10 Places Kids Can Listen to Free Audiobooks

Audiobooks are a wonderful way to expose all students to complicated storytelling, no matter their reading level. Listening to a story being read helps students engage in text, gain exposure to more words, and ultimately improve vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking skills. Not only that, they’re super fun! Here are 10 of our favorite places to get free audiobooks for kids, plus recommendations for a few of our favorite titles from each site.

1. Harper Kids

HarperKids (from Harper Collins Publishing) is an awesome resource to discover great audiobooks for kids. Not only that, you can find age-specific and topical book lists, reading tips, and more.

• The Cool Bean by Jory John and Pete Oswald
• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
• A Mouthful of Minnows by John Hare
• Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes by James and Kimberly Dean
• A Spoonful of Frogs by Casey Lyall

2. KidsRead2Kids

Founded by dyslexic and ADHD siblings to bring joy and confidence back to the struggling reader, KidsRead2Kids offers free audiovisual books read by kids for kids. These classic tales are filmed chapter by chapter for easy listening.

• Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
• Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
• The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
• The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

3. LibriVox

LibriVox has an extensive catalog of public domain audiobooks: 499 fiction and 47 nonfiction and counting. All for free for anyone to listen to on their computers, iPods, or other mobile device.

• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Aesop’s Fables
• Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• The Three Little Pigs by James Halliwell-Phillipps

4. Lit2Go

Lit2Go offers a free online collection of stories and poems in audiobook format. And as a bonus, many of the stories can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along. 

• Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
• Squinty, the Comical Pig by Richard Barnum
• Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

5. Loyal Books

Loyal Books, home to hundreds of free audiobooks for kids, is an easy-to-navigate online platform with books available in a variety of different formats and languages.

• The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
• Heidi by Johanna Spyri
• Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
• The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

6. PBS Kids Read-Alongs

Every week, celebrities and PBS Kids authors read aloud their favorite books on the PBS Kids’ Facebook page and YouTube channel.

• Tomorrow I’ll Be Brave by Jessica Hische, read by Bobby Bones
• Goodnight, Daniel Tiger by Angela C. Santomero, read by Kristen Bell
• Arthur’s Teacher Trouble by Marc Brown, read by the author
• There’s a Dragon in Your Book by Tom Fletcher , read by Michelle Obama
• Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann, read by the author

7. Sora

Sora offers the largest digital content catalog in the world to more than 53,000+ schools and districts. It includes digital books, spanning e-books, audiobooks, comic books, and magazines, depending on what options the district signs up for. Free to use once your school signs up. Ask your school’s administration or your child’s teacher for login information.

• Ramona Quimby
• Harry Potter
• Wonder

8. Story Seeds

The Story Seeds Podcast offers kids something a little different. Each episode pairs a kid and their imagination with their favorite author, who grows their ideas (“story seeds”) into an original, never-before-told story.

• Jason Reynolds, author of Ghost
• Carlos Hernandez, author of Sal and Gabi Break the Universe
• Katherine Applegate, author of The One and Only Ivan
• Aram Kim, author of No Kimchi for Me
• Chris Grabenstein, author of Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

9. Storyline Online

Storyline Online is an award-winning children’s literacy program that streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading beloved children’s books alongside colorful illustrations.

• A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon, read by Sean Astin
• Brave Irene by William Steig, read by Al Gore
• Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall, read by Sheryl Lee Ralph
• Arnie the Doughnut by Laurie Keller, read by Chris O’Dowd
• The Case of the Missing Carrot Cake by Robin Newman, read by Wanda Sykes

10. Storynory

Storynory offers free downloadable and streaming stories for children, including classics, myths, fairy tales, poems, and original stories.

• Robin Hood
• King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table
• The Ugly Duckling

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Plus, be sure to check out our lists of best reading websites and the best ways kids can read free e-books!

Also, Ways To Boost Literacy Using Audiobooks in the Classroom.