This is How to Get Free Books for Kids

These 12 sites are offering free books, e-books, and magazines for kids to have fun reading at home during the coronavirus quarantine.

While libraries are slowly reopening for curbside pickup, your family may not be ready to venture out to public places just yet. While we’re ordering a few books of our own from our local, independent bookstores, there are many nonprofits and educational apps that have put free reading material for kids online. Plus, there are online libraries that offer digital access to their entire literary collections. Keep your kids reading new books while they’re cooped up at home. After all, it may just be the perfect time to expand their minds—and their vocabularies.

Sora

Overdrive, the company which brought us Libby, has partnered with the Department of Education to offer a new way for kids in grades 3-12 to read hundreds of great books for free. Download the Sora app (or access via a web browser), then log in with your student DOE ID. Check out discoversora.com/nyc for more information and to get started. Need help finding your student DOE login? Click here. If you received an iPad from DOE, it will have the Sora app automatically installed by July 1!

Bookshare

More than 800,000 titles are available in audio, audio plus highlighted text, braille, large font, and other formats for people with dyslexia, blindness, cerebral palsy, and other reading barriers on Bookshare. The books can be accessed on any device, and it’s a free service for students who qualify (for others it’s less than $1 a month.)

Libby

Libby, an app by Overdrive, provides access to your local public library’s collection (including audio books). After entering a code from your library, you can borrow up to 5 books at a time, which you have two weeks to read (or renew). For kids there are even zoomable graphic novels, and picture books that come with read-along audio.

Brooklyn Public Library

Thanks to Overdrive, there are 20,000 books available through Brooklyn Public Library’s online library, including many popular kid’s books. Teens can also practice for their SATS or learn about social issues like climate change. All you need is a library card to log in—then download to your phone, tablet, or e-reader.

Oxford Owl

Oxford Owl is a British site from Oxford University Press that offers free books for kids ages 3-11. In addition to learning games and activities in other subjects, the library is excellent and filterable by age. Plus, there are articles for parents about how to help kids become better readers.

MagicBlox

This easily navigable site has a large collection of books for ages 3-13, including picture, chapter, and audio books in different languages. Plus, MagicBlox adds new books every week, and its helpful categories, including award-winners and trending now, may persuade your young reader to try new books.

International Children’s Digital Library

The International Children’s Digital Library is a nonprofit that has collected children’s literature from around the world. While you can’t download books and many are in other languages, this is a fascinating exploration for you and your kids to see first publications of classic books and original manuscripts from all over the world.

Open Library

As part of the nonprofit Internet Archive, Open Library is continually updating its collection of links to free books—including more than 20,000 titles for children, including just-released books and classics.

Goodreads

The site that has replaced actual bookshelves also offers free children’s books. Choose from Goodreads’ collection of books you can download free of charge, or find some children’s titles on the books tagged as “free online.”

TIME for Kids

While not actual books, TIME for Kids magazine and Your $, the financial literacy magazine for kids, are great reading options that are now available for free every week—along with previously published issues, educational resources, and activities.

Alice’s Library

Alice’s Kids, a national charity that provides targeted financial assistance to children in need, just started Alice’s Library, where any child in the U.S. can receive three specific books by sending an email to books@aliceskids.org. The library will order the books on Amazon and ship directly to the kid’s house, free of charge.

Rivet

The new app, Rivet, provides access to more than 3,500 free, digital books for kids across 14 categories and eight reading levels. After teaming up with well-known YouTube creators, Rivet created books based on popular video content. It also uses games and rewards, and provides kids AI support and feedback on every page, along with a personalized library.

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Athletic Association of Yorkville Youths

Serving the families and children of NYC for over 50 years with high-quality recreational activities that foster life-lessons which empower young people to succeed beyond sports. Our programs encourage positive attitudes and growth through teamwork and sportsmanship, attendance, fair play, respect, hard work, integrity and fun. Your child can participate in clinics and leagues in such sports as baseball, basketball, flag-football, lacrosse, soccer, hockey, wrestling, track, and tennis. We also offer weekly dodgeball tournaments, drama and musical theater workshops, and after school programs.

Speakitaly NYC

SPEAKITALY NYC offers stimulating and entertaining lessons for children 0 to 16 years through a wide combination of activities based on the communicative approach anchored in the Common European Framework of Reference: active learning (group work, role plays, etc.) and practice exercises aimed to improve listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Kids will start speaking and using Italian in a very natural way.&nbsp; Small classes capped at 6 students to make sure each one gets the needed attention and facilitate learners' progress.&nbsp; Our method is driven by a didactic method that is the result of constant updates, professional certifications and more than 10 years of experience in working with non-native speakers from different native languages and levels of knowledge. Our aim is to develop a range of Italian language skills while improving accuracy that will enable the students and participants to interact without stress or feeling rushed. We want to help those in the community really embrace not only the true culture in Italy but the Italian culture within New York City&hellip; Who doesn&rsquo;t love what Italy represents in the kitchen, in history &amp; in the arts? Speakitaly wants to support multilingual families who want to learn a new language or pass along their ancestor&rsquo;s heritage and culture. Raffaella, the founder said: "We see language awareness and intercultural sensitivity as the milestones for an inclusive society. Italian, like all other languages, is an enrichment and a growth in every way. Vi aspettiamo!"

Polaris Productions Theater Camp

Kids will learn, rehearse, and perform the wonderful Maurice Sendak and Carole King musical, Really Rosie. For 10 weekdays, campers will take part in physical and vocal warm-ups and learn choreography, staging, and vocal parts. They&rsquo;ll develop skills in acting, singing, character development, and more. This camp will ignite your child&rsquo;s imagination and passion for performing, build their self-esteem, and help them form lasting friendships. They&rsquo;ll have fun! At camp&rsquo;s end, the kids will perform Really Rosie for family members and friends. Kids of all levels of experience, ages 8 through 13, are welcome to join.

This is How to Get Free Books for Kids