Making Books a Birthright.
"Before he passed away, my Daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing I had ever done."
The Berkeley Baby Book Project (BBBP) enrolls children under age five who live in our two Imagination Library (IL) service areas covering Berkeley & Emeryville and Richmond & San Pablo to receive new age-appropriate books by mail at no cost, monthly until the month they turn 5. BBBP pays all costs of our Imagination Library Programs. A child qualifies for IL books by mail based only on their home address and birthdate.
Imagination Library mails books to 3 million+ US children monthly. It takes 8 to 10 weeks for first book to arrive. After that they arrive monthly. If you move you must let BBBP know. There is no forwarding service, the books are mailed Bulk Rate. seena@thebbbp.org
For enrollment information go to Enroll page. Para obtener información sobre la inscripción, visite la página de Inscripción
We serve only / Servimos a solomente Berkeley+ZIP Code 94608 & Cities of Richmond+San Pablo
The BBBP is a Partner of / es somos socios de Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
in 2026 more than 2,700 children got books from our Imagination Library Programs. Over 26,000 books were mailed to children in BBBP’s two IL Programs.
Go to our 2025 Survey results! Lots of participant Comments:)
“Love receiving the books and how different they are every month. My child LOVED “Good Night Gorilla”, she loved it so much we were reading it 10-15 times a day! She now enjoys receiving & opening the books herself & leafing through it on her own before we read it together” (repetition strengthens neural connections that support fluent literacy!)
“My son gets excited he’s getting mail, makes it fun to read more.”
LISTEN: EdSource Podcast-BBBP ED interview
READ: Richmondside Article July 2025 Imagination Library’s Research
WHY WE DO THIS WORK
Literacy is a Civil Right.
It is a cornerstone of social justice and equality.
A person with weak or no literacy cannot fully access and participate in our society’s movements, institutions and systems.
Lack of literacy leaves a person functionally handicapped. We want all children to grow up and become full participants in shaping their future, their world. We need them to be literate.
Ownership of books from birth predicts Kindergarten Readiness better than any other metric or circumstance.
POR QUÉ HACEMOS ESTE TRABAJOLa alfabetización es fundamental para la justicia social y la equidad. Una persona con escasa o nula alfabetización no puede acceder ni participar plenamente en los movimientos, instituciones y sistemas de nuestra sociedad.
La falta de alfabetización supone una discapacidad funcional.
Queremos que todos los niños crezcan y participen plenamente en la construcción de su futuro y de su mundo. Necesitamos que sean alfabetizados. Las investigaciones demuestran que tener libros en casa desde la infancia predice la preparación para el jardín de infancia mejor que cualquier otro factor.