Project Gutenberg makes available, at no cost to users, an extraordinary number of out-of-copyright books in various ebook formats. Here I round up links to famous works suitable for young (and older) readers.
Those looking for a longer list of books than what I offer here can see Open Culture’s list of 800 free ebooks. See also Open Culture’s list of Harvard Classics, the volumes of which are available through Internet Archive and Project Gutenberg. And see Project Gutenberg’s Bookshelves (collections of related books) and Bookshelves for Children.
Fiction
Pride and Prejudice, and other works, Jane Austen.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and other works, Frank Baum.
A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Don Quixote, Cervantes.
A Christmas Carol, and other works, Charles Dickens.
Great Expectations, and other works, Charles Dickens.
The Brothers Karamazov, and other works, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Crime and Punishment, and other works, Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas.
The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexandre Dumas.
The Three Muskateers, Alexandre Dumas.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Victor Hugo.
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo.
Ninety-Three, Victor Hugo.
A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen.
An Enemy of the People, Henrik Ibsen, translated by R. Farquharson Sharp.
The Call of the Wild, Jack London.
White Fang, Jack London.
Boule de Suif, Guy de Maupassant. This work also contains many other short stories by the author.
Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery.
The Scarlet Pimpernel, Baroness Orczy.
Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Porter.
Chantecler, Edmond Rostand, translated by Gertrude Hall.
Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand, translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard.
The Romancers, Edmond Rostand, translated by Barrett H. Clark.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the complete works of Shakespeare.
Romeo and Juliet and the complete works of Shakespeare.
Frankenstein, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
Antigone, Sophocles, translated by Francis Storr. This set also includes Sophocles’s two other famous “Theban” plays.
Dracula, Bram Stoker.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain.
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Mark Twain.
The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain.
The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde.
The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde.
Nonfiction
Note: I’m including certain fictitious works in this category, such as The Republic and The Aeneid, because people typically read them for insights into history.
On the Origin of Species, and other works, Charles Darwin.
My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglass.
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.
The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois.
Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Republic, and other works, Plato.
The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith.
The Aeneid, Virgil.
Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington.