Good Place to Donate Books

[Meckity1]

We have a load to get rid. Some are in absolutely pristine condition and it seems a shame to send them to recycling. Local charity shops don't want them. Some are going to the 'We buy books' app that DH found, and I hope to put some on the charity book swap shelf at Tesco, but we have literally hundreds of younger kids books, plus there are shelves more we are going through.

Personal stuff happening means that putting them all on eBay is a little tricky.

Any suggestions? Would a hospital/children's ward take them? Grateful for ideas.

A nursery or playgroup would probably be glad of children's picture books.
I don't know if they are a thing around where you live, but I've been getting rid of a couple of books a week by putting them in the local mini libraries - old phone boxes or glass fronted bookshelves that people have in their gardens where you can leave a book and take a book for free.

@NannyR Thank you. We don't have those mini libraries around but there are quite a few nurseries around and there is a primary school very close. I'll give them a ring tomorrow.

A train or tube station might have a sharing bookcase

Depending on the type of book, you could donate them to "Books for Africa"

books2africa.org/

Could you try putting them on Gumtree as a job lot? They might be of interest to someone who does boot sales.

It's surprisingly hard to get rid of books at the moment isn't it. We have a late family nembers' collection to deal with. The National Trust took a lot (they have some book shops) so might be worth a call, and we sold some Folio books, but the rest (including some really old ones like the chalet girls collection) are boxed up. Like you, we aren't really in a position to eBay currently so will read this thread with interest. The only other thing I've wondered about was local FB selling groups. Maybe giving them away rather than charging?

Could you put a post on your local Facebook area page asking if anyone wants them? Could you put them in a suitable container outside your home with a note on?

Your local library might take them. My local library accepts donations of books in good condition With the budgets being cut they are desperate for new stock.

The situation is this - I'm a very poor housekeeper and incredibly messy. My DH need a certain amount of order to function. Working from home is testing us all. The important thing about the books is getting them out of the house.

We are all book addicts, we are all readers and impulse buyers and there will be more books for Christmas.

Thank you for the great ideas.

I got rid of quite a few books during lockdown, in a box outside the house with a "Please Help Yourself" sign. (Especially kids books)

Our primary school are still accepting donations of books that are in good condition for library use. There are stricter rules than normal about dropping things off and quarantining things, and they probably won’t want stuff that’s more suitable for selling at a fair or putting in a swap box, but it’s definitely worth asking.

I really miss The Book People. When my child was tiny, I'd order boxes of the thin books for pennies each and he had such a lot of joy from them.

And that is why we have only just started clearing and already have six bags for life filled with books to go.

Apps like Ziffit