In Search of Free Books

By: Rachael Walker

Where can your school, library, or community group find free or low-cost books for kids? There are a number of national organizations as well as local programs you can turn to for help filling the shelves of your library, classroom, or literacy program and putting books into the hands and homes of young readers.

Books for your program

Book Trust

Book Trust is a national literacy program that offers Title I elementary school students across the country the opportunity to choose books throughout the school year and keep them for their home libraries. Studies show that children are much more likely to read books that they choose, and having books at home brings proven benefits. Their mission is to help kids build home libraries full of books they want to read, and help teachers use those books in the classroom to build healthy habits of reading and learning. Books are selected and distributed through the Scholastic Book Club. The Book Trust has donated more than 1 million books to about 57,000 students in 21 states. If you’d like to find out whether your school or district is a good fit for Book Trust’s program, visit the Book Trust application page.

First Book

First Book is a national nonprofit that has provided more than 135 million new books to children in need. In neighborhoods across the country, First Book unites leaders from all sectors of the community to identify and support community-based literacy programs reaching children living at or below the poverty line and provide them with grants of free books. The First Book National Book Bank, a subsidiary of First Book, provides new books to children from low-income families using generous donations from children's book publishers. The First Book National Book Bank distributes large quantities of publisher-donated brand-new books to programs serving children from low-income families. The books are free to programs that are able to pick them up or for just the cost of shipping and handling. To access First Book's free and low-cost resources, programs must register at the First Book website.

International Book Project

The International Book Project gives books in the U.S., as well as shipping to communities and schools in the developing world. The Local Donation Program of the International Book Project provides books for classrooms, prison libraries, homeless shelters, after school programs, library bookmobiles, school libraries, and other literacy-based non-profits and is always looking to expand and provide literacy to those in need. Visit the website for more information about the Local Donation Program.

Kids Need to Read

To help underfunded communities create a culture of reading, Kids Need to Read accepts requests for books from libraries, schools, and various literacy programs through an online application. Based on the age ranges and demographics of the population served, Kids Need to Read provides select books from their growing book list of more than 350 titles. Submissions from programs serving adolescent juvenile offenders, high school dropouts, youths living in poor urban or rural communities, immigrant children, kids with learning challenges, or children living on Native American reservations are strongly encouraged.

Library of Congress Surplus Books Program

The Library of Congress has surplus books available to educational institutions and non-profit tax-exempt organizations. As most of the books have been turned over to the Library of Congress by other Federal agencies, the collection usually contains only a small percentage of publications at the primary and secondary school levels. There is continuous turnover in the supply of surplus books that can only be received in person by an authorized representative of an eligible organization. The value of the books available at any one time may not justify the expense of sending a representative to Washington solely to select books from this collection, but may be worth the trip in conjunction with a visit to the nation's capital.

Lisa Libraries

Lisa Libraries provides new children's books to help fill bookshelves for small, grassroots organizations that work with low-income children in underserved communities and provide books to children who may never have had books to call their own. Some of the libraries established have been at day-care centers, prison-visiting areas for children of incarcerated parents, and after-school programs. Organizations interested in receiving books for their children should write to the Lisa Libraries.

The Literacy Empowerment Foundation

The Literacy Empowerment Foundation (LEF) is dedicated to assisting educational programs by providing inexpensive children's books. The Reading Resource Project is an ongoing LEF program that distributes free books in sets of 100 books to literacy programs. Recipients pay shipping, handling, and administrative costs ($88 per set of 100 books). Reading levels are for preK through second grade and are available in a limited quantity on a first come, first served basis.

Publisher Donations

It is often worth contacting publishers as many make book donations to support literacy programs, schools and libraries. Contact the Association of American Publishers about being included in the list of groups for its Book Donation Initiative or reach out directly to publishers.

Chronicle Books often makes donations that are either related to individual titles for organizations whose requests for books or aid are modest and compelling. Chronicle will consider corporate contributions to individuals or direct grants to schools, colleges or universities under special circumstances and on a case-by-case basis.

Hachette Book Group donates more than 100,000 books annually, from a single signed copy for a fundraiser to large quantities for a struggling school district or library system. All requests for financial and book donations are handled by HBG’s Communications department: [email protected].

Book distribution programs

Books for Kids Foundation

Books for Kids creates libraries, donates books, and partners with literacy programs to help young children develop the critical early foundation and skills they need to be successful in life. With a special emphasis on low-income and at-risk preschool-aged children, Books for Kids creates and furnishes libraries within existing children's centers.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, developed in 1995 for her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee, has been replicated in communities across the United States and abroad to bring books into the homes of preschool children. Through the program, all young children in a participating community are eligible to be enrolled at birth or when they move into the community. Each month, from the day the child is born until their 5th birthday, a selected book arrives at the mailbox. The Dollywood Foundation has developed the delivery system, negotiated price, selected the publisher and the individual titles, and created registration and promotional materials. Local champions in the community — businesses, school districts, civic organizations, individuals, or local government — finance the cost of the books and the mailing, register the children and promote the program.

Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read (ROR) programs make early literacy a standard part of pediatric primary care for low-income families. At every well-child check-up for children from six months to five years of age, doctors and nurses encourage parents to read aloud to their young children, offer age-appropriate tips and encouragement, and provide a new, developmentally appropriate children's book to keep. Though clinics need to raise funds to pay for the books, support may by available from the Reach Out and Read National Center or ROR Coalition.

Reading Is Fundamental (RIF)

RIF, the nation's oldest and largest children's literacy organization, is most well known for its flagship service, the Books for Ownership program. Through this program, children choose and keep several free paperback books each year and participate in reading motivation activities.

Local sources

Book Drives

Request a local religious or service group to sponsor a book drive to collect gently used children's books for your organization. These national groups with local chapters include children's literacy among their service priorities:

Local chapters of these professional membership organizations may also be supportive:

You may be fortunate in your community to find a local organization dedicated to the redistribution of new and gently used children's books similar to the book banks below:

Local stores and libraries

Contact your local public libraries, bookstores, toy stores, and other businesses. They may be willing to donate or sell at a discount older or overstocked books that they carry. Better yet, create an ongoing partnership so they will regularly set aside books for your group.

Wish lists

Whenever you send out a newsletter or e-mail, include a Wish List of the books you'd like donated. This makes an especially effective appeal during the holidays. Choose the books for your wish list by checking with a children's librarian, teacher, or the recommended books on Reading Rockets. You could also make use of the Wish List feature on Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble or post your need for books on DonorsChoose.org.

Your public television station

Each month, participating public television stations distribute free books to their local partner organizations, who then make them available to children who otherwise would not have books of their own.

Grant opportunities for book funds

There are a number of small foundations dedicated to providing grants for the purchase of children's books for libraries and personal ownership including:

Believe in Reading (The Steve and Loree Potash Family Foundation)
The Lois Lenski Covey Foundation
National Home Library Foundation
Snapdragon Book Foundation

Online options and eBooks

Many sites on the Internet offer free children's books by unknown authors and of uncertain quality. The following sites, however, have some good online choices for kids. Note that the experience of reading a book online is very different from holding and reading a printed book.

Digital Book Index

The Digital Book Index is a catalogue of major eBook sites, university collections, commercial and non-commercial publishers, and hundreds of smaller specialized sites. A search for Children's Literature in the Subject Guide of the Digital Book Index results in links to some 3,500 contemporary and classic children's books and stories, including the State University Libraries of Florida's Literature for Children, a collection of the treasures of children's literature published largely in the United States and Great Britain from before 1850 to beyond 1950.

Epic!

Completely free for teachers and librarians, Epic! is a digital reading platform for kids ages 12 and under. Epic! offers more than 35,000 thousand high-quality and award-winning fiction and nonfiction books, audio books, and videos from 250 publishers.

International Children's Digital Library (ICDL)

The non-profit ICDL Foundation's library has evolved into the world's largest digital collection of children's books. Currently its digital library collection includes 4,619 books in 59 languages. The compete ICDL collection is also available as a free iPad app. A limited number of titles are included in the free ICDL iPhone app. The ICDL also created the free Story Kit app that helps users create their own electronic storybooks for reading and sharing.

Internet Archive

Try the Internet Archive's site OpenLibrary for an interface to the published children's books on archive.org and links to other online book collections.

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress' selection of digitized books includes illustrated children's classics for readers of all ages. The Library of Congress also makes available millions of primary sources for free online. To assist educators in teaching with primary sources, the Library offers classroom materials and professional development to help teachers engage students with content and develop critical thinking skills.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is the largest single collection of free electronic books. With more than 40,000 free books in the Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog, the Project is on its way to meeting its goal to provide as many eBooks in as many formats as possible for the entire world to read in as many languages as possible. The Project Gutenberg site offers download formats suitable for eBook readers, mobile phones, and other devices.

Rachael Walker (2019)

Reprints

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Comments

If you are a teacher, EPIC which is a digital children's library for all ages will allow you to use their digital library at no cost! They also have science videos which are excellent.

I am a children's book author and can donate some of my books to your organization/school. If you are interested, contact me at [email protected] I will donate my new 8-1/2x11 hardcover books. They are for ages 7 and under. I do, however, ask that the shipping costs be covered by you. You can visit my website too. www.cherylsstorybooks.com

For anyone looking for book for school or organizations, just google search free books for kid. I am looking for books for my son who loves reading, he is only one year old but loves books and will sit for an hour and flip the pages, though I am a single mother and wish I had the money to buy him new book but I don't. So I reached out to all these reading programs but they only donate to organizations, school and church's. we go to the library but it not the same as owning his own, if anyone can help let me know

Hello all:We are a publisher of a children's picture book (based on a successful interactive book app in the iTunes App Store) which encourages children to take the love they were born with and to spread it to all across diversities. It is an interfaith and intercultural book with illustrations and quotes from various faiths and cultures, and it is enjoyed by children up to Grade 2. We would like to make mass donations to schools/children in need, but unfortunately cannot provide the books for free - we can, however, provide the books at a price to simply cover costs of printing and shipping so that we break even - roughly $2 per book plus shipping.The book also has a Discussion Guide available online for details on the unity-based themes. Free coloring and activity sheets are also available online.We would welcome interest from any school/program interested in purchasing. Please feel free to email us for more information: [email protected].

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library is probably the best thing I have personally invested in for not only my niece, but students. I am glad to have even more resources to give my students more exposure to great books.

This is a great article. I am Special Education teaching and a lot of my students need their text read aloud to them. This website provides my students the opportunity to listen and follow the words too. Reading is a building block to everyone educational future and this website is an excellent tool to practice.

One of my favorite articles, and it gave so much important and useful information about reading programs. I was aware of some of the programs but there were many more that I didn’t know about. It sparked my interest to go out and see how many this community is involved in, and also maybe becoming a volunteer. Reading is so important and it is a foundation that every child should have the opportunity to have a piece of.

I use storylineonline.com with my students to help them get involved in reading and understanding the books. I teach children with major disabilities so they have to have the story read to them this website helps them listen and read the words also. This article has gave me more resources online to help my students learn to read.

I thought this was a very interesting article. I was unaware about how many organizations are out there providing free books to children who need it. These are resources all teachers need to have. Helping children get books into their hands will provide them the opportunity to excel in school. Not every child has the opportunity to indulge in a book.

I was not aware that there were so many organizations and programs that provided free books to children in need. This is a great way to help improve literacy and encourage reading in young children who might not be able to have access to books in any other way. Getting books in the hands of parents to read to their children early in their life, will be a lifelong benefit for them. These are great resources; thanks for sharing them!

After reading this article, I learned how many different organizations provide free books to children living in poverty. Two organizations that I thought were very interesting were Heart of America Foundation and First Book. Their primary focus is to provide books to children that would normally not be able to get books without assistance. I also thought this article listed great ways and organizations that have literacy as one of their primary focuses. I really liked being able to learn all the ways to be able to get books for students that really need them. A few suggestions were book drives, local stores donating books, libraries, wish lists, and public television stations. This article shows how important it is for children to be immersed in books and for every child no matter what their background is to have the chance to read.

This is a very intresting article I was not aware that there were so many programs that offers books, I will definitely keep this information and check on getting books for my students.This is a great article to help kids get books for school as well at home.

I was not aware of these websites and organizations that offer free books. This is great. I will definitely keep a copy of this for future references. Reading is a huge part of our student's future and I think it's great for organizations to participate in opportunities like this for children. Thank you for all of this great information.

This article validates the necessity for promoting literacy by offering free books to students Nation wide. These organizations implement reading programs and free books made available to low income students, juveniles, high school drop outs, students in grades K-12 as well as infants. Most of these reading programs share a common interest toward literacy by engaging students to become better readers so they will have a chance to become successful in life. This article also offers grant opportunities and on line interactive book options to those interested. There are also a variety of free books being offered such as: electronic books, digital books, regular story books and an array of children books. In addition, by offering free books, these organizations will help build upon literacy within communities public libraries, schools, after school programs, hospitals and homes.

This article is very informative. I like how it give you different idea for a classroom. I didnt know about all of these resorces for books. I will check into the programs to get books for my students. I will give the I read books website to my students so they can chose a book form home to read online. I found this article very helpful.

This is a great article on getting free books from programs. I was not aware of all of the different programs out there. I have heard of a few of these, but I will definitely print out a copy for my classroom in case there are students who need books at home to read. This is wonderful.

Thank you for listing and describing all of these organizations. I was not aware that there were so many sources for free or reduced priced books. What a great resource!

These are great programs. I did not realize that there were so many programs that provide books to children and organizations that work with children. The Roads to Reading and Kids Need to Read are available to rural areas and kids with learning challenges. These programs would be great for my school. I am also going to look into the Scholastic Book Grants program. Our school is in a low income area and many of the students do not have books at home to read. These programs, and others like them, would give them a chance to have a book of their own for the first time. I am definitly going to contact a few of these programs and I am going to share the list of programs with our reading program administrator. Hopefully we can receive books for our classrooms and our students.

Help!! I just started at an all Black high school with the majority of books written and published before the 1950s. There are quite a few of these books that have negro in their titles. I am in the process of removing these books, but need to get other books to replace them. Anyone know where or who I can ask for free or very reduced price books that high school kids would want to read?

I have just volunteered as the Library project co-ordinator for my daughter's school. There are so many resources to look into.

BIG NEWS. Excellent children's books are available at public libraries' Friends of the Library book sales ... at least in Ohio. I go to these to provide thousands of books for kids in the high poverty school where I voluteer. Books for kids are usually 25 cents each. Please attend these sales, and return to your schools or groups with hundreds of books at a time. Look at booksalefinder.com to find library book sales in your region. You will not regret it!

I am in charge of filling a library of a new k-8 charter school. We are looking for lots of biographies and classics with not much of a budget. Anyone have any thoughts of where I might start? [email protected]

i am looking for a hospital to work with to give a set of babies first cardboard books (numbers, letters, shapes and colors) to every new baby/mother when they leave the hospital. please email me [email protected]

What about Room to Read??? www.roomtoread.org/

I am a coordinator of a reading program at a pediatric office we give books to children when they come in to our office for checkups this is funded through donations, we are having a hard time finding funding.