Holiday Book Drive 2023

This holiday season the Literacy Council of Frederick County is partnering with ACNB Bank and Curious Iguana for our 17th Annual Holiday Book Drive to provide new and gently-used books for elementary school aged children (PreK through 5th grade).  Last year, over 900 children’s books were donated!

The Literacy Council works with adults 18 years and older, many of whom are supporting families and young children.  Providing appealing, age-appropriate books to children fosters literacy at a young age and helps to break the cycle of low literacy in families. The donated books from this annual book drive are given to parents of children in elementary school who are participating in the Literacy Council’s tutoring, parent literacy, workplace, or class instruction programs.

The Literacy Council works directly with the Judy Center and Butterfly Ridge, Hillcrest, Lincoln, Monocacy, Tuscarora, and Waverley Elementary Schools to provide programs at the schools for parents whose children attend these schools, and many of our other students also have young children with whom to share the books. Books will also be distributed to children at community outreach events throughout the year.

Suggestions for younger grades include: board books, picture books (fiction and nonfiction), early chapter books; and for older grades: mid-grade chapter books, paperback series, graphic novels, and STEM titles.  Donors often like to share a childhood favorite or just encourage the habit of reading in a child. We request no religious holiday themed books so that we are not limited in distributing them.

To participate in the Holiday Book Drive, you may purchase and donate books between November 3 and December 22 at Curious Iguana (www.curiousiguana.com) in downtown Frederick (12 N. Market St.) – please designate your purchase to the Literacy Council’s Holiday Book Drive and Curious Iguana will collect them in a bin at their store.  You can also shop online through their Bookshop link to browse a collection of recommended children’s titles selected for this year’s Holiday Book Drive, or search for any title on Bookshop. Books can be delivered to your home or directly to the Literacy Council (mailing address:  Literacy Council of Frederick County, 110 E. Patrick Street, Frederick, MD 21701).  Even though you are shopping online, you will still be supporting a local business.

Donated unwrapped books can be dropped off at these ACNB Bank locations between November 3rd through December 20th:

2 North on the Square: 2 North Market Street. Frederick, MD 21701

Aspen Ridge: 165A Thomas Johnson Drive, Frederick, MD 21702

Crestwood: 6910 Crestwood Boulevard, Frederick, MD 21703

Walkersville: 200 Commerce Drive, Walkersville, MD 21793

The Literacy Council will also have a collection bin at its office at 110 E. Patrick Street, in the C. Burr Artz Public Library. The office is open M-F from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.  Curbside drop off can be arranged by appointment with requests sent to info@frederickliteracy.org

Help get the word out!  Share this Holiday Book Drive flyer!

Over the years, the Holiday Book Drive has provided books for multiple local agencies including Centro Hispano, Head Start, YMCA, Toys for Tots, Advocates for Homeless Families, Children of Incarcerated Parents (COIP), Blessings in a Backpack, Spanish Speaking Community of Maryland and FCPS.