Popular Bedtime Stories

A shimmering mailbox flag delivers Emily an astronaut's unusual problem, and solving it requires testing a gentle invention before sending her plan.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/series/the-midnight-mailbox/the-starlight-flag

Discover hundreds of free bedtime stories:

https://www.readthetale.com

As always, visit us at ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A pirate-stamped letter transforms Emily's bedroom into a treasure hunt for a tiny compass charm that must be recovered before morning.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/series/the-midnight-mailbox/the-pirate-stamp

Discover hundreds of free bedtime stories:

https://www.readthetale.com

As always, visit us at ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Lily and Leo arrive at Spooksville’s Monster Mash Bash just as the music escapes from the band’s instruments. To start the dance before moonrise, they must track a bouncing beat through the noisiest Halloween party in town.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/monster-mash-bash

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Emily and Daniel’s Halloween pancakes float out the kitchen window and join a secret magical food festival. When the festival’s enormous parade pancake refuses to come down, the children must discover what all the runaway breakfasts are trying to tell Chef Whizzlewhip.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-curious-case-of-the-floating-pancakes

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Farmer Joe’s smiling scarecrow cannot frighten a single crow. But when the Halloween wind sends the farm’s prize pumpkins rolling toward the village, the scarecrow and the crows become the only ones who can see where they are going.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-not-so-scary-scarecrow

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

The night before Maple Hollow’s pumpkin contest, Granny Maple accidentally sprinkles her crop with enchanted spice. By morning, the sneezing pumpkins have rolled into town—and every sneeze sends the Halloween parade into greater confusion.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-night-the-pumpkins-sneezed

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Sammy’s webs are beautiful but not frightening, which makes him an unusual Halloween spider. When a young bat loses the route to the Moon Hollow party, Sammy discovers that one of his bright webs can become the perfect map.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-not-so-spooky-spider

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

On Halloween night, Emily, Danny, and Max discover that the town library’s story characters have stepped out of their books. When the Trickster begins stealing their endings, the children must follow his inky clues before midnight leaves every tale unfinished.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-haunted-library

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Sarah and Ben find two wish-pumpkins hidden beyond an orchard maze. Their perfect costume and endless candy seem wonderful—until both wishes become much harder to carry through Halloween night.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-magic-pumpkin-patch

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

An ice cream tune leads Danny, Emily, and Max to a truck that vanished years ago. At its frosty service window, a ghostly ice cream man needs help finding the missing note in his Halloween melody before the truck disappears again.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-haunted-ice-cream-truck

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Silas decorates Maple Lane with moonlit spiderwebs every Halloween—until someone begins stealing them. His smallest hidden web catches the clue that leads him to a thief with a very large decorating problem.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-adventures-of-spidey-the-spider

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

On Halloween night, Emily and Danny step through a glowing pumpkin into a village where Wendy the Witch’s runaway broom has stopped the lantern parade. With Midnight the talking cat beside them, they follow strange clues into a forest that does not enjoy being hurried.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/holiday-stories/halloween-stories/the-halloween-adventure

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A boy no bigger than a thumb is carried off by a giant and returns years later far too strong for every ordinary job he tries. Before long, the countryside has a new name for him.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-young-giant

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Two brothers who look exactly alike share a knife that can warn them across the world. When one disappears in an enchanted forest, the other follows the signal—and finds an old dragon mystery waiting too.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-two-brothers

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A hungry dog and a bold little sparrow set off together. When a carter ignores the sparrow's warning, he discovers that one determined bird can make a very long journey home.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-dog-and-the-sparrow

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Midnight the cat and Whiskers the mouse share a house peacefully—until a trail of stolen buttons makes each suspect the other.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/bedtime-stories-by-age/7-year-old/the-cat-and-the-mouse

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

The Grimm Cinderella has no fairy godmother or pumpkin carriage. This child-appropriate retelling keeps the hazel tree, helpful birds, three celebrations, and golden slipper while omitting the original’s cruelest details.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/bedtime-stories-by-age/8-year-old/original-cinderella-story-explained

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Seven brothers are changed into ravens by an angry wish. Years later, their sister journeys beyond the sun, moon and stars to find their strange home inside a glass mountain.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-seven-ravens

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A merchant unknowingly promises his son to a mysterious stranger. The boy later breaks an enchantment, becomes king of the Golden Mountain and must use three strange magical objects to find his way home again.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-king-of-the-golden-mountain

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A poor father accepts a mysterious stranger as his child’s godfather and receives healing water with a strange rule. Years later, curiosity leads him into the godfather’s unsettling house.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-godfather

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A princess changed into a raven gives a traveler three chances to meet her in a forest garden. When he fails, a ring, a letter and three strange magical objects lead him to her castle beyond a glass mountain.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-raven

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A fisherman’s strange golden catch brings two golden boys, two golden lilies and two golden horses into the world. When one brother is enchanted, the other follows their fading life-token to find him.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-gold-children

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Elise searches for her eleven brothers after they are changed into wild swans. To free them, she must make eleven shirts and remain silent until her work is done.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/wild-swans

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Three princesses vanish beneath a forbidden apple tree. Three hunters find a silent castle, but only the youngest can answer a gnome's strange bread test and descend to the dragons below.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-gnome

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A princess travels to marry with a speaking horse and three red threads from her mother. A jealous maid steals her place, but Falada, the wind, and an old king keep the truth alive.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-goose-girl

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Mouse, Bird, and Sausage live comfortably by doing the jobs they know best. When Bird insists that they exchange work, one unfamiliar task leads to another until their household falls apart.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-mouse-the-bird-and-the-sausage

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A stolen prince grows up with the power to make wishes. He returns carrying his loyal companion as a pink flower, determined to free his mother from a tower and expose the cook who deceived the king.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-pink

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A cyclone carries Dorothy from Kansas to Oz, where three unusual companions join her on the yellow brick road to ask a mysterious Wizard for help.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-wizard-of-oz

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Geppetto's wooden puppet can walk and talk, but Pinocchio must survive tricksters, a puppet theater, and the belly of a giant sea creature before finding his way home.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/pinocchio

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Raised by wolves, Mowgli learns the Law of the Jungle from Baloo and Bagheera—but Shere Khan's return forces him to decide where he belongs.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-jungle-book

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Alice follows a waistcoated White Rabbit underground, where size-changing food, a disappearing cat, and an impossible tea party lead her to the Queen of Hearts.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/alice-in-wonderland

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Seven young goats are warned not to open the door to the wolf. When he disguises his voice and paws, the smallest goat notices one clue too late.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-wolf-and-the-seven-goats

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A magician tricks Aladdin into entering a hidden cave for an old lamp. The lamp's powerful genie can grant wishes, but power does not make Aladdin's choices simple.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/aladdin-and-the-magic-lamp

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

When a shard from a wicked mirror freezes Kai's heart, he follows the Snow Queen north. Gerda crosses gardens, palaces, and snowbound forests to bring him home.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-snow-queen

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A lion laughs when a tiny mouse promises to help him someday. Later, a hunter's net proves that usefulness is not measured by size.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-lion-and-the-mouse

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Lost in the forest, Hansel and Gretel find a house made of sweets. Its smiling owner welcomes them inside—but the locked pantry tells a different story.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/hansel-and-gretel

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Dot the caterpillar discovers that her lunch leaf is disappearing one bite at a time, even though she has not eaten it.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-very-hungry-caterpillar

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

A rain-soaked traveler arrives at the castle claiming to be a princess. The queen's tiny test causes a terrible night's sleep—and a much larger argument at breakfast.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/the-princess-and-the-pea

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Pip wants to finish her first wide web before the evening moths arrive, but the wind keeps delivering leaves, fluff, and one very embarrassed beetle.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/bedtime-stories-by-age/4-year-old/the-very-busy-spider

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.

Nico's building-brick city spreads across his room—until a missing library and a suspicious trail beneath the rug reveal its smallest resident.

Read the full story:

https://www.readthetale.com/popular-bedtime-stories/a-city-of-lego

As always, visit us at www.ReadTheTale.com for all your favorite tales and stories.