Give Books
Children's Book Project
The gift of inclusive books in new or like-new condition makes children who need books feel valued and empowered. We welcome donations of new and like-new books for children ages 0-18 that reflect the needs of the communities we serve, especially:
- books for emergent bilingual children, especially in Spanish or Chinese (all ages)
- books featuring characters of color (all ages)
- board books
- beginning readers
- early chapter books
- graphic novels
Please weed out and do NOT donate books and other items we can’t accept, as described below — these take up too much of our limited time to process and bum out our hardworking team:
- dirty, dusty, wet, chewed, ripped, bent, folded, highlighted, doodled upon, written in, moldering, or mildewed books
- books missing covers, pages, or parts
- vintage books
- obsolete books
- nonfiction over ten years old
- library discards
- textbooks and curriculum materials
- encyclopedias
- audio cassettes, VHS tapes, and DVDs
- religious books
As you gather children’s books for donation, please keep in mind that if a book is aged, dated, broken, dirty, stored for years, or otherwise unappealing to children today, we can’t offer it on our shelves but must still process it by hand. When in doubt, ask yourself, “Would I give this book to a loved one as a gift?” When you recycle unusable books at home and donate those we don’t accept to another charity, you help us devote our limited resources to give even more beautiful books to children who need them!
Book Bank Curbside Donation
The Book Bank runs on a shoestring with a team of part-time staff and volunteers. Your consideration of our limited resources and mindful donation of only those books we accept supports our mission and helps us more efficiently serve our clients. Review the guidelines above about the kinds of children’s books we accept, and then click the yellow button to schedule an appointment to drop off your donation at our Book Bank in San Francisco. We do not accept delivery from third-parties such as Lugg. Your donation is tax deductible as allowed by law; donation receipt provided at drop off.
BOOK BANK
2166 Palou Avenue, San Francisco
Please note our address in the Bayview, conveniently located near Highways 101 and 280— and just a block away from SCRAP!
Wishlists
Donate books in Spanish for emergent bilingual readers via our wishlist at longtime local supporter Folio Books.
Ship new books directly from our curated wishlist at bookshop.org and support independent booksellers at the same time!
Or shop our amazon.com wishlist — and join AmazonSmile to designate .5% of all your purchases to the Children’s Book Project.
Book Drops
Drop off your donation of 20 or fewer new or like-new children’s books that meet our guidelines at any of our Book Drop locations. No donation receipt provided at Book Drops.
Larger donations must be made directly to our Book Bank, where donation receipt will be provided. Please do not inconvenience Book Drop hosts with larger donations, or they may give us the boot!
Availability may vary during COVID:
SAN FRANCISCO
Alexander Book Company 50 Second Street
Books Inc 3515 California Street
Books Inc 2251 Chestnut Street
Folio Books 3957 24th Street
Just for Fun 3982 24th Street
PENINSULA
Nancyland Kids and Babies 1223 Linda Mar Shopping Center, Pacifica
Bagel Street Cafe 254 Redwood Shores Parkway, Redwood City
EAST BAY
Tay Tah Cafe 1182 Solano Ave, Albany
MARIN
Toy Crazy 2211 Larkspur Landing Circle, Larkspur
Mail/Ship
Ship books to our mailing address:
Children’s Book Project
3433 21st Street
San Francisco CA 94110