The Children's Book Project

The Children’s Book Project is a grassroots registered charity on a mission to tackle book poverty and give every child the chance to own their own books.  With the support of families across the UK we’ve gifted over 560k beautiful books to babies, children and young people living in the most challenging circumstances.

We want every child to experience the pleasure of choosing a book they feel excited about and the joy of attachment to a story or characters they can read again and again.  Book ownership fosters a strong sense of identity as a reader and greater inclination to read, whilst by age eleven children from book poor homes (fewer than 10 books) lag 12 months behind their book rich peers with regards to their language and literacy skills.

"We are situated in one of the most deprived areas of the city, in one of the most challenging cities in the country. For many of our pupils, the only books they have to call their own at home are the ones gifted by us annually at Christmas."  Head Teacher, Leeds

We take donations of new and gently used books, sort and curate them and gift them to schools and groups that support the most disadvantaged communities across the UK along with the creative resources for them to put on a gifting event.

"Due to the high level of deprivation in the area that our school is in, our children come into school with very low starting points. Our parents try their best, but a lot of our children don't have books at home, many children don't receive a bedtime story and most children don't read with their families."  Head Teacher, North Kensington

OUR BOOK GIFTING EVENTS

Our team of volunteers believes passionately in empowering children to choose a book they are motivated to read, and in helping settings to weave our offer into their existing literacy provision.  Our book gifting events are inclusive, joyful and have a tangible impact on every family that participates.  Book ownership is directly linked with improved mental health amongst children whilst reading fluency itself has a significant impact on children’s successful progression through education.

“It has been fantastic to see children of all abilities from all year groups discussing books with each other, making recommendations and visibly enjoying reading. For some of our children, the books taken from the hut were the first ones they’ve ever owned. We had many questions of ‘do we really get to keep it’?”  Head Teacher, Lewisham

This year we will gift over 250,000 books to children via their schools and community settings. The vast majority of these come from families that are delighted to find new homes for the books their children have grown out of.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We won a Queen's Award for Voluntary Service in 2020, testament to the value we place on volunteers and the positive experience our volunteers have when they spend time with us.

The charity is run on a voluntary basis and we welcome anyone’s involvement. Following are various ways in which you can get involved: simply email [email protected] to find out more.

• Donate your books: visit childrensbookproject.co.uk to find a drop point near you


• Run a book drive at your child’s school or community group


• Volunteer one morning per month at our Book HQ in SW10, sorting and boxing books


• Volunteer four hours per month as a driver or in another capacity


• Raise much needed funds to help our drivers deliver books to schools.

“Our school ran a Book Drive and collected over 1,500 books in one morning alone.  It was heart-warming to see how enthused families became about the chance to find needful homes for the books they’ve grown out of.  We had so many conversations about the books we love, the ones we’d been excited to rediscover and of course the ones we had to hang onto!”  Parent, Norland Prep School, RBKC