Where Can You Donate Children's Books in St. Louis?

Give My Books Network collects children's books free from your doorstep anywhere a Local Pick-Up Partner serves your ZIP code. A Local Pick-Up Partner is the locally owned family business that does the collecting in your part of St. Louis.

School drives and Little Free Libraries take some. A branch might take a bag. A pickup takes the whole bedroom, which is usually what a family actually needs when a kid finally outgrows the picture books.

What Kinds of Children's Books Are Most Needed in St. Louis?

Early readers and bilingual titles are the two categories requested most often through the Give ME Books program, and both run short constantly. Title I classrooms across St. Louis Public Schools ask for them by the boxful.

• Early readers — leveled books for kindergarten through third grade. Always short.
• Bilingual and Spanish-language titles — requested far more often than they arrive.
• Picture books — the workhorse of any classroom library.
• Board books — for pre-K rooms and family literacy nights.
• Middle-grade chapter books — series titles especially, because kids read them in runs.

Do Board Books and Torn Pages Still Count?

Board books absolutely count, teeth marks and all, as long as the pages are intact and readable. Kids' books live hard lives, and nobody expects a picture book from a toddler's room to look new.

The line is structural. A missing page, a cracked spine that sheds paper, or mildew from a damp basement means the book cannot be given a second life. Scribbles in crayon, a soft cover corner, a little wear? Send them. The American Library Association's guidance on donating books to schools draws the same line.

How Does the Pickup Work for Parents?

Pack the books yourself, set them out by 8 AM, and a Local Pick-Up Partner collects between 8 AM and 8 PM. Nobody needs to be home, which matters when you have a school run and a work call in the same hour.

1. Enter your ZIP code and choose a service day.
2. Box up the books. The partner does not bring boxes, so use what you have.
3. Do not separate kids' books from adult books. They can share a box.
4. Set everything on the covered front porch by 8 AM, with a lid on if rain is coming.

Who Receives Children's Book Donations in St. Louis?

Many children's books are redistributed through the Give ME Books program to schools, libraries, nonprofits, after-school tutoring programs, and family literacy nights that requested them. Some are resold, and that resale is what pays for the free pickup.

Give My Books Network will not promise that a specific book reaches a specific classroom in Dutchtown or North City. What it will say is that early readers move faster than anything else in the program, and a box of them rarely sits long.

Packing Tips From a Kid's Bedroom

Use small boxes for children's books, because a big box of picture books gets heavy faster than you would believe. A copy-paper box is about right for one person to carry.

Board books can go in a doubled paper sack. Loose puzzle pieces and stickers are not part of the deal, but the puzzles themselves are welcome, and so are board games. Pack, set out, done.