Books for Every Child,
Support for Every Parent,
Literacy for Every Community

Books Harvested by Children to Date

The Opportunity

Eighty percent of brain development happens in the first three years of life. Imagine the possibilities for all children when they grow up surrounded by books and stories, words and ideas — starting at birth.

It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Our Response

We nourish young brains by filling their worlds with an abundance of books. And we partner with parents from the time their children are born, to ensure that parents are equipped with everything they need to help their children thrive.

It’s a response that fuels imagination
and sparks joy.

Our Impact

More than 1,900,000 Book Harvest books have been harvested by children and families since 2011. Books: the catalyst for cozy bedtime stories and robust vocabularies, the fuel for empathy, curiosity, and creativity – and, most of all, the foundation for a lifelong love of reading.

It’s an impact that is transforming lives, child by child and book by book.

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Our Latest News

Block Party: July 22, 2023

Book Harvest’s annual Summer Block Party will once again fill the concourse of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (409 Blackwell St, Durham, NC 27701) -- this time on Saturday, July 22, 2023 from 1 to 4 p.m.

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Our 2 Millionth Book!

Book Harvest provided its two millionth book to Lucy, a first grade student at Little River K-8 School in Durham, marking a landmark achievement for the organization. The two millionth book, “I’ll Build You a Bookcase” (by Jean Ciborowski Fahey, illustrated by Simone Shin) was harvested on May 3, 2023.

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Our 2 Millionth Book!

Children and families have harvested two million books from Book Harvest since it was founded in 2011. To celebrate, Book Harvest asked kids to describe what two million books looks like to them!

Watch on YouTube >>

Read the Blog

Read our latest blog posts, Words to Live By segment, and newsletters!

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Journal of Early Childhood Literacy Publishes Findings of Book Babies Program

The Journal of Early Childhood Literacy just published "In their own words: Parents’ voices about a book-provision program", co-authored by Meytal Barak, Book Harvest's Director of Early Literacy, and Dr. Cristina Gillanders, Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Colorado Denver.

Drawing on research conducted by the Book Babies literacy coaches, this article describes the integral role parents play in children's development, and the importance of Book Babies literacy coaches working alongside families in culturally responsive ways to create sustainable in-home literacy practices.

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Dream Big 2023

On January 16, 2023, Book Harvest hosted its 12th Annual Dream Big Book Drive in celebration of MLK Day. Over 2,000 community members, 175 volunteers, and 22 partners attended the event at the Golden Belt Campus in Durham. Plus, more than 125 cars drove through over 3 hours to drop off donated books! Visitors enjoyed Paperhand Puppet Intervention, popcorn from Mad Popper, the Bouncing Bulldogs -- and they selected 1,653 children's books to keep forever to build their home libraries.

Learn more >>