Open Books North Lawndale is

Come check out our new space at 3812 W. 16th Street
A programming space with a pop up Pay What You Want Bookstore.

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Buy Books to Build Home Libraries for Under-Resourced Chicago Children

While Chicago Public Schools is almost 90% children of color, less than 15% of kids books published in the past 20 years contain multicultural characters or story lines. Books that "mirror" a child's experience is a key factor in developing a love of reading. To that end, we have created the Gift of Books campaign that allows us to purchase new books to give away that overcome this disparity.

All proceeds benefit our Book Access program to get even more books into kids’ hands.

Help Now!

West Loop

Visit Store

Mon-Thu 10:30am-6pm

Fri-Sun 11:30am-7pm

651 W. Lake St.
Chicago, IL 60661

312.475.1355 ext.2008

Pilsen

Visit Store

Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm

Sat-Sun, 10am-4pm

905 W. 19th St.
Chicago, IL 60608

312.243.9776

Literacy For The West Side

In 2021, Open Books launched North Lawndale Reads (NL Reads), a multi-year, multi-strategy campaign designed to amplify in North Lawndale the importance of literacy and give the community’s families, parents, and children the resources critical for early reading, from pre-natal experiences to preschool, from Kindergarten through a child’s first elementary years in school.

Learn More!

Financial Donation

The generosity of donors helps us engage more than 6,000 youth through our literacy programs and give way more than 180,000 books to children and families each year. Together, we can transform lives through reading, writing, and the giving power of used books.

Donate

Literacy Resources

Check out these great literacy resources while you shelter in place
For Parents, PreK, and Grades 1-12!

Check Out Our Virtual Literacy Resources

Volunteer

To get started as a volunteer, please join us for a new volunteer information session!

Volunteer

Literacy Programs

Open Books transforms students’ reading and writing skills through experienced educators who deliver innovative instruction, passionate volunteers who serve as positive role models and provide enthusiastic support, safe learning environments for practice, exploration, and social-emotional growth, and access to high-quality books and tailored curricula.

Learn More

We collect used books.

All books in good condition are welcome, and all donations are tax-deductible. Find out what we take and how to get them to us.

We sell and grant them.

We give books to students in our instructional programs, donate them to educators and students through our book programs, and sell them in our Chicago stores and online.

They fund our programs.

We provide transformational literacy experiences for more than 5,000 K-12 students every year, from reading help through novel-writing.

Volunteers = magic.

Volunteers work with our students, organize our books, staff our events, and make everything happen.

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