CHILDREN’S BOOK PROJECT, San Francisco, CA: Free Books for Children

Entrance to the Book Bank of the Children's Book Project, San Francisco, CA.

Over the years I’ve accumulated many boxes of books—extra books sent by my publishers and books that I’ve ordered. Many of the books have been given away or taken to my school visits. But I still have quite a few boxes and need to clean out my closet. Last week, when I was in the Bay Area, I made a trip to the Children’s Book Project in San Francisco to donate many of those books. The Children’s Book Project collects new and gently used books and gives them to children and people in the community who work with children—teachers, daycare providers, social workers and others working with low-income children at Title 1 schools, public health clinics and hospitals, subsidized daycares and afterschool programs, and many more   Every month they distribute 12,000 books!

I had made an appointment to deliver my books and was met at the door by Alexander who helped me carry them in. Inside, volunteers were busy sorting donations into categories. In the last month alone more than 30,000 books had been donated! Kathleen, on the Book Bank team, gave me a brief tour and explained how the program works. Although it mainly serves the San Francisco Bay area, I learned that people who work with children all over California come to get books. I am happy to have my books now available to help children build their home libraries and develop a life of reading.

I thank children’s book author Gennifer Choldenko for making me aware of the Children’s Book Project when she posted about her visit there on Facebook.

You can find out more about the Children’s Book Project and see photos of the facility at their website https://www.childrensbookproject.org/