Our purpose is simple — to increase the number of books in the homes of San Francisco families. We give books away at elementary schools, clubhouses, and parks. New books are expensive and library visits are not always possible. The Book Wagon provides access to and ownership of books, building community and supporting literacy. The books we share are free, popular with young readers, culturally diverse, multilingual, and appropriate to ages from preschool to sixth grade.
Books are the tools that children need to develop basic language skills, expand their vocabularies, feed their imagination and build self-esteem.
Books build empathy, helping a child experience the world from a different perspective. And with books in the home, parents are more likely to read to their children and see them reading on their own or with friends and siblings.
When children get to choose their own books, they are more likely to pick them up and read them. The Book Wagon encourages children to choose their own books and keep them.