Free animal stories for kids

Picking one for your child

Every story here is sorted by Peabody's reading level, which is worked out from the text and never from the child. A lower level means shorter sentences and easier words, so start where your child can read about half of a story alone and read the rest together. If it is too hard, go down a level. If they race through it, go up.

For the youngest readers

36 are at levels 1 to 4: Pup in the Tub, Can Ted Hop?, Bev Has a Pet, The Red Bus, Six Cats, Six Hats, Dots in the Hut and more. These suit a child just learning to read, or a grown-up reading aloud.

For growing readers

32 are at levels 5 to 9: Where Is Ned's Hat?, Who Lives Under the Log?, Pim and the Mitten, Frogs Are Amazing, The Hamster Who Went Out, The Little Lantern and more. Longer stories, with more going on in each one.

For confident readers

33 are at levels 10 to 17: The Emperor Penguin Dads, The Case of the Missing Mangoes, Why Does My Leopard Gecko Hide?, A Hard Nut to Crack, Why Does My Rabbit Thump?, The Honey Bee and more. These are for children who read chapters and longer passages on their own.

Reading them together

A grown-up can read any of these aloud from a phone or tablet, one page at a time, and a child who reads can take over. Where a device can speak, the story page has a Read to me button that reads each page aloud in the device's own voice. Every story page has a Print link too, if you would rather read on paper.

More free stories

• The whole library: free stories by reading level, no account needed.
• Classic stories retold short: fables, fairy tales, myths and legends.
• Free Aesop's fables for kids, with the lesson of each
• Free folk tales, tall tales and legends for kids
• Free nonfiction books for kids, one topic at three levels
• Free beginning reader books for kids just learning to read
• By level: Level 1 · Level 2 · Level 3 · Level 4 · Level 5 · Level 6 · Level 7 · Level 8 · Level 9 · Level 10 · Level 11 · Level 12 · Level 13 · Level 14 · Level 17

Questions parents ask

What reading level are these animal stories?

They run across levels 1 to 17. Peabody works each level out from the story's text: how long the sentences are, how many words fit on a screen and how common the words are. The table shows the level of every story, so you can pick a lower or a higher one.

Are any of these stories scary?

None carries a mark above gentle, and none is on the scary stories shelf. The short description on each story's page says what it covers, so read it first if your child is sensitive.

Do the stories cost anything?

No. Every story on this page is free to read through the end of 2026, with no account and no card.