BOOKS ACROSS THE CITY
We provide free books to like-minded community partners to distribute to children and families in their communities
The Children’s Book Bank provides books for children beyond our spaces through our Books Across the City Program.
This program provides free books to like-minded community partners who then distribute them to the children, teens, and families they serve. These include Toronto social services organizations, such as:
Family housing and health centres
Food banks
Family shelters
Community centres
Are you looking to provide books to children in your community?
LOCAL IMPACT
In 2025, The Children’s Book Bank distributed 76,221 books to over 150 community partners across the Greater Toronto Area through our Books Across the City Program, a 32% increase over the previous year. Since 2020, Books Across the City has given away 444,841 books.
Through this program, we also distribute books at community events throughout the year. Last year, we attended the St. James Town Community Festival, Emery Village Festival, Word on the Street Literary Festival, MLSE Literacy Event, October Funfest, Truth and Reconciliation Event, and many more.
Total Number of Books Distributed
TESTIMONIALS
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“The generosity of The Children Book’s Bank has an impact on the Francophone families that participate in our programs. For the parents living in a linguistic minority, accessing books in French is quite limited and can be costly. The French books help these families to reinforce literacy skills in French and are a tool for the parents to ensure exposure to French. In addition to developing the ability to communicate in French, these books contribute to the preservation of their French identity.”
- Christiane Fontaine, Health Promoter, French Language services -
“Thanks again for the latest boxes of books. We really appreciated the board books and the beautiful Haitian Creole books, which were requested by The Jane Street Hub for their Play & Learn program (focus on Black children and families). The rest are being used for the Book Nook, Family Book club and child care centre visits. I am amazed at the hundreds of books The Children's Book Bank has provided for our various events and the Book Nook library since I started in June.”
- Catherine McLeod, Book Nook Coordinator -
“We are deeply grateful for the support we receive from The Children’s Book Bank. Their generous donations (1,800 books last year alone) do far more than put books into hands — they strengthen our entire food agency by weaving literacy, and comfort into the services we provide. The books create moments of connection between parents and children, helping families build on moments of reading together even during times of instability. We often see families sharing coffee and snacks at our outreach programs, while reading to one another, and sharing stories about warmer times.
Our neighborhoods come from diverse backgrounds, and include many walks of life - We do our best to support, however we know we cannot do it alone. Agencies such as The Children’s Book Bank give us the opportunity to reach our neighbours in ways that are outside of our skill and capacity.
For many community members facing food insecurity or displacement, a familiar story offers comfort, grounding, and a brief sense of normalcy on an otherwise uncertain day. For newcomer families, these books might support language development and help children see themselves reflected in stories - as the donations are always rich in culture, experience, and traditions. Being able to choose a book restores a sense of agency and dignity, so neighbours are not just receiving essentials, but selecting something meaningful for themselves or their community.”
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“I just wanted to say thank you for all of the books!
We have so many happy students, but none more than Will - who found himself a superhero just like him!! A comic about the first superhero with a Cochlear Implant!
One of our grade 2 students (with no prior interest in reading) was ECSTATIC to find copies of the Star Wars "Little Golden Books" amongst the donations. His mother says that he now attempts to read them almost every day. He has even started volunteering in the library as my donation volunteer - carrying and sorting out donations to put out on our Free Books shelving.
I wanted you to see how much of an impact The Children's Book Bank donation is having!”
- Pamela Morris, Teacher/Librarian
FRIENDS OF MACAULAY CENTRES FOR CHILDREN AWARD
In 2024, The Children’s Book Bank was awarded the Friends of Macaulay Centres for Children Award, celebrating our decade-long partnership.
Through Books Across the City, we help ensure that children and families served by Macaulay have consistent access to enriching reading materials. These donations support their many programs and contribute to the success of the Book Nook located at their head office, where families can select a book to take home each time they visit.
INTERNATIONAL IMPACT
In addition to supporting 120 local community partners this year, we were able to provide:
1,200 Haitian-authored books to the Haitian-Canadian community in Montreal through our partners at Community Cares Montreal
2,000 books to Haiti via the Consul for Haiti in Montreal
Books to schools in Sri Lanka, Jamaica, and Bangladesh
Our warehouse team continually puts aside small children’s books more suited for schools. Their light weight makes shipping less expensive for our partners to be able to send overseas.
“I wanted to sincerely thank you for the generous support from The Children’s Book Bank. A few months ago, I was able to send the books I received to Sri Lanka by sea shipment, and I am very happy to share with you that they have now reached three rural schools: Primary School Tangalle, The Model Primary School Tangalle, Meegahawela Junior School Beliatta. The joy and excitement on the children’s faces show how much the books mean to them, and I am truly grateful to The Children’s Book Bank for making this possible.”
- Dilni, Community Partner from Sri Lanka