Book Boxes 2025

Book Boxes Bloom Across Durham: 62 and Counting!

There’s something special happening on sidewalks, at schools, and in neighborhoods across Durham: Book Boxes are popping up, one by one, filled with stories ready to be taken home and treasured.

This spring alone, we installed eight new Book Boxes—in March, April, and May—bringing our grand total to 62 Book Boxes across the city! The City of Books!

The newest Book Boxes can be found at:

• Club Boulevard Elementary School

• Global Montessori Academy

• Lowe's Grove Middle School

• Old Chapel Hill Road Park

• Parkwood Elementary School

• Pearsontown Elementary School

• Sherwood Githens Middle School

• Bethesda Elementary School

You can find them all on our Book Hub map here!

Each Book Box is a vibrant, inviting little library filled with free children’s books that kids and families can take home and keep. Our team keeps them stocked year-round with books that reflect the beautiful diversity of our community and spark joy, curiosity, and imagination.

At Book Harvest, our goal is to provide more children with the opportunity to build home libraries—an essential foundation for language and literacy development. Book Boxes and Book Shelves are a key part of making that vision a reality.

Here’s why they matter:

• Access to free books is essential to close opportunity gaps for children living in poverty.

• Strong community partnerships around Book Boxes enhance family engagement and help foster a culture of reading.

• When families have easy access to books, they’re more likely to develop reading routines at home, setting kids up for lifelong learning.

• By meeting families where they are—in schools, parks, and neighborhoods—we make it easy and joyful to bring books into the home, no questions asked.

These Boxes are more than just places to grab a good book—they’re neighborhood beacons of learning and belonging. Whether installed outside a school, nestled near a playground, or standing proudly on a busy corner, each one helps ensure that every child in Durham has access to books right where they live and play.

Want to help us keep the magic going? You can volunteer to be a Book Box steward, donate new or gently used children’s books, or donate to help us fund the next wave of Boxes.

Here’s to 62—and many more to come!