In today’s digital age, technology has transformed how we access information and engage with educational resources. For students, reading remains a crucial skill for personal development. Thankfully, numerous free reading websites cater specifically to school use, offering an abundance of interactive and educational content.
In this article, we explore a selection of the best free reading websites for school use, by evaluating each website based on content, user experience, and educational value. Without further ado, let’s discover the best free reading websites that inspire, educate, and captivate learners of all ages.
14.
Independent reading for high school students, no login required.
Although the website is excellent, the majority of the e-books are simply too difficult for school-aged children to read. Having said that, they still feature a lot of beloved children’s tales, including Tarzan of the Apes, Peter Pan, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland, and more.
If you’re looking for a specific classic, you might find it here, however I wouldn’t allow pupils using this website by themselves because they might get lost among the more than 50.000 ebooks, in more than 40 different languages.
13.
Independent reading and read-along for high school students (girls primarily), no login required.
Wattpad mostly caters to teenage girls, with a lot of fanfiction and idolization. There are plenty of unique genres to explore, such as fanfiction, paranormal, werewolf, and LGBTQ+. The e-books are user or fan-written, which makes the quality of content differ a lot. Unfortunately, the best ones are locked behind a paywall.
The books generally have a picture, followed by the story, with a next button at the bottom of the page. Here you will also find a lot of unnecessary comments from other users. They do have a few cool features, though, such as a progress bar at the top so you can see how far you’re in the chapter and the option to let a robot read the text for you.
Wattpad is fairly modern and easy to use. You don’t even need to register to start reading. But the content is vast and not very regulated, so you might stumble upon several books that are not suitable for school reading.
12.
Independent reading for elementary to high school students, no login required.
The website is a little outdated and slow, but it still contains an extensive collection of books and genres suitable for everyone from elementary to high school. Some books are not available for online preview, but there’s always the option to download the ebook and view it as a pdf.
On the website, children can find classic fairy tales, folktales, adventure stories, animal tales, science fiction, historical fiction, and educational books covering subjects like math, science, and geography. The website also offers a diverse selection of picture books with colorful illustrations, which are particularly suitable for younger children.
11.
Independent reading and read-along for elementary and middle school students, no login required.
The website is plastered with adds and can be a bit confusing for students to navigate because of that. So it’s recommended that the kids get a specific link of what they’re supposed to read, can also be used as read-along in class.
Their original stories are about frogs, princesses, pirates, witches, birds, dogs, and people. The fairy tales consist of stories from legendary authors such as Brothers Grimm, Aesop, Hans Christian Andersen, and Perrault. In the classic author menu, you can find stories by Dickens, Oscar Wilde, Frank Baum and like. Myth & World contains a variety of stories from Ancient Egypt, India, Greece, Vietnam, France, China, Scandinavia and more. Finally Storynory also has educational stories, along with poems and rhymes.
10.
Independent reading for middle school students, no login required.
DC Kids offer a small selection of comics for free. Mainly with Batman, but there’s also a few with Teen- and Tiny Titans. Once you open their website, click on the “COMICS” menu. For some reason, they decided not to have a direct link to that section. It is not as well made as the next on the list: Marvel, but if some of the kids love Batman, this might just be the preferred place to be.
9.
Independent reading for middle to high school students, no login required.
Every now and then Marvel release a free digital comic for others to enjoy, it’s typically the first in a series and extremely well made. The way you read the comic is especially cool, as it’s a dynamic experience, where they hover and zoom directly to the action with each slide. The stories they offer are also jampacked with quality, with the likes of: Spider-Man, Hulk, Venom, Thor, Thanos, Daredevil, Blackpanther, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers, just to mention a few.
Unfortunately it is very clear what their intent is. As soon as you finish a comic, you are not lead back to the free issues overview, but instead asked to discover their other comics, which are behind a paywall. They also only give out a limited selection, but it is of a quality you can expect from Marvel.
8.
Read-along for elementary school students, with some activities, teacher login required.
Vooks, short for “video books,” has a vast collection of animated storybooks made for reading along in class. The stories are designed to engage and inspire young learners through animated storybooks. This is supported by marked subtitles and suitable animations.
Even though it is subscription-based, teachers can make an account for free and access the entire collection of animated storybooks. More importantly, this also grants access to the connected reading activities that can be printed and made in class. If you don’t need those, it might be faster to watch it on Vooks YouTube channel.
7.
Independent reading and read-along for elementary school students, no login required.
Unite for Literacy is perfect for elementary and early readers. There’s also an option for Spanish books. There are a lot of books; the majority of them are non-fiction, pretty much about anything a young learner could want. Although fictional stories also appear here and there.
The digital books are made to feel and act like real books, where you have to turn each page. There’s also a picture on every page to help the reader stay engaged or understand what they read better. Finally, there’s the possibility for an authentic reader to read the book for you.
The website itself is slightly outdated, but the ease of use compensates for its visuals. The menu is simple, visual, and straight-forward.
6.
Independent reading and read-along for elementary school students, no login required.
The newest of the bunch might only have a small selection of stories, but the ones they do have are both educational and entertaining. In addition to that, all books have illustrations, the option to get them read aloud by an authentic reader in British and American English, and the option to watch the story unfold with animations.
The stories have replaced the antiquated fairy tale language with modern language and injected an extra helping of vocabulary to expose learners to new words and phrases. They are also available in French, Italian, Spanish, and German.
5.
Independent reading for middle to high school students, no login required.
Hiveworks is the only one of it’s kind on this list. They link directly to hundreds of creator-owned webcomics, across multiple age groups, styles and genres. They also clearly state whether a specific comic is suited for everyone, kids, teens or young adults.
Just be aware that the links takes you directly to the end of the comic, so remember to click on the “<<” as soon as you get in, to get to the beginning of the comic. Most of them also has a feature, where you simply click on the comic, to move to the next page.
All in all a great collection of comics, that also happen to support the LGBTQ+ community.
4.
Read-along for elementary school students, activities included, no login required.
Storyline Online contains video stories read by famous and authentic readers. Reading aloud to children has been shown to improve reading, writing, and communication skills, logical thinking and concentration, and general academic aptitude, as well as inspire a lifelong love of reading.
Storyline Online is available 24 hours a day for children, parents, and educators worldwide. Each book includes supplemental curriculum developed by a credentialed elementary educator, aiming to strengthen comprehension and verbal and written skills for English-language learners.
3.
Independent reading and read-along for elementary to middle school students, activities included, login required.
Oxford Owl is suitable for elementary to middle school and is only available in British English. There are a fair number of books; most of them are fictional stories, but some are also non-fiction.
You can skip pages with the arrow keys, your finger, or mouse clicks. Each book has the option to zoom in or out and be read by an authentic reader. As well as more basic stuff, like the book level and what page you are on.
The website has become more minimalistic, modern, and user-friendly. In order to read, you need to register for free.
2.
Independent reading for middle to high school students, no login required, but recommended.
Webtoons have something for everyone. Even though some comics can be read by elementary students, they mostly cater towards middle and high school students, especially cartoon and manga lovers, as Webtoon is a South Korean-based company and thus heavily influenced by that style of making comics.
Their comic book selection is big, diverse, and modern. A lot of them are also ongoing, which means they bring a new episode every now and then for their fans to follow. Some even manage to get adapted for screen, as a Netflix series or similar. All the comics are meant to be read on a smart device, such as a smartphone, because they use a scroll-type reading method. There are options to skip pages regularly, as well as reading on a PC if you zoom out a bit. The comics also show their views and ratings, so it’s easy to find good ones.
The website is extremely user-friendly, and if you want additional features like saving comics and the like, you can always register for free. When it comes to visuals, there’s no competition out there; Webtoons are the best by far.
1.
Independent reading and read-along for elementary to high school students, quizzes included, login required.
Epic! can be read by everyone from elementary to high school. Some of their tens of thousands of books and comics are also available in Spanish, Chinese, and French. There’s something for everyone, at any level.
The entire site is gamified, which really motivates the younger kids to read more. They can get achievements, badges, new avatars, and more. On top of that, they also have the option to quiz themselves on what they just read. Get the text read out loud; even click on words they’re not sure of and get a definition. Epic is the king of useful features; you can even track your students to make sure they read as much as they’re supposed to.
Epic is literally epic!
This is amazing! Thank you!
This website is amazing!
I must thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing
this site. I’m hoping to check out the same high-grade content by you in the future as well.
You have no Idea what you are talking about try epic out instead