First Reader-Reading Literature Series

Enjoy a sample of the First Reader.

Many children learn the mechanics of reading without ever falling in love with reading.

The First Reader was created to restore that love from the very beginning.

As the second book in the I Love to Read Series, it gently builds upon the foundation laid in The Primer while introducing children to richer stories, memorable language, and the enduring delights of literature.

In this carefully restored Living Books Press edition, children meet The Three Little Pigs, The Bremen Band, Little Two Eyes, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, and many other enduring tales, accompanied by Frederick Richardson's charming illustrations.

This treasure was created more than a century ago by Margaret Free and Harriette Treadwell, educators who understood that fluency grows not merely from practice, but from a child's delight in stories, poetry, and beautiful language.

Children learn to read best when they encounter language worth reading. Fairy tales are especially important:

A child should have his fill of fairy tales, folk tales, myths, and legends in his early years.
— Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p. 151

Unlike many modern readers written primarily for skill practice, this beloved classic invites children into living language from the very beginning. Folk tales, Mother Goose rhymes, Christina Rossetti poems, and stories gathered from many lands provide the rich literary fare upon which generations of children learned to read.

Nursery rhymes have a special place in forming a love of reading:

The delight of children in nursery rhymes is natural and abiding.
— Charlotte Mason, Home Education, p. 223

These are stories to read aloud, stories to remember, and stories that quietly furnish the imagination for years to come.

Part of the I Love to Read Series.