Kid's books, like everything these days, feel like they're getting more and more expensive. But since reading has so many amazing benefits for little ones, it's important to have plenty of children's books at home. Luckily, as both an avid reader and a huge cheapskate, I've got some tips on how to get free books for kids.
If you're looking for free physical books for children, programs like Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library will mail you kids’ books for free. Or, if you're tight on shelf space, there are plenty of ways to get free e-Books for all ages, including picture books and beginner books.
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1. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library gives every child one free book each month.
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Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a nonprofit that mails kids free picture books. More than 238 million books have been gifted so far.
Each child in your family under the age of 5 is eligible for one free book per month. The program doesn't operate everywhere so check the site for availability. If your neighborhood isn’t currently participating, you can still sign up for updates to learn when the program expands to your area.
2. The CDC offers three free books for young kids.
Through their Amazing Books for Children program, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers both physical books and PDF downloads of books for kids. There are three titles, and all are available in both English and Spanish.
The printed copies of these publications have limited availability each day. If you find that any of the items that you want are currently out of stock, you can try checking again the next day when more copies may become available.
3. Get free comics during Free Comic Book Day on the first Saturday in May.
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Make sure not to miss Free Comic Book Day. It’s a special day in May when select comic book shops across North America give away comic books for free. Next year's event is Saturday, May 3.
In the past, giveaways featured comic books about Captain Underpants, Spider-Man, Stranger Things characters, Archie, and Doctor Who. You’ll want to visit multiple shops to get at least one free comic book per store, though my local shop let me grab five. To find a participating shop in your area, use the Free Comic Book Day store locator.
Just note that while the event has plenty of titles for kids, there are also comic books meant for mature audiences. I recommend taking a peek at your little one's picks just to make sure they didn't grab an adult comic by accident.
4. Take a book (& give a book) at a Little Free Library.
If you haven't heard of Little Free Libraries, they're book-sharing boxes in neighborhoods and high-traffic areas. There's often a wide variety of available books, from picture books to classics to new releases.
Just make sure that if you take you book, you leave one in its place. It's all done on the honor system so you won't get in trouble if you don't leave a book. But it's nice to keep the library stocked so everyone can enjoy it.
Currently, there are over 150,000 locations. Find a Little Free Library near you (or apply to set one up yourself for free).
5. Kids who read eight books in summer get a free book from Barnes & Noble.
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Every year, the Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program rewards kids in grades 1 – 6 for reading during their summer break. Your kid has to read at least eight books, but you don't need to purchase the books. You can check them out from the library or read them online. From there, all they need to do is fill out the program's printable reading journal.
When you return the journal to your nearby Barnes & Noble store between July 1 and August 31, your child will be able to choose a free book. There's usually a list of eligible titles included in the reading journal.
6. Check out library eBooks and audiobooks from home with Libby and Hoopla.
It goes without saying — but I’ll say it anyway — your local library is one of the best places for kids to score free books. Better yet, you can access an even larger library by checking books out digitally.
Libby and Hoopla are two apps that allow you to sync your library card with a digital catalog of eBooks and audiobooks that you can check out from your local library for free! There are titles available for all age groups, from picture books to YA.
Once you check out the book, you can read it on your selected device, be it a Kindle, smartphone, or tablet with the Kindle app. If you check out an audiobook, you can listen to it directly through the Libby app.
7. Find free kids’ eBooks through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
If your child has an e-reader or internet access, there are thousands of free kids’ books available online. The digital copies can be downloaded to your device and are completely free.
If you’re an Amazon Prime member, Amazon offers hundreds of free Kindle books for kids. You’ll just download them directly to your Kindle or mobile device with the Kindle app and they can start reading. Kindle Unlimited also has quite a few kids books included in your monthly subscription.
Barnes & Noble also offers over 5,400 free digital books for kids. You can download them to your Nook reader or download the Nook app to your smartphone or tablet. These two retailers aren’t the only resource for free eBooks and digital titles.
Related: Get Thousands of Free e-Books on Stuff Your Kindle Day
Check these other resources for free eBooks and digital copies.
There are a lot of ways to find eBooks for young readers, either through libraries or by opting for public domain titles. Here are just a few to check out:
OpenLibrary: Affiliated with Internet Archive, they offer free online books for kids. With over 188,000 works, it caters to reading levels from preschool to 12th grade.
Project Gutenberg: This site provides 70,000+ free e-Books, including a vast collection of children’s books. Sort by popularity or newness to find desired reads.
International Children’s Digital Library: Get free access to thousands of titles. There's a rotating selection, but in the past we've seen everything from classics like Where the Wild Things Are to contemporary stories like Harry Potter.
BookBub: This service notifies you about free and deeply discounted e-Book recommendations based on your preferences. They also have a free e-Book section with a handful of titles for kids.
FreeKidsBooks.org: You can sort books by age or subject. Read books for free online or download your own PDF copy.
Storyline Online: It's a site with actors reading kids’ stories. It’s part of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, offering literacy programs. Famous readers like Kevin Costner and Oprah Winfrey participate.
Funbrain: You'll find free educational games, books, comics, and videos for kids in Pre-K to grade 8. Develops math, reading, problem-solving, and literacy skills.
Oxford Owl: From Oxford University Press, you can get free e-Books for kids. They're categorized by age group and cover fiction and non-fiction and are accessible on computers, tablets, or laptops.
Read.gov: The Library of Congress offers free online classic children’s books. Full-page scans capture the vintage charm, including original fonts and illustrations.
Storyberries: Find free fairy tales, bedtime stories, and poems for children sorted by your child’s age, the topic of the book, and how long it takes to read the story.
Free Children’s Stories: Author Daniel Errico offers his free works online for kids to encourage literacy for kids.
ManyBooks: Find classics, like Beauty and the Beast and Little Women, along with self-published titles available to download or read online.
BookSpring: It's a free digital online library of e-Books for kids. They can read titles about animals, plants, sports, and more.
The Digital Book Index: You can access thousands of free, downloadable eBooks for kids of all ages.
Wilbooks: This site offers free online books kids can read from their computer or laptop. A $1.99 per month subscription is available to access all 2,000 of their titles, but tons of titles are free.
StoryJumper: These books are created entirely by teachers and students. The full library can be read on a computer or laptop.
8. Lego lovers can get a free subscription to Lego Life Magazine.
For children ages 5 – 9, Lego offers a free subscription to Lego Life Magazine. This magazine features Lego activities, character comics, posters, building instructions, and even photos of kids’ Lego creations (you can submit your own photo to be featured!). The magazine is shipped completely free and you’ll get five issues per year.
9. Teens and kids can listen to audiobooks for free with LibriVox.
LibriVox is a global community of volunteers who record and share free audiobooks of public-domain texts. A public-domain work is anything published longer than 100 years ago, or when the copyright expires. You can download hundreds of audiobooks from their website and listen to them for free. Popular kid's titles include The Adventures of Pinocchio, Anne of Green Gables, and The Boxcar Children.
10. Book exchanges let you trade for new-to-you books.
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Online book exchanges are great places to find children’s books that are in great condition.
To get started, list the books you want to swap out, and then get access to books others are getting rid of. You’ll pay to ship your book to someone, but you’ll receive your book free of charge as the shipping fee was paid for by the sender.
Here are some of our favorites:
Tip: Book exchanges aren’t just online; check Craigslist and Google to find listings for book exchanges near you to avoid shipping charges.
11. Claim 12 free braille books each year for low-vision and blind children.
The American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults has a wonderful Braille Books Program that gives kids one free Braille book per month from a popular children’s series. They also have a huge library of downloadable braille books in Braille Ready Format (BRF files).
12. Become a book reviewer to get free kids’ books.
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In this digital age, authors — especially new and independent authors — rely on good reviews. And they’ll give you their books for free in exchange for an honest review. These sites have many different types of books (not just kids’), so be choosy.
Here are some sites that offer free physical or digital books when you sign up to review:
13. Jewish families can sign up for free materials from PJ Library.
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PJ Library is an organization that sends free hardcopy children’s books and music to Jewish families on a monthly basis. Depending on the community, children ages 6 months to 12 years of age can participate.
14. Children enrolled in K - 5 in Florida receive free books through New World’s Reading.
Young readers in Florida can receive a free book every month through the New World’s Reading program. Parents select the type of books their child likes to read, and the language (English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, or Braille), and then books are delivered each month at no cost. This is available for kids enrolled at a public or a district-sponsored charter school in kindergarten through fifth grade.
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