My Top Go-To Books & FREE Online Resources Grades K-12

FREE eBook Library K-12

• If you don't already have your child set up with EPIC, I would highly recommend this FREE ebook resource!

FREE online Decodable books:

SPLED Phonics Readers-- Pretty extensive collection and very clearly identifies the phonics patterns for each title! PDFs are downloadable. 

FlyLeaf-- They are offering free access this school year-- also love the little homework extended activity packets each book comes with!!  I LOVE this poetry anthology decodable for advanced grapheme pattern practice! 

Half Pint Kids (geared more for the early stages) but it's FREE

Grades K-1 Picture Books:

• Anything Mo Willems!! The level of genius he has brought into children's literature is bar none. The Elephant & Piggie along with the Pigeon series is a favorite where novice readers can practice prosody and intonation! His Knuffle Bunny trilogy, That's Not a Good Idea, The Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, and Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs make for excellent read alouds!  
• There are over 30 Elephant & Piggie books, but my absolute favorites that kids just eat up and insist on rereading over and over are: Can I Play Too, I'm Invited to a Party, I Broke My Trunk, There Is a Bird on Your Head, and I Love My New Toy
• My favorite Pigeon books are: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, and Don't let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

Grades 1-3 Picture Books:

• Scaredy Squirrel and anything else written by Melanie Watt to include "Chester" and "Bug In a Vacuum"
• Max The Brave-- and anything else written by Ed Vere
• I Want My Hat Back- and the others by Jon Klassen
• I Wanna Iguana- Such a great mentor text to inspire letter writing and persuasion! 
• Guess Who nonfiction series by Kari Noel-- but all 14 titles are FREE on EPIC

Grades 1-3 Chapter Books:

• Frog & Toad series- A classic, tried and true series! Kids absolutely love these characters as they journey through both expected and unexpected daily life events together, while also expanding vocabulary
• Fly Guy series by Tedd Arnold--especially engaging for young boys
• The Magic Tree House - An amazing series that includes a fun mix of fantasy and nonfiction! I would highly recommend starting with the very first book "Dinosaurs Before Dark" and read through at least the first 4 books in order to get the fundamentals of how the magic tree house works. Then you can easily bounce around the titles, but a few favorites my 2nd graders loved are: Lions at Lunchtime, Midnight on the Moon, Tonight on the Titanic, Twister on Tuesday and Vacation Under the Volcano

• Owl Diaries -A fun series for this age group but I've also had older 4th/5th grade girls enjoy it too!
• Diary of a Pug - Similar to Owl Diaries and just an all around fun read! 
• Mercy Watson- Kate DiCamillo is one of my favorite authors! If I had to pick two from the Mercy series, it would be Mercy to the Rescue and Mercy Fights Crime. I also read aloud The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane every year to my 2nd grade class and we treasured every moment!
• Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot Series- A particularly high-interest series for young boys! Start with book #1 and they'll instantly fall in love with the structure and hero/villain character dynamics. Once they're hooked with book #1, they'll want to read all of the other 8 books as well! They is less print per page, but still offer rich vocabulary expansion opportunities. They also enjoy the "flip-o-rama" illustrations that come to life! 

Grades 3-8

• Who Would Win Series-- Great for the boys! Epic also has a similar series "Animal Battles" with tons of animal match-ups and rich vocabulary! The familiar structure of each book allows for repeated vocabulary encounters which positively influence overall sight word development and fluency. 
• Unlikely Friendships- A sweet book that mostly appeals to girls. There are two: "The Monkey and the Dove"  and "The Dog and The Piglet". Each have four additional unlikely friendship stories that are short, but rich in vocabulary and genuinely endearing. 
• Amulet- An excellent graphic novel series for boys within this grade range!
• "I Survived"-- new graphic novel version!
• Chicken Soup for the Pre-Teen Soul

Grades 9-12

• The Giver & The City of Ember --both excellent dystopian novels-- The Giver was made into a movie so it would be a great start, then move into City of Ember as a comparison
• Ghost-- and anything else by Jason Reynolds
• Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul