What should my child be reading? A guide by age
Start with
- Age
- 3 and 4
- Usually in
- Preschool
- Three free stories to start with
- Pit, Pat, Sit, Tap, Nap, Dad Naps
- More for this age
- Decodable readers
The ages are the usual ones for each US grade at the start of the school year. Peabody starts every grade a little under itself, so the first story is easy, and every story on this page is free to read online with no account.
Ages 3 to 5: listening, sounds and first books
Most of a young child's reading is being read to: picture books, rhymes and the same favourite again and again. Alongside that, the first books a child reads themselves are decodable, built only from sounds they have learned: preschool starts at level 0, with eight letters, and kindergarten at level 1, with every short vowel, on the way to the pattern books of level 3. The sight word checklist has the first words they will learn by sight.
Ages 6 to 8: learning to read, then reading on their own
First grade starts at level 3, with pattern books, and climbs through the little stories of levels 4 to 6. Third grade starts at level 7, where a page is a short paragraph for the first time, and most children are reading a whole story on their own in one sitting. Keep reading aloud too, from books a little above what they read alone.
Ages 9 to 13: reading to learn
From fourth grade the stories run longer, the sentences get longer and new words are explained by the sentence around them. Children of the same age differ most here, so let the story decide: a child who reads one smoothly and can say what happened is ready for the next level, whatever their age.
If the first story is too hard or too easy
Go down a level if a child stops on many words or loses the thread, and up a level if they read it without effort and want more. Reading levels, 0 to 18 shows what each level looks like, with a real story's opening at every one.
Questions parents ask
What should a 7 year old be reading?
Most 7 year olds are in 2nd grade, and Peabody starts 2nd grade at level 5: short stories with a few short sentences a page, in everyday words. Start there, and go up or down by how the first story goes.
What should my child read if they are behind or ahead?
Read at the level they read comfortably, not the one for their age. A child who is behind gains more from easy stories read smoothly than from hard ones read word by word; a child who is ahead can climb, with books for their age read aloud beside.
Is it free?
Yes. Every story here is free to read, with no account, and Peabody is free through the end of 2026, with no sign-up.
Teacher? Share this page to Google Classroom. Children open it with no sign-up.
Checked against how Peabody works on 18 October 2026. Written with help from AI, from Peabody's own code and library. Peabody is a learning app, not an assessment: if you're worried about your child's learning, talk to their teacher. How Peabody's pages are made.