The Free Book Bus Year-Round Literacy Program

Program Overview

The Free Book Bus gives out books to children and families across all school districts and areas in and around Albemarle County, Virginia and surrounding areas. Everyone is welcome to visit the bus at our community stops - babies, children, teens, and adults are all welcome. Everyone can take home two books to keep. There is no charge for any of our books or services. We have books in multiple languages, such as Arabic, Dari, Farsi, Nepali, Pashto, Spanish, and Swahili. We have materials to help people learn English, and materials to help people learn how to write in English. At certain stops, volunteers read with children to help them learn, and they are on hand to help adults choose books, and to answer questions about learning English.

Cost Info

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

This quote is from a volunteer, Faith, who lives in one of the communities we serve. We first met Faith in 2019 when she was staying at a homeless shelter we were visiting; she had recently lost her home and its contents in a fire. She was especially distraught over the loss of her many books. One of the books she missed most of all was The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. We happened to have a vintage copy of The Prophet on the book bus that night, which was very moving for everyone. We started bringing the book bus to the apartment complex where Faith now lives. We developed a wonderful friendship with Faith and her daughter, who now serves on our board. Faith volunteers as a community liaison at our monthly visits to her apartment complex. Here's what Faith said about the bus:

“Speaking on behalf of the bus of knowledge, reading is such a part of my life that I would be totally lost without the beautiful, wonderful experience created by The Free Book Bus, because my story is long, and reading is fundamental to my being. Thank you for bringing the books to our community. The children are so eager to receive, always asking me when is the bus coming back. I too look forward to the experience every time.” - Faith, book bus volunteer and book recepient