Every one of these books is free inside ChoreUnlock, and reading them earns screen time. See how →
The Family Library

118 real books. Free forever.

Complete classics, not excerpts, built into ChoreUnlock. Assign one as a mission: your child reads a chapter a night, proves it out loud, and earns their screen time.

For the little ones For growing readers For the big kids The Faith shelf

For the little ones

Read together at first; soon they read to you.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter · ages 4–7
Peter sneaks into Mr. McGregor's garden against his mother's warning and has to get out with his jacket and his life.
1 story · ≈5 min a night
The Velveteen Rabbit
Margery Williams · ages 5–8
A stuffed rabbit loved threadbare by his boy learns what it takes to become Real.
1 story · ≈25 min a night
Aesop's Fables
Aesop · ages 5–9
Short fables where foxes, lions and tortoises learn their lessons the hard way, one a night.
40 fables · ≈3 min a night
Winnie-the-Pooh
A. A. Milne · ages 5–9
Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore muddle through the Hundred Acre Wood, mostly in search of honey.
10 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Just So Stories
Rudyard Kipling · ages 6–10
How the camel got his hump, how the elephant got his trunk: Kipling's answers, one story at a time.
12 stories · ≈15 min a night
Grimms' Fairy Tales
The Brothers Grimm · ages 6–10
The original tellings of Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel and the rest.
30 tales · ≈10 min a night
Andersen's Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen · ages 6–10
The Ugly Duckling, The Snow Queen, Thumbelina: Andersen's fairy tales as he wrote them.
19 tales · ≈20 min a night

For growing readers

Chapter books they can carry on their own.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll · ages 8–11
Alice follows a hurried white rabbit down a hole into a world that makes its own kind of sense.
12 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
L. Frank Baum · ages 8–11
A cyclone carries Dorothy to Oz, where she sets off to find the Wizard with three unlikely friends.
23 chapters · ≈10 min a night
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie · ages 8–11
The boy who won't grow up flies the Darling children to Neverland, where Captain Hook is waiting.
17 chapters · ≈20 min a night
The Adventures of Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi · ages 8–11
A wooden puppet who wants to be a real boy keeps choosing trouble first.
36 chapters · ≈5 min a night
The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling · ages 8–12
Mowgli grows up among wolves, taught by a bear and a black panther, hunted by the tiger Shere Khan.
7 stories · ≈50 min a night
Heidi
Johanna Spyri · ages 8–12
An orphan girl wins over her gruff grandfather high in the Alps, then has to leave the mountain she loves.
23 chapters · ≈25 min a night
The Story of Doctor Dolittle
Hugh Lofting · ages 8–11
A kind doctor learns the language of animals and sails to Africa to cure a monkey epidemic.
21 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame · ages 8–12
Mole, Rat, Badger and the insufferable Mr. Toad mess about on the river and pay for Toad's motor-car habit.
12 chapters · ≈30 min a night
Black Beauty
Anna Sewell · ages 9–12
A horse tells his own life story, from a sunny meadow through hard masters and back again.
49 chapters · ≈10 min a night
Five Children and It
E. Nesbit · ages 8–12
Five siblings dig up a sand-fairy who grants one wish a day, and every wish goes sideways.
11 chapters · ≈30 min a night
The House at Pooh Corner
A. A. Milne · ages 8–11
Pooh, Piglet, and a bouncy new friend called Tigger wander the Hundred Acre Wood one last time.
10 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Box-Car Children
Gertrude Chandler Warner · ages 8–11
Four orphaned kids make a secret home out of an abandoned boxcar and look after each other.
17 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
Hugh Lofting · ages 8–11
The doctor who talks to animals sails to a floating island with a boy named Tommy as his helper.
15 chapters · ≈25 min a night
Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
Hugh Lofting · ages 8–11
Doctor Dolittle starts a mail service run entirely by birds, and the letters bring adventures.
35 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Marvelous Land of Oz
L. Frank Baum · ages 8–11
A boy named Tip and his pumpkin-headed friend escape a witch and uncover a royal secret in Oz.
20 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Ozma of Oz
L. Frank Baum · ages 8–11
Dorothy washes ashore in a strange land with a talking hen and helps Princess Ozma free a royal family.
21 chapters · ≈10 min a night
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
L. Frank Baum · ages 8–11
An earthquake drops Dorothy into a glass city underground, where she meets the Wizard again.
20 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Road to Oz
L. Frank Baum · ages 8–11
Dorothy follows an enchanted road with the Shaggy Man to reach Ozma's grand birthday party.
24 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Emerald City of Oz
L. Frank Baum · ages 8–11
Dorothy moves to Oz for good just as a gnome king digs a secret tunnel to invade it.
29 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Railway Children
E. Nesbit · ages 8–11
Three kids move to a cottage by the railway and wave to the train that might bring their father home.
14 chapters · ≈30 min a night
The Phoenix and the Carpet
E. Nesbit · ages 8–11
A magic carpet and a vain golden phoenix take four kids anywhere they wish, with messy results.
12 chapters · ≈35 min a night
The Story of the Amulet
E. Nesbit · ages 8–11
Half of a magic charm lets the children travel through time to hunt for its missing half.
14 chapters · ≈35 min a night
The Story of the Treasure Seekers
E. Nesbit · ages 8–11
The six Bastable children invent scheme after scheme to restore their family's lost fortune.
17 chapters · ≈20 min a night
The Enchanted Castle
E. Nesbit · ages 8–11
A ring that makes you invisible turns a sleepy castle into the strangest summer of four kids' lives.
12 chapters · ≈40 min a night
The Princess and the Goblin
George MacDonald · ages 8–11
A little princess and a brave miner boy foil the goblins tunneling beneath the mountain.
32 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Princess and Curdie
George MacDonald · ages 8–11
Curdie is sent on a secret mission to the king's city, where nothing is as honest as it looks.
35 chapters · ≈10 min a night
At the Back of the North Wind
George MacDonald · ages 8–11
A poor stable boy rides the night sky with the beautiful North Wind herself.
36 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Pollyanna
Eleanor H. Porter · ages 8–11
An orphan girl's 'glad game' slowly melts the crankiest hearts in her aunt's town.
32 chapters · ≈10 min a night
Pollyanna Grows Up
Eleanor H. Porter · ages 8–11
Older now, Pollyanna takes her glad game to Boston and finds it needs her more than ever.
32 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Kate Douglas Wiggin · ages 8–11
Talkative, imaginative Rebecca turns her stern aunts' quiet brick house upside down.
31 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Understood Betsy
Dorothy Canfield Fisher · ages 8–11
A timid city girl is sent to cousins on a farm and discovers she can do far more than she thought.
11 chapters · ≈30 min a night
Little Lord Fauntleroy
Frances Hodgson Burnett · ages 8–11
A kind Brooklyn boy learns he's heir to an English earl, and wins over his cold grandfather.
15 chapters · ≈25 min a night
Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates
Mary Mapes Dodge · ages 8–11
A poor Dutch boy and his sister chase the great skating race while hoping to heal their father.
33 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Five Little Peppers and How They Grew
Margaret Sidney · ages 8–11
Five cheerful kids and their mother make a poor little brown house the happiest place around.
25 chapters · ≈20 min a night
The Peterkin Papers
Lucretia P. Hale · ages 8–11
The silliest family in town can't solve the simplest problems, until the wise Lady from Philadelphia speaks.
22 stories · ≈15 min a night
A Wonder Book for Girls & Boys
Nathaniel Hawthorne · ages 8–11
Greek myths retold for kids: Perseus, King Midas, Pandora's box, and Hercules' golden apples.
12 stories · ≈25 min a night
Tanglewood Tales
Nathaniel Hawthorne · ages 8–11
More Greek myths retold: the Minotaur, the dragon's teeth, Circe's palace, and the golden fleece.
7 stories · ≈60 min a night
The Children of Odin
Padraic Colum · ages 8–11
Thor's hammer, Loki's tricks, and the doom of the gods: the great Norse myths told for kids.
26 stories · ≈15 min a night
The Golden Fleece
Padraic Colum · ages 8–11
Jason gathers the greatest heroes of Greece to sail after a ram's fleece of pure gold.
26 stories · ≈20 min a night
The Adventures of Odysseus and the Tale of Troy
Padraic Colum · ages 8–11
The Trojan horse and the ten-year voyage home, told simply enough for a first meeting with Homer.
36 chapters · ≈10 min a night
In the Days of Giants
Abbie Farwell Brown · ages 8–11
Norse tales of giants and gods, from Thor's stolen hammer to the death of beautiful Balder.
16 stories · ≈20 min a night
The Arabian Nights Entertainments
Andrew Lang · ages 8–11
Aladdin, Sinbad, and Ali Baba: the thousand-and-one-nights stories picked and retold for children.
23 tales · ≈30 min a night
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
James Baldwin · ages 8–11
King Alfred and the cakes, William Tell's apple, the sword of Damocles: short true-ish tales kids quote forever.
50 stories · ≈5 min a night
A Christmas Carol
Charles Dickens · ages 9–12
Three ghosts give the meanest man in London one night to change his whole life.
5 staves · ≈40 min a night
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
L. Frank Baum · ages 8–11
How a foundling raised by forest fairies grew up to become Santa Claus, as imagined by the author of Oz.
19 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The King of the Golden River
John Ruskin · ages 8–11
Two cruel brothers and one kind one seek a river that turns to gold, and only kindness survives the climb.
5 chapters · ≈10 min a night
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
J. M. Barrie · ages 8–11
Before Neverland, baby Peter Pan lived with the birds and fairies of a London park.
4 chapters · ≈25 min a night
Tales from Shakespeare
Charles and Mary Lamb · ages 9–12
Shakespeare's best plays retold as stories, the classic first doorway into the Bard.
21 tales · ≈30 min a night
The Magic Pudding
Norman Lindsay · ages 8–11
A koala, a sailor, and a penguin guard a grumpy walking pudding that refills no matter how much you eat.
4 slices · ≈25 min a night

For the big kids

Real adventures with real length to them.

The Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson Burnett · ages 10–13
Sour, lonely Mary finds a locked garden and brings it back to life, along with two unhappy children.
27 chapters · ≈20 min a night
A Little Princess
Frances Hodgson Burnett · ages 10–13
Sara Crewe loses everything at boarding school and holds on to her imagination until her luck turns.
18 chapters · ≈25 min a night
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson · ages 11–14
Jim Hawkins finds a treasure map and ships out with a crew that includes Long John Silver.
34 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain · ages 11–14
Tom talks his way out of chores, into caves, and through a murder trial in a Mississippi river town.
35 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Prince and the Pauper
Mark Twain · ages 11–14
A street boy and the Prince of Wales swap clothes and get stuck living each other's lives.
33 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Anne of Green Gables
L. M. Montgomery · ages 11–14
A talkative red-haired orphan arrives at Green Gables by mistake and makes the place hers.
38 chapters · ≈20 min a night
Little Women
Louisa May Alcott · ages 11–14
Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy grow up together through a year of being poor, proud and loyal.
47 chapters · ≈25 min a night
The Call of the Wild
Jack London · ages 11–14
Buck, a stolen family dog, learns to survive the Klondike and hears the wild calling him.
7 chapters · ≈30 min a night
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle · ages 11–14
Robin and his merry men rob the proud, feed the poor and outshoot everyone in Sherwood.
19 adventures · ≈35 min a night
The Swiss Family Robinson
Johann David Wyss · ages 11–14
A shipwrecked family builds a life on an island, treehouse included, with everything they need except rescue.
18 chapters · ≈45 min a night
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne · ages 11–14
Captain Nemo's submarine takes three captives on a tour of the ocean floor no one has survived to describe.
46 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Tower Treasure
Franklin W. Dixon · ages 10–13
The very first Hardy Boys mystery: a dying thief's confession points to treasure hidden in a tower.
24 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The House on the Cliff
Franklin W. Dixon · ages 10–13
Hardy Boys #2: a haunted-looking house above the bay hides smugglers, and their father goes missing.
25 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Secret of the Old Mill
Franklin W. Dixon · ages 10–13
Hardy Boys #3: counterfeit money traces back to a creaking old mill that isn't really grinding grain.
25 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Secret of the Old Clock
Carolyn Keene · ages 10–13
The very first Nancy Drew: a missing will, a hidden clock, and a girl detective smarter than everyone chasing it.
25 chapters · ≈10 min a night
White Fang
Jack London · ages 10–13
A wild wolf-dog of the frozen north slowly learns, against everything he knows, to trust one man.
25 chapters · ≈20 min a night
Lad: A Dog
Albert Payson Terhune · ages 10–13
True-hearted stories of a collie whose courage and loyalty made him famous across America.
12 chapters · ≈45 min a night
Beautiful Joe
Marshall Saunders · ages 10–13
A rescued dog tells his own life story, from a cruel start to a loving home.
37 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Smoky the Cowhorse
Will James · ages 10–13
A range horse's whole life, wild colt to cow pony, told by a real cowboy. Won the Newbery Medal.
14 chapters · ≈40 min a night
The Second Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling · ages 10–13
Mowgli returns: the red dogs invade, the jungle takes revenge, and the man-cub must finally choose his world.
8 stories · ≈50 min a night
Captains Courageous
Rudyard Kipling · ages 10–13
A spoiled rich boy falls off an ocean liner and gets rebuilt by months of honest work on a fishing boat.
10 chapters · ≈35 min a night
Kidnapped
Robert Louis Stevenson · ages 10–13
Cheated of his inheritance and sold to a ship, David Balfour fights his way home across the Highlands.
30 chapters · ≈20 min a night
The Black Arrow
Robert Louis Stevenson · ages 10–13
In the Wars of the Roses, a young outlaw joins a secret fellowship whose calling card is a black arrow.
32 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne · ages 10–13
An unflappable English gentleman bets his fortune he can circle the globe in eighty days.
37 chapters · ≈10 min a night
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Jules Verne · ages 10–13
A professor, his nephew, and a guide climb down a volcano into a world under the world.
44 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Mysterious Island
Jules Verne · ages 10–13
Five castaways build a civilization from nothing on an island that keeps quietly helping them.
62 chapters · ≈20 min a night
From the Earth to the Moon
Jules Verne · ages 10–13
A gun club decides to fire a capsule with three men inside at the Moon, a century before Apollo.
51 chapters · ≈10 min a night
The Story of King Arthur and His Knights
Howard Pyle · ages 10–13
Excalibur, the Round Table, and Merlin: the King Arthur legends in their grandest telling for kids.
26 chapters · ≈30 min a night
Men of Iron
Howard Pyle · ages 10–13
A knight's son trains from page to squire to champion to clear his father's name in trial by combat.
33 chapters · ≈15 min a night
Otto of the Silver Hand
Howard Pyle · ages 10–13
A gentle boy raised by monks is caught in the feuds of robber barons in medieval Germany.
14 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
Arthur Conan Doyle · ages 11–13
Twelve cases for the world's greatest detective, told by the loyal Dr. Watson.
12 cases · ≈55 min a night
The Hound of the Baskervilles
Arthur Conan Doyle · ages 11–13
A family curse, a foggy moor, and a demon hound that Sherlock Holmes doesn't believe in.
15 chapters · ≈25 min a night
Robinson Crusoe
Daniel Defoe · ages 10–13
Shipwrecked alone on an island for years, one man builds a life from salvage, grit, and faith.
20 chapters · ≈40 min a night
The Coral Island
R. M. Ballantyne · ages 10–13
Three boys shipwrecked on a Pacific island turn paradise into the adventure of their lives.
35 chapters · ≈20 min a night
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Baroness Orczy · ages 11–13
A foppish English lord is secretly the daring master of disguise rescuing prisoners from the guillotine.
31 chapters · ≈20 min a night
The Prisoner of Zenda
Anthony Hope · ages 11–13
An English traveler who looks exactly like a kidnapped king must impersonate him to save a throne.
22 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Lost World
Arthur Conan Doyle · ages 10–13
An expedition climbs a South American plateau where dinosaurs never died out.
16 chapters · ≈30 min a night
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain · ages 11–13
A modern engineer wakes up in Camelot and decides to out-wizard Merlin with science.
44 chapters · ≈15 min a night
The Story of My Life
Helen Keller · ages 10–13
Deaf and blind from infancy, Helen Keller tells how one teacher unlocked the entire world for her.
23 chapters · ≈20 min a night
The Story of Mankind
Hendrik Willem van Loon · ages 10–13
All of human history in one friendly book, the first Newbery Medal winner ever.
63 chapters · ≈15 min a night

The Faith shelf

22 sacred texts, by tradition.

Choose your tradition in the app and the right texts appear, with the original language alongside where it belongs. One Psalm every Sunday is a mission your child can carry for life.

Orthodox

Septuagint Psalms, Genesis and Proverbs, with the Gospels in the original Greek

Christian

the King James Bible: Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs, the Gospels and Acts

Jewish

the Torah (JPS 1917), Bereshit through Devarim

Muslim

the Qur'an in the Pickthall translation

Hindu

the Bhagavad Gita

Families who want no faith shelf can simply turn it off. More about the Faith shelf →

Pick a book. Make it tonight's mission.

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