The Holiday Book Drive is an annual community and kidlit creator collaboration to collect and distribute new children’s books to young Chicago readers.

During the months of October and November (National Picture Book Month) and into December, friends of literacy donate new picture books, early readers, chapter books and middle grade books for Leading with Literacy, a read-aloud focused non-profit based in Bronzeville, a neighborhood on Chicago's South Side.

• 2017: Click HERE for the (408) books collected in 2017 - Year 1.

• 2018: Click HERE for the (433) books collected in 2018 - Year 2.

• 2019: Click HERE for the (623) books collected in 2019 - Year 3.

• 2020: Click HERE for the (728) books collected in 2020 - Year 4.

• 2021: Click HERE for the (828) books collected in 2021 - Year 5.

• 2022: Click HERE for the (1,103) books collected in 2022 - Year 6.

• 2023: Click HERE for the (882) books collected in 2023 - Year 7.

(That’s 5,005 books in all, since the start of the drive!)

Want to join the 2024 Holiday Book Drive Chi? Check out the details HERE, and email me at anitraschulte@gmail.com to coordinate a donation of new books or a financial gift, which will go toward the purchase of books!

(Apologies that I cannot share my personal address here - I know that would speed up the giving / receiving process! Note: A donation of 30 books allows us to give an entire class the same book. Single titles are most welcome, too!)

A huge forever thank you to Pastor Michael Neal for championing literacy and connecting us with so many amazing Bronzeville scholars, teachers and principals!

Your support is everything! Let’s partner to make 2024 a blessed holiday that ignites a love of reading!