Free classic books · Read online
The library
Every book here, on shelves that climb. The first holds stories of a hundred and fifty words; the last holds Crime and Punishment. Start wherever you are and take the next shelf when it stops feeling hard. Everything is free to read online.
A1
First stories
Single stories, read in one sitting. Four shelves, all at this level and none sharing a text, so you can take a second one without repeating yourself. 36,000 words read at this level is the point where vocabulary measurably improves.
Very short Aesop fables
All short stories →About 150 words each: a two-minute read with a short quiz. The gentlest way in.
The Fox and the CrowA hungry fox flatters a crow to make her drop her cheese.150 words · 2 minRead →The Dog and His ReflectionA greedy dog wants two bones and ends up with none.140 words · 2 minRead →The Ass and His BurdensAn ass finds a clever way to make his load lighter, and his master finds a better one.200 words · 2 minRead →The Milkmaid and Her PailA girl dreams of riches and spills her milk.150 words · 2 minRead →The Fox and the StorkA fox plays a trick on a stork, and the stork answers with the same trick.160 words · 2 minRead →The Bundle of SticksA father teaches his quarreling sons that together they are strong.150 words · 2 minRead →
Thirty days of stories
The 30-day plan →The 30-day plan: fables and fairy tales that grow from 85 words to nearly 1,900, each with audio read-along and a quiz.
The Hare and the Tortoise
The Fox and the Grapes
The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The Ant and the Grasshopper
The Lion and the Mouse
The Crow and the Pitcher
The North Wind and the Sun
The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
The Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs
The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Henny Penny
The Gingerbread Man
The Three Bears (Goldilocks)
The Three Little Pigs
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
The Tale of Benjamin Bunny
The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher
Little Red Riding Hood
The Princess and the Pea
The Bremen Town Musicians
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
Hansel and Gretel (part 1)
Hansel and Gretel (part 2)
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Hare and the TortoiseA slow tortoise challenges a fast hare to a race. Everyone laughs. The lesson is simple and lives in every language.Day 1 · 250 wordsRead →The Fox and the GrapesA fox cannot reach the grapes. Sour grapes, said the fox. The shortest reading on this list.Day 2 · 150 wordsRead →The Boy Who Cried WolfA boy lies about a wolf for fun. The villagers stop believing him. Then a real wolf comes.Day 3 · 300 wordsRead →The Ant and the GrasshopperThe ant works all summer. The grasshopper sings. Then winter comes and only one of them eats.Day 4 · 200 wordsRead →The Lion and the MouseA tiny mouse promises to help a giant lion. The lion laughs. Later the mouse keeps the promise.Day 5 · 250 wordsRead →The Crow and the PitcherA thirsty crow finds a pitcher with water at the bottom. Smart problem solving in one paragraph.Day 6 · 200 wordsRead →
Easy English fairy tales
All fairy tales →Grimm, Andersen and Perrault retold in simple A2 English. You already know the stories, which makes the English easy to follow.
RapunzelBrothers GrimmA girl with very long hair is locked in a tall tower by a witch.360 words · 3 minRead →The Ugly DucklingHans Christian AndersenA big grey bird is teased by everyone, until he grows into something beautiful.340 words · 3 minRead →The Frog PrinceBrothers GrimmA princess makes a promise to a frog and learns to keep her word.340 words · 3 minRead →Sleeping BeautyBrothers GrimmA princess falls into a hundred-year sleep, and a prince comes to wake her.350 words · 3 minRead →ThumbelinaHans Christian AndersenA tiny girl, no bigger than a thumb, goes on a long journey to find home.350 words · 3 minRead →The Elves and the ShoemakerBrothers GrimmA poor shoemaker leaves cut leather on his table at night and finds finished shoes in the morning.743 words · 6 minRead →
English folk tales
All folk tales →Joseph Jacobs' 1890 collection in the original text, not retold. The shelf that carries you past the vocabulary milestone.
The Fish and the RingA baron reads in the Book of Fate that his son will marry a poor man's daughter, and spends fifteen years trying to prove fate wrong.1,190 words · 10 minRead →Kate CrackernutsA queen's spell turns her stepdaughter's head into a sheep's head, and it is her own daughter Kate who sets out to undo it.1,219 words · 10 minRead →The Three SilliesA gentleman finds his sweetheart's whole family weeping over a danger that has not happened yet, and goes travelling to see if anyone can be sillier.1,332 words · 11 minRead →Molly WhuppieThree lost sisters take shelter in a giant's house, and the youngest of them turns out to be far cleverer than he is.1,389 words · 12 minRead →The Three Heads of the WellTwo step-sisters take the same road and meet the same three golden heads, and get exactly what their manners deserve.1,397 words · 12 minRead →The History of Tom ThumbMerlin grants a ploughman's wife the son she longs for, no bigger than a thumb, and King Arthur's court has never seen anything like him.1,874 words · 16 minRead →
A1–A2
First short stories
Stories with an author behind them. 14 of them, every one by a different writer, so a reader who cannot get on with one voice meets a completely different one rather than having to leave the level.
Classic short stories
All short stories →Saki, Chekhov, Poe, Mansfield, Maupassant and nine more, in the original text with a quiz. Shortest first.
The Open WindowSakiA nervous visitor is told why the window is left open, and does not stay long enough to ask questions.1,208 words · 10 minRead →Three QuestionsLeo TolstoyA king wants to know the right time to begin anything, the right people to listen to, and the right thing to do. A hermit answers him without once sitting down to explain.1,562 words · 13 minRead →LuckMark TwainA famous English soldier is cheered through the streets. The man who taught him at military school stands in the crowd, knowing exactly how stupid he is.1,661 words · 14 minRead →The Lottery TicketAnton ChekhovA husband reads out the winning series number and does not check the rest. In the few minutes before he looks, he and his wife are rich, and have started to hate each other.1,861 words · 16 minRead →A Pair of Silk StockingsKate ChopinA woman who has counted every penny for years finds fifteen dollars in her hands, and spends an afternoon discovering what she wants.1,884 words · 16 minRead →Miss BrillKatherine MansfieldEvery Sunday she puts on her fur and goes to the park to listen. One overheard sentence from a young couple ends the whole arrangement.1,929 words · 16 minRead →
A2
Long tales
The first texts that will not fit into one sitting. 9 tales from about 4,700 to 10,000 words, which is where a reader stops finishing a story in one go and starts having to carry it.
Long tales
All long tales →Kipling, Dickens, Conan Doyle, Jack London, Nesbit and more, in the original text with a quiz. Shortest first.
The Book of BeastsE. NesbitA boy is fetched from his bricks to be made king, and finds in the library a book whose animals leave the page when it is opened. The Butterfly is charming. The Dragon is not.4,688 words · 39 minRead →Dracula's GuestBram StokerAn English traveller leaves Munich against everybody's advice, on the one night of the year when the dead are said to walk, and takes shelter in the wrong place.4,877 words · 41 minRead →The Signal-ManCharles DickensA man calls down from the top of a railway cutting, and the signal-man below looks the wrong way before answering. He has heard those words before, and not from a living voice.5,084 words · 42 minRead →Rikki-Tikki-TaviRudyard KiplingA half-drowned mongoose is taken in by an English family in India, and discovers that the garden already belongs to two cobras who intend to keep it.5,928 words · 49 minRead →Rip Van WinkleWashington IrvingAn idle, good-natured man walks into the Catskill mountains to escape his wife, helps some silent strangers with a keg, and comes home to a village that has forgotten him.6,486 words · 54 minRead →To Build a FireJack LondonA man sets out along the Yukon trail at seventy-five below with a dog behind him, certain that an old-timer's warning was the fussing of an old man.7,081 words · 59 minRead →
A2+
Your first book with chapters
Whole books, but with chapters short enough to read one at a time. The step here is putting a story down and picking it up again days later, which is the last thing between a long tale and a novel.
Your first book with chapters
All first chapter books →Pinocchio, The Little Lame Prince and The King of the Golden River, complete and unabridged, read a chapter at a time with a quiz at the end.
The King of the Golden RiverJohn RuskinFive short chapters, about nine thousand words in all. The shortest whole book on the site, and the gentlest way to find out what reading a book with chapters feels like.A2 · 33p · ~1hRead →The Little Lame PrinceDinah CraikTen chapters of about three thousand words each, in plain and warm English. A whole novel-shaped story that never gets difficult.A2 · 99p · ~2hRead →The Adventures of PinocchioCarlo CollodiThirty-six chapters of about a thousand words each: every chapter is the length of one short story, so nothing you read in a sitting is longer than what you are used to.A2 · 142p · ~3hRead →
A2–B1
Short novels
Whole novels, unsimplified, short enough to actually finish. Read online chapter by chapter with a quiz at the end. No account needed.
Short novels
See the shelf →The shortest complete classics we host: the first real novel most readers here finish.
Alice's Adventures in WonderlandLewis CarrollA short, whimsical classic with simple sentences and famous scenes. One of the friendliest classics for English learners.A2-B1 · 96p · ~2hRead →The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank BaumPlain, warm English and a story almost everyone already knows, which makes it easy to follow. A gentle first novel for A2 to B1 readers.A2-B1 · 143p · ~3hRead →Black BeautyAnna SewellShort chapters and plain, first-person English make this one of the easiest classics. A gentle A2 to B1 read.A2-B1 · 217p · ~4hRead →HeidiJohanna SpyriPlain, sunny English and short chapters. One of the easiest classics, good for A2 to B1.A2-B1 · 332p · ~6hRead →A Little PrincessFrances Hodgson BurnettWarm and simple, with a heroine easy to root for. A gentle A2 to B1 read.A2-B1 · 241p · ~4hRead →The Railway ChildrenE. NesbitSimple, kind and episodic, with short chapters. A good A2 to B1 read.A2-B1 · 216p · ~4hRead →
B1
Novels
Full-length novels at a comfortable intermediate level.
Novels
See the shelf →Full-length novels at a comfortable intermediate level.
The Secret GardenFrances Hodgson BurnettWarm and gentle, mostly simple English with a little Yorkshire dialect. A comforting B1 read.B1 · 293p · ~5hRead →Peter PanJ. M. BarrieA famous, playful story most readers already half know. Some sentences ramble, so it suits a confident B1 reader.B1 · 171p · ~3hRead →Around the World in Eighty DaysJules VerneA fast, clear adventure with short chapters and constant momentum. A good B1 read.B1 · 228p · ~4hRead →
B1–B2
Harder novels
The last rung before the classics: denser prose, longer books.
Harder novels
See the shelf →Denser prose and longer books: the last shelf before the twelve.
The Time MachineH. G. WellsShort, fast and famous. The sentences are a little richer than a fairy tale, a good step up for confident B1 to B2 readers.B1-B2 · 118p · ~2hRead →The Call of the WildJack LondonShort and gripping, with vivid, punchy scenes. A strong page-turner for B1 to B2 readers.B1-B2 · 116p · ~2hRead →The Adventures of Tom SawyerMark TwainFunny and lively, but written with 1800s vernacular, so it reads best at B1 to B2.B1-B2 · 254p · ~5hRead →Anne of Green GablesL. M. MontgomeryCharming and funny. Anne's speeches are flowery, so it reads best at B1 to B2.B1-B2 · 371p · ~7hRead →The Wind in the WillowsKenneth GrahameGentle and funny, but the prose is lyrical and a little richer, best for B1 to B2.B1-B2 · 212p · ~4hRead →
B2–C1
The twelve classics
Not another rung: this is what the ladder is for. 12 famous novels on a calm 12-month plan, with a daily page goal, a tracker and a quiz at the end of each.
The twelve classics
All twelve →Gatsby, Frankenstein, Pride and Prejudice, Crime and Punishment and eight more.
The Great GatsbyF. Scott FitzgeraldA short, lyrical novel about wealth, longing, and the impossibility of repeating the past. Set on Long Island in the summer of 1922.B2-C1 · 180p · ~3hRead →The MetamorphosisFranz KafkaA short novella about a young man who wakes up to discover that something fundamental about him has changed. Strange, dark, sometimes funny. One evening of reading.B1-B2 · 60p · ~1hRead →A Christmas CarolCharles DickensA famous Victorian story about regret, generosity, and second chances. Told over the longest night of the year. Warm despite the cold.B2 · 110p · ~2hRead →The Yellow WallpaperCharlotte Perkins GilmanA very short, very famous story about a woman, a quiet house, and what she begins to see in the walls. Forty pages. Read in one sitting.B2 · 40p · ~1hRead →The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr HydeRobert Louis StevensonA short gothic novella that gave the language a phrase for the divided self. Pacy, tightly plotted, modern in its anxieties.B2 · 90p · ~2hRead →Heart of DarknessJoseph ConradA dense, troubling novella about a slow journey upriver, and the questions it forces on the traveller. The hardest prose in the plan.C1 · 100p · ~3hRead →
More ways to browse
The same books, sorted a different way.
Best classics for beginnersThe twelve classics ranked from easiest to hardest.Browse →Classics by English levelThe same twelve, grouped B1 to C1.Browse →Classic books for kidsA free reading plan for children, with a quiz and a shareable result.Browse →How long each book takesReal word counts and reading times for all 26 books.Browse →Reading speed testMeasure your reading speed, then get a reading list that fits your time.Browse →QuotesMemorable lines from the classics, by book and by theme.Browse →
Make it a habit
Keep your place on the ladder
A free account remembers the shelves you have finished and the words you have saved, on every device, and tells you when the next shelf opens.