Your public library is an overlooked source of free ebooks in all genres for kids and teens. There are a few dominant providers of ereader apps for library materials. OverDrive, Libby (from OverDrive), Hoopla, EBSCO eBooks, and RBdigital (for magazines) are the major ereader apps.

If you don’t already have a library card, use the link above to locate your local library. Sign up for a card or account. Find out which ereader your library wants you to use to check out ebooks.

Every library system has different rules for how many ebooks can be checkout out at once. And they have limits on how long you can keep them on your ereader. The good news is that there is an automatic “return” of your borrowed ebooks. So you never had to worry about overdue books and fines!

The free Barnes & Noble’s Nook Reading app for is available for iPhone/iPad, Android devices, and Windows. After you have set up a Barnes & Noble account, you will have access to thousands of free ebooks for children and teens in a broad range of subject areas. Check out the free titles under Free eBooks. To narrow down your search:

Simple as that!

Amazon’s Kindle app for is available for iPhone/iPad, Android devices, PC and Mac. After you have set up an Amazon account, you will have access to hundreds of free ebooks for children and teens. Check out the free titles in these sections of the Kindle Store:

• Children’s eBooks > Best Sellers > Top 100 Free
• Teen and Young Adult > Best Sellers > Top 100 Free
• Arts & Photography > Best Sellers > Top 100 Free
• History > Best Sellers > Top 100 Free

You get the idea… drill down through the best sellers in any topic to see the Top 100 Free!

RIF offers several ebook stories for beginning readers in English and Spanish. The stories have options for narration or read-by-myself. They have engaging interactive animations and some include some activities.

As of this writing, they are available for the Kindle Fire only.

The Project Gutenberg wiki catalogs more than 53,000 free ebooks. They are available in epub, pdf, and popular ereader formats. The books are out of copyright in the US, so are free to distribute and copy as you like. Because they are out of copyright, these are mostly older books published before 1923. But they still include some popular timeless children’s authors such as Beatrix Potter, Lewis Carroll, and Mark Twain.

Three of book categories to look at for K-12 are: Most Downloaded Books, Top 100 Books and Authors, and Children’s Bookshelf. The Project Gutenberg collection is now available as an app for Android, iPhone/iPad, and Kindle ereaders.