Dr. Akash Garg · K–12 Library

Storytime

Illustrated picture books and story classics for kindergarten through fifth grade. Every one is public domain, complete, and works with no internet at all — the pictures are inside the file. Nothing here needs an account and nothing costs anything.

58Stories
27Illustrated
913Pictures embedded
0Logins

Every title was screened before it was included. Children’s books written a century ago frequently contain racial slurs and racist caricature — Project Gutenberg’s picture-book shelf still lists Little Black Sambo. So the full text of every candidate was searched for those terms and anything that hit was left out. That is why this shelf has 58 titles rather than hundreds. The 32 books that were checked and rejected are listed at the foot of this page by name, with the reason, so you can see exactly what the filter did.

Grades K–1

Picture books · 27 stories

Big pictures, few words, and a button that reads the whole story aloud on its own. Made for a child who cannot read yet.

Grades 2–3

First chapter books · 18 stories

Short chapters and animal adventures, with read-aloud still one tap away.

Grades 4–5

Longer stories · 13 stories

Full-length classics for a reader who can now carry a story across days.

A Kidnapped Santa ClausL. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum1 section · about 20 minOpen → Glinda of OzL. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum7 sections · about 220 minOpen → Little Wizard Stories of OzL. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum2 sections · about 61 minOpen → Moni the Goat-BoyJohanna Spyri6 sections · about 53 minOpen → Mother Goose in ProseL. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum8 sections · about 256 minOpen → Racketty-Packetty House, as Told by Queen CrosspatchFrances Hodgson Burnett2 sections · about 50 minOpen → The Book of DragonsE. (Edith) Nesbit8 sections · about 234 minOpen → The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight FitsLewis Carroll1 section · about 28 minOpen → The Little Hunchback ZiaFrances Hodgson Burnett2 sections · about 36 minOpen → The Scarecrow of OzL. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum8 sections · about 254 minOpen → The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank (Lyman Frank) Baum24 sections · about 218 minOpen → Through the Looking-GlassLewis Carroll12 sections · about 164 minOpen → Toni, the Little WoodcarverJohanna Spyri2 sections · about 60 minOpen →

Checked and left out — 32 titles, with the reason for each

Aesop, in Rhyme: Old Friends in a New Dress, Aesop, 621? BCE-565? BCE — contains 'blackamoor'
American Fairy Tales, Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) — contains 'Chinaman'
Anne of Avonlea, Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) — contains 'Injun'; 'squaw'
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains 'blackamoor'
Black Beauty, Sewell, Anna — contains the term 'darkie' — here it is the horse’s own name rather than aimed at a person, but it would still land badly read aloud
Black Beauty, Young Folks' Edition, Sewell, Anna — contains the term 'darkie' — here it is the horse’s own name rather than aimed at a person, but it would still land badly read aloud
Five Children and It, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains 'redskin'; 'squaw'
Further Chronicles of Avonlea, Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) — contains 'half-breed'; 'squaw'
Heidi, Spyri, Johanna — contains 'Hottentot' used as an insult
Just so stories, Kipling, Rudyard — contains a racial slur
Kim, Kipling, Rudyard — contains 'Chinaman'; a racial slur
Mary Louise, Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) — contains a racial slur
Mary Louise in the Country, Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) — contains a racial slur; the term 'darkie'
New Treasure Seekers; Or, The Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains 'Chinaman'; a racial slur
Puck of Pook's Hill, Kipling, Rudyard — contains 'Chinaman'
Rainbow Valley, Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) — contains 'Hottentot' used as an insult; a racial slur
The Adventures of Reddy Fox, Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) — contains the term 'pickaninny'
The Adventures of Unc' Billy Possum, Burgess, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) — contains the term 'pickaninny'
The Curlytops at Uncle Frank's Ranch; Or, Little Folks on Ponyback, Garis, Howard Roger — contains 'Chinaman'; 'Injun'; 'squaw'
The Curlytops on Star Island; Or, Camping out with Grandpa, Garis, Howard Roger — contains 'Chinaman'
The Enchanted Castle, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains a racial slur
The Enchanted Island of Yew, Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) — contains 'Chinaman'; 'blackamoor'
The Golden Road, Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) — contains 'Injun'; 'squaw'
The Master Key, Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) — contains an ethnic slur
The Queen of the Pirate Isle, Harte, Bret — contains 'Chinaman'
The Railway Children, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains an ethnic slur
The Story Girl, Montgomery, L. M. (Lucy Maud) — contains 'Injun'
The Story of the Amulet, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains a racial slur
The Story of the Treasure Seekers, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains 'Injun'; a racial slur
The Woggle-Bug Book, Baum, L. Frank (Lyman Frank) — contains 'Chinaman'; a racial slur
The Wouldbegoods: Being the Further Adventures of the Treasure Seekers, Nesbit, E. (Edith) — contains a racial slur
Treasure Island, Stevenson, Robert Louis — contains the term 'negress' — a single word, late in the book