Free Primer Level Readers
Are you looking for quality beginning readers for your child? These vintage primers, published in the late 1800s and early 1900s, are now in the public domain and free online. You’ll find well-known classics like McGuffey, Elson, and Treadwell, as well as many other lesser-known series. You may download the books for your child to read on a computer or tablet or print the books.
Why Choose Vintage Readers
Vintage readers offer beautiful classic literature, rich vocabulary, and charming illustrations. The stories are age-appropriate and typically encourage strong moral values. There’s also something special about reading a book that’s been used in schoolhouses and homes for over a hundred years. Perhaps your child’s grandparents or great-grandparents learned to read with some of these same readers.
Free Primer Level Readers
Primer level readers are intended for young children who are learning to read. A hundred years ago, these books were often used in first grade, as kindergarten wasn’t typically offered then. Now, many families find these primers appropriate for their kindergartners, while others use them in first grade. After your child has mastered primer level reading, we also offer a list of Free First Grade Readers. Additionally, our Vintage Graded Readers page has free readers for every reading level through eighth grade.
Readers Published in the 1900s
These primers were published between 1900 and 1924.
Golden Treasury Readers: Primer
The Horace Mann Readers: Primer
The Kendall Series of Readers: Primer
The New Barnes Readers: Primer
Treadwell’s Reading-Literature Series: The Primer
Wheeler’s Graded Readers: A Primer
The Kendall Primer (1917)
Readers Published in the 1800s
Most of these primers were published in the late 1800s, though a couple are from the mid 1800s.
Chambers’s National Reading Books: The National Primer
Cyr’s Interstate Primer and First Reader
The New Franklin Primer and First Reader
Hazen’s Primer and First Reader
The Normal Course in Reading: Primer (Preliminary Work in Reading)
The Normal Course in Reading: Primer (First Steps in Reading)
Sanders’ Union Pictorial Primer
Swinton’s Primer and First Reader
What Primers Were Like 100+ Years Ago
The following excerpt from the introduction of Child Classics: The Primer (1909), written by Georgia Alexander, explains the primer’s approach to reading instruction. Many primers from this era shared a similar approach.
The natural instinct of the child is play. “In the child’s world of dim sensation,” says Stevenson, “play is all in all. Making believe is the gist of his whole life, and he can not so much as take a walk except in character. I could not learn my alphabet without some suitable mise-en-scène and had to act a businessman in an office before I could sit down to my book.”
To turn this play instinct of the child to his account in learning to read, this Primer is written in conversational form. In its pages four little children live a joyous outdoor life such as we all would wish every child to live. From the first page, the child reader is one with the children in the story, and his whole business is in getting and giving thought. In other words, this is not merely an exercise book in word calling. The child is trained to look not only at words but through them to the thought which they contain.
The vocabulary is unusually small, averaging only three new words to the page. Great care has been taken so that as far as possible each time a word occurs it is used in a new relation. This prevents that facile habit of calling words, which is commonly mistaken for true reading.
Notwithstanding the strong thought tendency of The Primer, eighty percent of its words are distinctly “phonetic” and form the basis of a simple and effective phonetic system, taught through induction. So simple is the method that no special training is necessary on the part of the teacher, and the book may be used with any standard method of teaching phonetics. The Primer has stood the test of actual school-room practice.
The use throughout the book of classic nursery rhymes which have been known and loved by children of many generations, will assist in introducing new words to the child. These words are repeated in the subsequent lessons.
Good illustrations are an important element in enlisting the interest of children. Those in Child Classics are by the best artists and have a distinct value as examples of good drawing and composition. Care has been taken to keep the pictures in The Primer free from the confusing details that a child can not readily understand. They tell simply and directly the stories told by the words and are a definite element in unfolding to the child the thought which the lessons contain.
More Than a Storybook
Vintage primers offer more than just stories. These primers help children master early reading skills like phonics and sight words. Many of them also impart positive moral values and life lessons. What makes them truly special is their long history. Families have loved them for generations. So, while browsing the internet for free homeschool resources, don’t overlook these gems. Whether it’s the familiar tales or the charming illustrations accompanying them, these vintage primers are a treasure trove waiting to be rediscovered.
Additional Resources for Kindergarten
Our Blog
At the Freedom Homeschooling Blog, you'll find homeschool resources and information, tips for homeschooling on a budget, encouragement, and more! Please follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
Follow Us
