New Haven Reads Community Book Bank

NHR is a great community organization! I volunteer there and I always come back with a few books in hand. It’s wonderful to be able to get books for free, and as a student, I can sometimes find books for English classes there.
Beyond the book bank, the tutoring program is fantastic!

Is there anything in life better than a free book? Maybe, just maybe a free meal, but that’s about it. In fact, the feeling is so heady that it is hard not to get carried away when confronted with the shelves filled with free used books at New Haven Reads.
After starting in 2003 as part of a city wide initiative to promote literacy and education, New Haven Reads bounced around the Elm City for a few years before settling into its current location in 2005. Although it’s on-​the-​outside-​looking-​in from the downtown scene, NHR is well worth the walk outside of the shadow that Yale casts, and is a great way to kill an afternoon.
The volunteers manning the desk are friendly, but unlike regular bookstore staff they are totally chill and not at all intrusive. The space is open and sunny, and the shelves are kept relatively dust free and clean. And, there are a few strategically placed stools and a table for the kiddies, so you don’t feel like they are trying to rush you out.
Like most venues that supply second hand goods, the inventory can be kind of a crap shoot, but typically their selections of modern fiction and nonfiction are pretty solid and they always have a respectable showing for the classics. Paul, our IT pro, picked up a hard copy of the double volume of _​The Tales of Genji_​while he was there, only to see it later on Amazon priced at $ 30. And, if you’re a nostalgia buff, they have started to amass a small collection of VHS up for grabs as well.
In addition to finding yourself some great books to snuggle up with this winter, NHR is the first place I would recommend anyone turn to if they are looking for children’s books. Those suckers can be super expensive ($ 22 for a ten page book? No thanks), and most of the time-​tested classics like _​Curious George_​or _​The Hungry Caterpillar_​turn up frequently on their shelves.
Another pro is that unlike many other book banks, NHR doesn’t run on a tit-​for-​tat basis. That is, you don’t have to turn in used books – or even show that you are a city resident, for that matter – in order to benefit from their large selection of free literary goodies.
They offer this awesome service in addition to the other excellent work they do in the community, like tutoring over 200 kids a week. And of course, if you do have a huge box of books that you need to dump somewhere (which I ALWAYS do), NHR is more than happy to take those bad boys off your hands.
As we all start to come to terms with the fact that we’re in a recession, a place where the only thing you have to spend is time in order to enjoy it might be just what we are looking for.
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