches collected into one file. | Inaugural addresses, State of the Union, etc. |
| U. S. Presidents | State of the Union Addresses 1790-2001 | State of the Union Addresses |
| U. S. Presidents | U. S. Presidential Inaugural Addresses - This file appears to be updated every four years, so it's always up-to-date. | Inaugural addresses |
| Various | Chronicles of America - Fifty volume history series. This list was big enough I had to put it on another page. These are more along the lines of text-books. | American History |
| Work Projects Administration | Slave Narratives: a Folk History of Slavery in the United States | From interviews with former slaves |
| Yonge, Charlotte | Young Folks' History of England | History of England |
| HOLIDAYS Author | Title | Subject |
| Alcott, Louisa May | An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving | Thanksgiving - short story |
| Andersen, Hans Christian | A Christmas Greeting | Christmas - short stories |
| Brown, Abbie Farwell | The Christmas Angel | Christmas - short story |
| Crawford, F. Marion | The Little City of Hope | Christmas - short story |
| Dalrymple, Leona | When the Yule Log Burns | Christmas - short story |
| Dickens, Charles | A Christmas Carol, "Some Christmas Stories", The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, Seven Poor Travellers, Going Into Society, The Holly-Tree, Wreck of the Golden Mary, Perils of Certain English Prisoners, A Message from the Sea, Tom Tiddler's Ground, Somebody's Luggage | Christmas - short stories |
| Dickinson, Asa Don and Ada M. Skinner | The Children's Book of Christmas Stories | Christmas - short stories |
| Gale, Zona | Christmas: a story | Christmas story |
| Hanson, Glenn | The Frontier Holiday: being a collection of writings by Minnesota pioneers who recorded their divers ways of observing Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year's - in HTML | Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year - short stories |
| Henry, O. | The Gift of the Magi | Christmas - short story |
| Howells, W. D. | Christmas Every Day and Other Stories; told for children | Silly, short Christmas stories |
| Irving, Washington | Old Christmas | Christmas - short stories |
| Moore, Clement C. | The Night Before Christmas - there are two versions available here, in text or HTML with pics. | Christmas poem |
| Olcott, Frances Jenkins | Good Stories for Great Holidays - This book covers just about every holiday, and was written for children. | Year-round holiday stories |
| Pringle, Mary Poague and Clara A. Urann | Yule-Tide in Many Lands | History and description of Christmas celebrations around the world |
| Stowe, Harriet Beecher | Betty's Bright Idea; Deacon Pitkin's Farm; and The First Christmas of New England - The second story is the Thanksgiving one. The other two are for Christmas, the last being the story of the Pilgrim's first Christmas in America. | Thanksgiving and Christmas - short stories |
| Van Dyke, Henry | The First Christmas Tree, The Lost Word (Christmas Stories), The Spirit of Christmas, The Sad Shepherd, The Story of the Other Wise Man | Christmas - short stories |
| Various | Christmas Sunshine | Christmas poems |
| Various | Our Holidays (from the St. Nicholas Magazine) | History of various holidays |
| Various | Project Gutenberg's "Christmas Bookshelf" | Christmas stories |
| Wiggin, Kate Douglas | The Birds' Christmas Carol - about people named Bird, not actual birds. | Christmas - short story |
| Wiggin, Kate Douglas | The Romance of a Christmas Card | Christmas - short story |
| MANNERS Author | Title | Subject |
| Burgess, Gelett | The Goop Directory | Humorous book of manners - poetry. |
| Burgess, Gelett | Goops and How to Be Them - at Google Books. Or visit my free files page to get it in Text Format. | Humorous book of manners - poetry. |
| Burgess, Gelett | More Goops and How Not to Be Them | Humorous book of manners - poetry. |
| Washington, George | George Washington's Rules of Civility | Manners |
| MISCELLANEOUS Author | Title | Subject |
| Lyng, Mary Ella | History Plays for the Grammar Grades | Plays about history |
| McBrien, Jasper L. | America First - Collection of patriotic readings (from speeches, addresses, etc.), poems, and even a short play. | Oral reading - Patriotic |
| Stevenson, Augusta | Children's Classics in Dramatic Form - can be used for oral readings, or small plays. Great for home because most of them don't have very many characters. | Oral reading or Short plays |
| Various | Familiar Quotations (Bartlett's Quotations) | Quotations |
| Various | Graded Memory Selections | Pieces for recitation |
| Various | Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations - short selections which may be appropriate for copywork | Quotations from poetry |
| Various | Many Thoughts of Many Minds - A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age | Quotations from Literature |
| Various | Standard Selections - contains poetry as well as selections from novels, speeches, etc. | Pieces for recitation |
| MUSIC Author | Title - This section is small, because many of the bios of musicians are not very wholesome. Those listed here were written with young readers in mind. | Subject |
| Brower, Harriette | The World's Great Men of Music - for young people. | 25 biographies |
| Rowbotham, Francis J. | Story-Lives of Great Musicians - for young-ish readers. | Bios of 7 composers, in story form |
| ONE-SYLLABLE BOOKS Author | Title | Subject |
| Bakewell, Esther | The Book of One Syllable - collection of short stories | Told in one-syllable words |
| Godolphin, Mary | The Pilgrim's Progress in Words of One Syllable | Rewritten in one-syllable words |
| Godolphin, Mary | Robinson Crusoe in Words of One Syllable | Rewritten in one-syllable words |
| Godolphin, Mary | Swiss Family Robinson in Words of One Syllable | Rewritten in one-syllable words |
| Gorham, J. C. | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Retold in Words of One Syllable | Rewritten in one-syllable words |
| Putnam, Harriet | The Life of Abraham Lincoln for Young People: Told in Words of One Syllable - Uncorrected OCR text or PDF of scanned book at GB. | Told in one-syllable words |
| Remy, Jean S. | Lives of the Presidents Told in Words of One Syllable | Told in one-syllable words |
| POETRY Author | Title | Subject |
| I've mostly listed anthologies, for the sake of being well-rounded, and because they were often for students, therefore less likely to contain inappropriate material. For more poetry, search Gutenberg for your favorite author, or use the advanced search, and type "poetry" into the "subject" field. Also, select "English" in language. | ||
| Field, Eugene | Love-Songs of Childhood - The Duel, The Ride to Bumpville, Picnic-Time, etc. | Poetry, childhood |
| Frost, Robert | North of Boston - Mending Wall, After Apple-Picking, The Wood Pile, etc. | Poetry |
| Paterson, A. B. "Banjo" | The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses - The Man from Snowy River, Clancy of the Overflow, A Bunch of Roses, A Bushman's Song, etc. | Poetry, Australian frontier life. |
| Stevenson, R. L. | A Child's Garden of Verses | Poetry |
| Unknown | The Real Mother Goose | The classic rhymes |
| Various | The Best Nonsense Verses - includes poems by Lewis Carroll, Edward Lear, Gelett Burgess, etc. | Poetry, humorous |
| Various | The Book of Humorous Verse - The Chemist to His Love, The Ballad of Bouillabaisse, Lay of the Deserted Influenzaed, etc. | Poetry, humorous |
| Various | Handy Dictionary of Poetical Quotations - short selections which may be appropriate for copywork | Quotations from poetry |
| Various | It Can Be Done; Poems of Inspiration - The Gifts of God, Gladness, The Daffodils, etc. | Poetry, motivational |
| Various | Poems Every Child Should Know - Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, Charge of the Light Brigade, Lochinvar, etc. (Arranged by difficulty.) | Poetry |
| Various | Poems of American Patriotism - Paul Revere's Ride, O Captain! My Captain!, The Unknown Soldier, etc. | Poetry, Patriotic |
| Various | Poems Teachers Ask For - The Brook, The First Snowfall, Landing of the Pilgrims, etc. | Poetry |
| Various | Poems Teachers Ask For, Book Two - Annabel Lee, The Legend Beautiful, Our Presidents, etc. | Poetry |
| Various | The Posy Ring; A Book of Verse for Children - O Lady Moon, Violets, The Fairy Folk, etc. | Poetry |
| Various | Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp - The Legend of Boastful Bill, A Cowboy's Love Song, The Gila Monster Route, etc. | Cowboy Verses |
| Wheatley, Phillis | Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral - On Virtue, On Being Brought from Africa, On Imagination, An Hymn to Humanity, etc. | Poetry, moral |
| SCIENCE Author | Title | Subject |
| Bachman, Frank | Great Inventors and Their Inventions - HTML | Steam power, planes, machines, communications, etc. |
| Bailey, Arthur Scott | The Animal Tale books such as The tale of: Betsy Butterfly, Old Mr. Crow, Nimble Deer, Timothy Turtle, and many more. These books teach about wildlife in a fun story format for children. (Some prefer these over the Burgess books.) They also teach great vocabulary. | Wildlife |
| Ball, Robert S. | Great Astronomers | Bios and discoveries |
| Bassett, Sara Ware | The Story of Glass, The Story of Sugar, The Story of Wool, Ted and the Telephone, etc. | Fiction that teaches about science. |
| Brewster, Sir David | The Martyrs of Science, or, The lives of Galileo, Tycho Brahe, and Kepler | Lives and accomplishments of Galileo, Brahe, and Kepler |
| Burgess, Thornton | Burgess Bird Book for Children, Burgess Animal Book for Children, Bowser the Hound, etc. These books teach a great deal while still being in an entertaining story format for children. (Similar to the fun Arthur Scott Bailey stories.) | Wildlife |
| Buckley, Arabella B. | The Fairy-Land of Science | Science for children |
| Burroughs, John | Squirrels and Other Fur-Bearers, Birds and Bees, Wake-Robin, etc. | Nature and Wildlife |
| Casson, Herbert Newton | The History of the Telephone | Bell and the telephone |
| Chambers, Robert and William | Chambers's Elementary Science Readers | Early Science / Early Reader |
| Doubleday, Russell | Stories of Inventors - the enthusiastic author called these "stories of adventure in invention" and hoped the reader would feel the thrill of inventing. | Steamboats, trains, cars, dirigible balloons, radios, moving pictures, bridges, submarines, telephones, adding machines, ice-makers |
| Dyer, Frank Lewis | Edison, His Life And Inventions | Edison's inventions |
| Fabre, Jean-Henri | Life of the Spider, Life of the Fly, Bramble-Bees, etc. | Nature (bugs) |
| Fabre, Jean-Henri | The Story Book of Science, and the second book The Secret of Everyday Things - both in HTML. Or visit my free files page to get the first one in Text Format. | Many nature topics |
| Fairbanks, Harold W. | The Western United States A Geographical Reader Covers geology, geography, and history of the area. | Geology in Western U.S. |
| Forbes, George | History of Astronomy | History of astronomy |
| Gibson, Charles R. | War Inventions and How They Were Invented - HTML | Shells, submarines, guns, etc. |
| Kingsley, Charles | Madam How and Lady Why | Early geology |
| Leathley, Mary Elizabeth S. D. | Mamma's Stories about Birds | Birds |
| Lewis, Meriwether / Clark, William | Journals | Their observations of nature. |
| Matthew, William Diller | Dinosaurs | Dinosaurs |
| Munro, John | Heroes of the Telegraph | History of the telegraph |
| Munro, John | The Story of Electricity | Electricity (and its part in history) |
| Paley, William | Natural Theology - scanned book at GB. | Uses evidence from the natural world as proof that God exists. |
| Runciman, Walter C. | Gas and Oil Engines, Simply Explained | Internal combustion engines |
| Seton, Ernest Thompson | Wild Animals I Have Known, Woodland Tales, Johnny Bear, etc. | Nature and animal stories taken from his experiences. |
| Smiles, Samuel | Men of Invention and Industry, Lives of the Engineers, Industrial Biography, etc. | Biographies of "heroic engineers" |
| Towers, Walter Kellogg | Masters of Space: Morse, Thompson, Bell, Marconi, Carty | History of communication, going clear back to ancient times. |
| United States F. B. I. | The Science of Fingerprints; Classification and Uses | Fingerprints |
| United States Rubber Company | The Romance of Rubber | History of rubber, vulcanization. Includes study questions and review. |
| Unknown | The History of Insects - You may want to print the pictures from the HTML version. There is at least one picture per insect mentioned. (It's not a long book.) | Bugs |
| Vivian, Evelyn Charles | The History of Aeronautics | Aeronautics |
| Wood, Robert Williams | How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers - HTML with pictures. Or zip version. The silly rhymes in this book will probably help children remember the names of these birds and plants. Mostly a book for fun. | Flowers and Birds |
| SERIES BOOKS / DIME NOVELS Author | Title These are listed for boys or girls based on who they were written for, but can be enjoyed by either. | Subject |
| See the series books page for more books like this. To find more like this at Project Gutenberg, do a title search for the words boy, girl, or chums. | ||
| Aldridge, Janet | The Meadow-Brook Girls | Girls Outdoor Series |
| Alger, Horatio | "Rags to riches" stories for boys. The boys achieve success due mainly to hard work and determination. | Boys Dime Novels |
| Allen, Capt. Quincy | The Outdoor Chums - four boys have adventures and teach how to camp, hunt, fish, canoe, etc. | Boys Outdoor Series |
| Appleton, Victor | Moving Picture Boys, Tom Swift | Boys Series |
| Baker, Willard | The Boy Ranchers Each story is based on a historical or scientific fact. | Boys Ranch Series |
| Beach, Charles A. | Air Service Boys | Boys Military Series |
| Bonehill, Ralph | Young Hunters | Boys Hunter Series |
| Bower, Bertha M. | The Flying U Ranch, Her Prairie Knight, Jean of the Lazy A, etc. Western Fiction. See series order. | Set in the American West (written by a lady) |
| Brand, Max | Alcatraz, The Night Horseman, The Untamed, etc. Classic Westerns | Set in the American West |
| Brooks, Amy | Dorothy Dainty, Princess Polly, etc. For younger readers. These girls are supposed to be good examples to readers. | Girls Series |
| Bruce, Mary Grant | Bush Maid and Billabong books | Australian Series |
| Burnham, Margaret | The Girl Aviators | Girls Series |
| Carr, Annie Roe | Nan Sherwood books - about high school girls. | Girls Series |
| Castlemon, Harry | The Frank Nelson books (The Rocky Mountain Series) | Boys Series |
| Chapman, Allen | Bart Stirling, Frank Roscoe, etc. - These look similar to Alger books. | Boys Series |
| Coolidge, Susan | "What Katy Did" books - about a girl who learns to deal with the trial of a spinal injury. | Girls Series |
| Durham, Victor G. | The Submarine Boys | Boys Series |
| Emerson, Alice | Betty Gordon books, and Ruth Fielding books. - Betty Gordon, orphaned at age 12, begins a new life with her uncle at Bramble Farm. Orphaned Ruth Fielding goes to live with her uncle, a miserly miller. Both girls went on to travel and have many adventures. | Girls Series |
| Ferguson, Donald | The Chums of Scranton High | Boys Series |
| Fitzhugh, Percy | The Pee-Wee Harris, Roy Blakeley, and Tom Slade books. - His books have a Boy Scouting theme. See series order here. (Author listed as both Percy K. and Percy Keese at Gutenberg.) | Boys Series |
| Flower, Jessie G. | The Grace Harlowe books - They may not all be online yet, but originally there were 4 series. High school, College, Overseas (serving in the Red Cross), and Overland Riders (outdoor adventures). | Girls Series |
| Garis, Howard | Uncle Wiggily, some animal stories, and more. (He also wrote under the pseudonym of Laura Lee Hope.) | Different serial books, some great for younger children. |
| Goldfrap, John H. | The Boy Aviators | Boys Series |
| Hancock, H. Irving | Dave Darrin, Dick Prescott, High School Boys, Uncle Sam's Boys, Young Engineers, etc. | Boys Series |
| Hayes, Clair W. | The Boy Allies | Boys Military Series |
| Hope, Laura Lee | Bobbsey Twins, Bunny Brown (about children), Six Little Bunkers, Outdoor Girls, etc. | Different serial books, great for younger children. |
| Johnston, Annie Fellows | The Little Colonel - About a little girl, and Kentucky life, during Victorian times. Based on real events. Click here for series order (scroll down) and more titles, with illustrations. | Girls Series |
| Judson, Clara Ingram | The Mary Jane Books - about a good-natured little girl and her adventures. For younger readers. | Girls Series |
| Langworthy, John | Aeroplane Boys | Boys Series |
| Leslie, Lawrence J. | At Whispering Pine Lodge, In Camp on the Big Sunflower, With Trapper Jim in the North Woods, etc. Wholesome, outdoor stories for boys. | Boys Outdoor Series |
| May, Sophie | Dotty Dimple, Little Prudy, and Little Folks books, etc. For younger readers. | Girls Series |
| Optic, Oliver | Across India, Fighting for the Right, Poor and Proud (the fortunes of Katy Redburn). - Most of his books were written with boys in mind, but the last one I listed may be of interest to girls. | (Mainly) Boys Adventure |
| Penrose, Margaret | Dorothy Dale and Motor Girls Dorothy Dale lives in a small town with her father, a Civil War vet, who is running a weekly newspaper. | Girls Series |
| Rockwood, Roy | Dave Dashaway, Five Thousand Miles Underground, Lost on the Moon, etc. Boys adventure stories, and some early sci-fi type stories. | Boys Adventure and Sci-Fi |
| Smith, Mabell | The Ethel Morton books | Girls Series |
| Stratemeyer, Edward (aka Arthur Winfield) | Rover Boys, Dave Porter, Putnam Hall, Richard Dare, etc. | Boys Series |
| Various | Boy Scouts, by numerous authors. (Go to Project Gutenberg and look up the title "boy scouts".) | Boys Series |
| Various | The Camp Fire Girls, by numerous authors. Go to Project Gutenberg and look up the title "camp fire girls". You'll get more results if camp and fire are typed as two words. | Girls Series |
| Various | Radio Boys, by numerous authors. Go to Project Gutenberg and look up the title "radio boys". - not only tells the adventures the boys have using their radios, but also tells how to make and operate your own. | Boys Series |
| Webster, Frank | Comrades of the Saddle, Jack of the Pony Express, The Young Firemen of Lakeville, etc. - Similar to Alger's works, but newer. | Novels About Boys |
| Wells, Carolyn | Patty, Marjorie, and more - fun stories about the lives of these likeable girls. | Girls Series |
SITES WITH FREE BOOKS
There are 4 sites marked with *. Between these sites you can find just about any online book there is.
Athelstane E-texts - Free HTML format books. Most of these look great for kids. There are moral tales, historical fiction, naval stories, and adventures. Each author has a bio so you can find out what they wrote about before choosing a book. They are marked as being more suited for boys or girls.
Baldwin Project - Great place to find public domain texts for children (in HTML format). You could probably use any book on this site for homeschool. (Some are classic literature, many are educational.)
Bartleby.com - a wonderful HTML library, including fiction and non fiction, The Harvard Classics, and many useful reference materials.
Children's Books Online: The Rosetta Project - Beautiful children's books reproduced on the web. They say that "Creating a copy strictly for your own personal use is considered 'fair use'." So fire up that printer!
Explorion - Free e-texts about explorers and travel (many by the explorers themselves.)
* Google Book Search - scans of many public domain books, in PDF format. You can load 1 page at a time to preview (works fine with slow connections) or download the entire book. (They also have uncorrected OCR text, but text takes long to load, and seems less accurate than others I've seen.) For easier searching, try the advanced search. Click "Public Domain" to only see downloadable books. (Otherwise you may be able to view copyrighted books, but they aren't for downloading or printing.)
* Internet Archive - scans of many public domain books, in PDF format. Some are yellowed (how to fix that), but now more black and white are being offered. Enter what you are searching for, and select "Texts" from the drop down menu. For slower connections, save the PDF rather than trying to load it in your browser. (They also offer uncorrected OCR text. If you use that, be sure to copy and paste because using "save link target" causes errors in the text files. [But it works fine for saving PDFs.] )
Kellscraft - HTML books, a fair number of classics and children's books not found elsewhere.
* The Online Books Page - at the University of Pennsylvania. If you can't find something at PG, try here. Though it's not always up to date with what's available at PG (so look at both places), it does have links to books at other sites where you may not think to look.
* Project Gutenberg - More books than you could ever read. My favorite place for books.
University of Virginia - E-book library main page. Or here they are sorted by subject. Click on "web version" for text. Here is their Young Readers Section.