What age range is appropriate for this list?

Books on this list span Grade 1–2. Of the 740 books, 730 (99%) are rated Gentle or Mild and 5 (1%) are rated Intense or Very Intense. Average content intensity for this list is 1.1/5. Match the intensity badge to your child's emotional readiness — green for gentle, amber for moderate, red for intense.

How is this list curated?

HootRated rates every book on this list for both reading level (text difficulty) and content intensity (emotional weight) — the two axes parents actually need to choose books. See our methodology for how books make a curated list.

By Reading Level

Reading Level: Grade 1

Page 1 of 8 · sorted by reading level

Books written at a grade 1 reading level. Reading level reflects text complexity, not age appropriateness.

740 books

This collection of 740 reading level: grade 1 spans Grade 1–2. Reading level alone doesn't tell parents whether a book is right for a child — text difficulty and emotional weight grow at different rates, especially for strong, twice-exceptional, or sensitive readers. HootRated rates every book on this list for both, so you can match to your child's actual readiness on both axes.

Across this list, 99% of the titles are rated Gentle or Mild — appropriate for sensitive readers or kids reading ahead of their emotional comfort zone. 1% are rated Intense or Very Intense, with heavier thematic territory for readers ready to tackle weighty subjects. Average content intensity for the list is 1.1/5.

Use the intensity badges (color-coded green → red) to filter by emotional readiness rather than just age. For more on what each intensity level means, see our rating methodology.

3, 2, 1 go!

Sarah L. Schuette

Reading Level: Grade 1

3, 2, 1 go!

A Bad Day

A big guy took my ball! sike

Airplanes

All about Animals in Winter

Always

Andy & Sandy and the big talent show

Birds

Biscuit Wins a Prize (My First I Can Read)

Boo and Baa on a cleaning spree

Bottlenose Dolphins

Buildings on the Farm

Buses

Case of the Lost Frog

Clara and Clem under the Sea

Dear Zoo

Dogs

Duck and Goose Give A Party

Fancy Nancy

Goats on the Farm (On the Farm)

Going shopping (Alphakids)

Grasshoppers

Guinea Pigs

Helicopters

Hot pot

I Care for My Teeth

I Really Like Slop!

I am caring

I will take a nap!

I'll wait, Mr. Panda

I'm a Unicorn

Jack and Jill and Big Dog Bill

Kitty Cat And The Paint

Legends of Zita the spacegirl

Little Critter sleeps over

Little Duck and Little Goose

Little Fish and Big Fish

Living Things Need Air

Machines at work

Max goes on the bus

Max goes to school

Mice on ice

Moving day

Nicky upstairs and down

On Vacation

Pigs (Blastoff Readers: Farm Animals) (Blastoff Readers: Farm Animals) (Blastoff! Readers 1: Farm Animals)

Piper and Emma

Pumpkins

Rain Showers

Ships

Siamese

Sleepy dog

Smiles

Spiders

That bad, bad cat!

The Case of the Lost Pig

The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!

The crocodile and the dentist

The picnic

This is Spider-Man

Thumpy Feet

Trains

Using Wheels

What Are Droughts?

What Are Hurricanes?

What Are Thunderstorms?

What Are Tornadoes?

What do you do-- at the zoo?

What does Otis see?

What's in a Cave?

What's in a Pond?

What's in a Tree?

What's in the Dirt?

When Andy met Sandy

Where is Pim?

Wings (Spot the Difference)

You Hold Me Up

A Day With an Electrician (Welcome Books)

Ann and the hat