Foster a lifelong love of stories and storytelling in children of all ages with our family-friendly ebookshelf!
The Library has a huge range of free ebooks – 200,000 and counting! – which you can either read online or download for up to seven days.
To get started, browse our latest selection of ebooks suited to children aged 12 and under. You can also scan our monthly curated ebookshelf for some reading of your own, or browse for even more free ebooks !
For tips and advice, read our get started guide or watch our video on using ebooks.
To access ebooks from home, you need to be a State Library member with a Victorian home address. (Terms and conditions of use apply.)
Courageous Kids and Their Amazing Adventures Courageous Kids and Their Amazing Adventures Stephanie Owen Reeder
Canberra: National Library of Australia. 2023
Recommended for 6+
Stephanie Owen Reeder's Heritage Heroes series celebrates stories of incredible survival, persistence and resilience by young people. This book binds together the five original, beloved stories with two brand new ones: Brave Bee and the Castaway Kids; Will the Wonderkid and the Elusive Treasure; Amazing Grace and the Sinking Ship; Lennie the Legend and the Remarkable Ride; Marvellous Miss May and the Wondrous Circus; Clever Quong Tart and the New Gold Mountain; Valiant Jane and the Disappearing Trail.
Liz Duthie's occasional illustrations give young readers a visual springboard for imagining the story, and picturing themselves as these courageous young people.
Eric Shaun Tan
Sydney; Allen & Unwin. 2010
Recommended for 12 to 18 years
Eric is eternally curious and effortlessly charming - a house guest whose approach to the world will capture your heart. This is a mini gift edition of one of the most loved stories from the multi-award-winning, internationally lauded masterpiece, Tales from Outer Suburbia .
Counting Aussie Animals in My Backyard Counting Aussie Animals in My Backyard Bronwyn Houston
Broome: Magabala Books. 2014
Recommended for 3 to 5 years
Bronwyn Houston makes counting to 10 so much fun! Her textured and vivid illustrations bring a tropical Australian garden to life, with a touch of humour thrown in. From kookaburras laughing on a fence to bull ants marching through the dirt, find out what these Australian animals get up to in Bronwyn’s backyard.
Learning to Crochet Dana Meachen Rau
Ann Arbor, Michigan: Cherry Lake Publishing. 2016
Recommended for 8 to 11 years
Create everything from blankets to smartphone cases with the fun crochet projects in this book. Crafters practice comprehension skills as they use text and diagrams to follow the steps for each project. The activities push students to learn and apply domain-specific vocabulary, practice new techniques, and build on concepts that may already be familiar. Other tools, including an index and additional resources, encourage readers to locate information and explore further independently.
Tashi and the Baba Yaga Anna Fienberg
East Melbourne: Allen & Unwin. 2006
Recommended for 5 to 8 years
The fifth book in the Tashi series of daring adventures and tall tales about magic, courage and the triumph of brains over brawn. Created by the much loved, multi-award-winning author/illustrator team of Anna and Barbara Fienberg and Kim Gamble. A house on chicken legs? A witch who eats children? Jack's dad can't believe Tashi's wild stories about Baba Yaga and the wicked Baron, who traps him as a prisoner for the fearsome River Pirate. Tashi has more daredevil adventures to tell. Read all about him in the other Tashi books.
Remarkably Rexy Craig Smith
Crows Nest, NSW : Allen & Unwin. 2017
Recommended for 3 to 7 years
Everybody loves Rex. He is the most dazzling cat on Serengeti Street. The schoolkids who pass by are always impressed by his moves... until one day, an interloper threatens to take all the attention away. A delightful picture book, with hilariously energetic illustrations of cats!
The Unexpected Crocodile Kim Kane and Sara Acton
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. 2017
Recommended for 3 to 8 years
A cheeky cautionary tale about a crocodile who comes to tea. Peggy's family is hosting a barbecue for their neighbours, the Dawsons. Peggy isn't too sure about those Dawson boys. But she's delighted when an unexpected crocodile invites himself to tea with unexpected consequences!
Diary of an AFL Legend Shamini Flint and Sally Heinrich
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin. 2017
Recommended for 7 to 11 years
Having (not) mastered cricket, soccer, rugby, taekwondo, track & field, swimming, golf, basketball and tennis, Marcus gives AFL a go in this very funny tenth book in the series. Marcus is a maths whiz who is not good at sport. His dad is a self-help author who thinks Marcus can achieve anything he sets his mind to, with hilarious results. In illustrated diary format, Marcus's gentle, satiric humour and comic drawings will have readers laughing out loud while learning a surprising amount about sport.
