DONATE BOOKS
book donation Guidelines
Yes Please
- New and used books in good or better condition with no liquid damage, limited or no highlighting or underlining, intact spines and covers, and no mildew
- Blank notebooks and journals
- Calendars for the current year
- Self-published books written for people in prison
- Advance reading and review copies
No Thanks
- Books in acceptable, fair or worse condition
- Books with liquid damage or broken spines
- Brittle books with flaking pages
- Hardcovers, except in our highest-demand categories, which are bolded below
- Spiral or comb-bound books
- Magazines, CDs, or DVDs
- 10+ copies of any one book except in our highest-demand categories
- True crime
- Kids books
We take walk-in donations during any volunteer session.
Please be sure to check our directions page for parking tips and exact drop-off location.
If you live outside of the Boston area, you can mail your books to us via media mail at 1306 Hancock Street, Suite 100, Quincy, MA 02169.
Sometimes we don't have the right book on our shelves to help someone achieve an important reading or study goal. Books needed by specific readers are posted at the top of our Amazon wishlist. Buy one now and choose the Wishlist Manager shipping address.
ADDITIONAL WISH LISTS
You can also buy seldom donated, frequently requested titles from one of these wishlists from local independent bookstores.
*** Million Year Picnic (In-store purchases only)
Most needed genres and topics
- Reentry guides and books specific to people in prison
- Trade skills
- Auto mechanics, electrical, CDL licensing, carpentry, plumbing, etc.
- Farming, beekeeping, homesteading, living off the land, gardening
- Hobbies
- Coloring books
- Art, especially how to draw
- Crafts, especially crocheting, origami, making cards
- Crossword puzzles, word search, sudoku
- Guitar instruction and books about current music and musicians (rap, hip hop, rock, pop)
- Games and sports
- Chess, wrestling, basketball, football, sports almanacs
- Role playing games (including D&D) - check out our special RPG wishlist here!
- Avoid tennis, running, golf, baseball, cheerleading
- Language dictionaries and grammar books (especially Spanish, American Sign Language, Japanese)
- Business
- How to start a small business or nonprofit
- Real estate
- Stocks and investing
- Personal finance
- Mental and physical health
- Sexual abuse, trauma, addiction
- Exercise (yoga, weight lifting, etc.)
- Medical dictionaries, general health guides, and books about specific health conditions
- Cookbooks and nutrition information
- Avoid diet books, out-of-date health books, or pseudoscience
- Religion and occult
- Non-mainstream religion, including Wicca, paganism, Kabbalah
- Occult, including spirits, dreams, tarot, astrology, UFOs
- Islam
- Judaism
- Bible dictionaries and concordances
- LGBTQ nonfiction and memoirs - check out our special wishlist here!
- Reference books
- Paperback almanacs, atlases, dictionaries, thesauri, Guinness Book of World Records
- Avoid large, heavy hardbacks and sets of encyclopedias
- Computers and technology
- Basic applications and programming, mobile technology
- Avoid computer books over 5 years old
- Law
- Legal dictionaries, legal writing, and basic criminal or Constitutional law
- Criminal or civil procedure
- Legal resources specifically for people in prison (Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual)
- Avoid law journals and attorney-level legal reference
- Avoid non-criminal law, such as divorce, bankruptcy
- Study guides and accessible paperback textbooks
- GED or HiSET study guides
- Avoid GRE and grad-school level prep books
- Avoid college literature compilations and anthologies, or academic journals
- Avoid textbooks more than 4 years old, obscure subjects, teacher guides, or textbook supplements
- Nonfiction by Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous authors
- Science fiction and fantasy
- Mysteries and thrillers
- Vampire or horror (such as Stephen King)
- LGBTQ fiction
- Manga, graphic novels, comic books
- Westerns
- Myths, legends, fairy tales
- Poetry
- Fiction by Black, Hispanic, or Indigenous authors
- Books in Spanish
- Avoid beach reads or other books targeted exclusively toward women
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Please read our donation guidelines carefully to learn what books we can and cannot use. We have limited storage space and strongly encourage donors to donate books that are not a good fit to other groups such as your local public library’s Friends group, your local thrift store (Goodwill, etc.), or More Than Words.
No. Most prisons require the incarcerated person to be the named subscriber on the magazine, and others will only accept the current edition of a magazine.
Storage space and level of popularity among our readers dictate what we keep and what we pass on to other organizations.
Books we cannot use are passed onto other used book dealers, thrift stores, or charities, where can often be traded for books we can use.
No.We do not supply prison libraries, only individual readers. We do, however, welcome donations from authors if your book is in a high-demand category for us.
Yes! Because many prisons require new books and because most donated books tend to be at least a few years old, non-fiction review copies and ARCs are very useful to us.
No. We have a small staff and currently do not have the capacity to pick up donations. You can send books through the mail, but we strongly encourage you to review the donation guidelines above before doing so.
Yes, you are welcome to ship books to us at your expense. Use Media Mail to save money, and please do not send a shipment that requires a signature.
Prison Book Program
1306 Hancock Street, Suite 100
Quincy, MA 02169
Please also browse our list of other books to prisons programs nationwide. There may be another group close to you!
BOOK DRIVES
You can run a book drive to support Prison Book Program at your office, school, church, or other location!
See our directions page so you know where to make the dropoff, and check our volunteer schedule to make sure that there will be a volunteer shift happening when you arrive
TIPS: Set start and end dates. Choose specific locations to to collect books. Make signs for your collection locations – you can use or edit our book drive flyer! Set a goal number of books and share the book count regularly. Promote your drive on all channels. Make a plan in advance for how you will bring the books to PBP.
- At a workplace: Ask team leaders or whoever is in charge to send the emails about the drive. Include a link to our donation guidelines in case people prefer to buy books or want ideas for what titles to look for.
- At a university or school: For our most needed genres, try to find a department or club who might have books! For example, reach out to the art department about drawing books, Spanish department about books in Spanish, etc.
- In your community: check local library sales, social media groups and reach out to local organizations, churches, fraternities, etc. to see if about acquiring more books, or enlisting some support for the book drive!
Collect small boxes or tote bags to carry books in – books are heavy! Avoid using boxes you won’t be able to lift.
Go through the donated books to weed out the ones that aren’t useful at PBP, like hardcovers and old books. (Full donation guidelines here.)
Box up the books and bring to PBP during a volunteer session!
