We're getting ready to move.

Thursday, August 29 will be the last day we accept donations of books until after we've settled in our new home. We expect to move in October, and to be ready to accept book donations again by November.

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Paperbacks Preferred

A growing number of prisons and jails around the US don't allow the people in their custody to own hardback books. Please keep that in mind when selecting books to donate. We're always looking for paperback textbooks, reference books, and college-level dictionaries.
 

An embarrassment of riches 

 

Thanks to the generosity of our fantastic book donors, we actually have more than enough books on the following topics. We're running out of space, so we are not accepting any more books on these subjects until we've mailed enough of the ones we already have to incarcerated readers to make room for more.

 

FICTION - literary fiction/classics, drama/plays/Shakespeare, thrillers

 

NONFICTION - philosophy, chemistry, math, building trades/construction skills, history/politics

 

At the moment, we would very strongly like to prioritize the following: fantasy paperbacks, horror, urban fiction, occult/magic belief systems, manga (no nudity or graphic violence), books on how to draw (no nudity), and re-entry topics such as real estate, starting a small business or learning a trade.

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As always, we ask that you carefully read our requested categories and make sure that your books are a good fit. Before sending multiple copies of any book, please email BooksToPrisoners@live.com to double-check that it’s material we can use. We know you mean well, but excess books, or books from unwanted categories, means more work for our already overburdened volunteers – something we really can’t afford right now!

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See the list below for our most requested genres – we ask that you only donate books in those categories. Things we are OK on right now are crossed out, although we would still accept donations for those subjects.

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Due to space constraints, DO NOT SEND US THESE SUBJECTS: drama, short stories, literary anthologies, Christianity, young adult, or women’s studies. If we receive large amounts of those genres, we have to re-donate or throw them out – please save us the trip.

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If you are interested in donating books, please follow these guidelines:

• Limit your donation to 2 boxes of books at a time. If you wish to donate more than two boxes of books, please stagger your donation so that we are not overloaded.

• Make sure each box weighs no more than 25 pounds, so that our volunteers can safely lift them.

• No hardback fiction; hardback non-fiction is acceptable.

• Remove any CD’s, as well as metal or plastic spiral or comb binding. Prison staff treat these as weapons.

• No nudity, ie, no photos or drawings including women’s nipples or men’s, women’s or children’s genitalia or gluteal cleft. This applies to comics, graphic novels, manga, magazines, books about art, books about how to draw, paint, etc, and medical textbooks.

• No graphic violence or gore, eg, decapitation or spurting blood, in comics, graphic novels, or manga. Fight scenes in mainstream (DC, Marvel…) titles aren’t usually a problem.

• No self-defense or martial arts, including tai chi.

• No stickers, remainder marks, highlighting or underlining, or anything else that modifies the book – doing so severely limits the number of facilities we can send books to.

• DO NOT SEND US BOOKS WITH MOLD OR WATER DAMAGE- Out of respect and care for the health of the incarcerated people we serve as well as our staff and volunteers please don’t send us moldy books. Also, books that are significantly water damaged are likely to get rejected. 

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You can donate books to Books to Prisoners both at Left Bank Books in downtown Seattle (92 Pike St) or at our volunteer location during open hours (contact us first for the address and times.)