Making books accessible
to all children in every place
We have all seen the disturbing images of poverty and suffering in developing countries, on TV, in the newspapers or on the Internet. As much as one would like to help, what can really, effectively be done? Many international charities and NGO’s are doing an excellent job fighting the ongoing problems of these countries. They provide money, food, clothing and medicine, all of which are very much needed. However, the problems are massive.
Read to Grow has a slightly different approach. We believe that teaching people from developing countries to support and educate themselves is extremely important.
Through education, these countries can grow to become stronger, more self-sufficient and no longer dependent on help from others. Read to Grow contributes to this philosophy by supporting small-scale projects with high-quality English and French books.
There are so many adults and children who go through life without ever having read a book. In developing countries, books are scarce and very expensive. Without books, the door to knowledge and progress remains closed. Many people remain in a vicious circle of poverty and illiteracy, instead of developing their talents and bringing change to their community through knowledge and experience.
How We Work | It is actually quite simple.
Book Collection
World Book Day
Delivering Books
Donations
Receiving Books
Where do we stand?
From 2002 up to 2025 we have provided books to 1612 reading projects in 79 countries with an average of 977 books per project. In total 1.575.355 books.
Where are we heading?
2 million books by 2027 in 100 countries
Our current budget for 2025 is 80 eurocent per send book
We need your help!
Frequently Asked Questions
We support UNESCO’s adage: “We have to make sure that books are accessible to everybody everywhere”. So in general, we send books to every place they are needed, for example: schools, orphanages, youth prisons, libraries and hospitals.
We accept English, French, Spanish and Portuguese books.
Initially we have been sending English and French books.
But since 2022 we have been collecting Spanish and Portuguese books too.
Of course that is possible. We are always looking for new projects to support!
- Currently, it costs 70 Eurocents to ship one book to a developing country. This price would be much higher if we were to send new books, which would have to be purchased.
- Because most books are collected by children, our goal works both ways. We support projects which need books, but we also help increase the awareness in children here, that there are people in the world who have very little or no access to books.
- Every year, many books are thrown away or stay untouched in a bookshelf. By collecting these books, we do our part in recycling and add to a better environment.
- All books collected are sorted according to a strict procedure. This way, the books we send to projects are of excellent or almost new condition, and therefore have almost the same quality as a new book.
Of course, the more the better. The only requirement is, that they need to be in good condition and completely in the English or French language. Put them in a box and send them to our storage in the Netherlands or organize a World Book Day action on your school.
We receive books for age group 3 to 17 years old.
In English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
Nursery, early reading, reading books, and informative books are very welcome.
No, Read to Grow has absolutely no association with religion. Under no circumstance will we distribute religious books to our projects. When we encounter religious books, they are immediately removed from our inventory. Read to Grow aims to remain as neutral as possible.
Political, violent and sexually oriented books are also removed. Fortunately, we do not receive these kinds of books too often.
Naturally, we do not just throw them out. These books are donated to a company, which processes them into recycled paper. And that is good for our environment.