Children's Book Project

The Children’s Book Project is dedicated to the goals of building literacy by putting books into the hands of children who have little or no access to them, teaching parents to read aloud to their children, and supporting professionals who work with children by providing literacy materials and guidance.

Book Site
We have given over 2,000,000 free books to children through the facilities, programs and professions that serve children via our book site (a book “food bank”), as well as literacy materials to support teachers and other professionals who work with children.

Our books are given to public schools (librarians and teachers), community centers and outreach programs, public health care facilities, childcare centers, preschools and homeless shelters with programs for children.

Real Aloud Program
We provide a platform for sharing best practices in building parent literacy engagement with children at early ages by leading the Read Aloud Program for Bay Area organizations, a program that (1) trains social workers, nurses, pediatricians and other professionals to help parents read to their children, and (2) provides free, new, high quality books for the families.

Book Acquisition/Donations

We can give books away for free primarily by soliciting book donations (new and gently used) as follows:
• Book donation collection bins placed in businesses and offices throughout the Bay Area
• Book drives sponsored by schools, corporations and many other organizations that want to promote literacy (Eagle Scouts, sororities, community groups, etc.)
• Individuals who donate new and used books
• Publishers who donate new books

Here's how to donate books, etc.: http://www.childrensbookproject.org/contribute

In addition, we apply for grants to fund the purchase of new books.

From Donation to Delivery | The Book Site
Our book site manager, who holds a Masters in Library and Information Science from UCLA, works with experienced volunteers (teachers and librarians) to carefully sort the donated books into CBP’s selected categories so that our community partners who come to the book site can choose books that fit the needs of their particular constituency.

For example, a public school teacher can come to our book site and tell our staff that she has a child eager for a particular type of book, such as a book on dinosaurs, or that she needs a book for a deaf child on signing or a bilingual book for children that discusses becoming a big brother or sister, and that teacher easily can find the needed book.

We place a high value on categorizing our donated books for our community partners who select books because we know having the right book engages the child.
HOURS: We are also open the first Saturday of every month, from 10-1, in addition to the hours below. (Monday and Thursday 330-6pm)