Book Exchange of Marin

Home
United States
San Rafael, CA
Book Exchange of Marin

Connecting kids and teens with books in Marin County. We are an environmentally socially conscious alternative to the landfill for local schools and libraries.

We need children’s books of all kinds, so we of course welcome parents, kids and others who have children’s books to bring us. We work with Marin County youth, educators and service clubs to promote local and worldwide education and literacy. We find second homes for hundreds of thousands of wonderful, often like new, but no longer needed K-12 textbooks, library books and educational materials. We offer books locally to families, teachers, schools and nonprofits, such as community literacy projects, daycare facilities, community centers, homeless shelters, hospitals, drug treatment facilities, prisons – and more. We collaborate with community-minded individuals and groups such as Rotary Clubs to ship our educational materials to developing countries around the globe. Our books have been distributed to students in over 40 countries! We are a fun and meaningful community-building service project that is run entirely by volunteers who are helping local schools and the environment, while educating children all over the world. Come visit us during our open hours. Everyone is welcome! The Global Book Exchange is the winner of the Marin Economic Commission Award of Excellence for “contributions to a vibrant and sustainable economy.”

08/08/2026

🎒📚 A backpack. A book. A great start to the school year.

Today, The Book Exchange of Marin was proud to be part of the Ritter Center Back-to-School event, helping local children get ready for the year ahead.

Kids up to 18 received a backpack filled with school supplies, a $100 Target gift card for clothing and shoes — and, thanks to The Book Exchange, a book of their very own to take home. ❤️

A new school year isn’t just pencils and paper. It’s the excitement of discovering a great story, too.

A huge thank-you to our wonderful volunteers who made the day special:

📚 Diane Brandell
📚 Judy Tsutsumi Smith
📚 Monica Ertel
📚 Marian Previtali

We’re grateful to Ritter Center for the important work they do for Marin families — and proud to play a small part in helping local kids start the school year ready to learn, dream, and read.

BooksForKids ReadingMatters

07/08/2026

The Milagro Foundation's mission is to fund organizations that support under-resourced children in the areas of the arts, education and health.

They have been a key supporter of The Book Exchange of Marin and for that, we want to say a HUGE THANK YOU!

Because of our partnership, children in Marin County are learning through reading!

07/02/2026

A great example of what community partnership looks like in action. 📚

Here's Charley Vogt, President of the Rotary Club of Ignacio, delivering a box of books to Karen McCormish, 5th grade teacher at Loma Verde Elementary School in Novato.

These books came through a creative program: the Rotary Club of Ignacio purchases them through the Book Exchange of Marin's deep-discount publisher partnership.

After each guest speaker presents at a Rotary meeting, they sign one of the books — and those signed books are then donated to classrooms at Loma Verde and Hamilton Elementary Schools.

It's a simple idea with real impact. A student doesn't just get a book — they get a personal connection to the community that provided it. That's the kind of moment that can turn a reader into a lifelong one. 💛

Thank you to the Rotary Club of Ignacio for this thoughtful partnership, and to educators like Karen McCormish who make sure these books land in the right hands.

07/01/2026

Our Year in Review is here — and wow, what a year! 📖✨

Thanks to YOU, this year the Book Exchange of Marin put 28,000+ books into the hands of 3,450+ kids — all at zero cost to schools and families. 💛

Here's what that looked like:
🚌 32 field trips brought 103 classes from 7 Marin schools to our door, where kids picked out 10 books each to keep forever

📚 We visited every single TK & Kindergarten classroom at our partner schools with story time + 3 free books per child

🤝 17 community partners helped us reach even more kids, from Head Start classrooms to Día del Libro at the San Rafael Library

✨ We turned a storage closet into our brand-new Learning Lab, where "Reading is Your Superpower" comes to life

One 6th grader from Venetia Valley told us: "Since I started reading more after our field trip, my grades in English have improved two grades from last year!" 🥹 That's the whole point.

We're a 100% volunteer-run organization, which means almost every dollar donated goes straight to getting books into kids' hands — 87% of our budget goes directly to programs.

Every book, every field trip, every classroom visit — it's all because of this community. Thank you for believing that every kid deserves books to call their own. 📚💛
Want to help us do even more next year? Donate books, donate dollars, or volunteer!

Check out our Year In Review here: https://bookexchangemarin.org/2025-26-year-in-review/

06/27/2026

We are so grateful for the support of The Bothin Foundation. 🙏📚

Your generosity helps make The Book Exchange possible — from keeping our doors open to ensuring thousands of Marin children can choose books to call their own.

Thank you for investing in literacy, community, and the kids who need it most. 💚

06/25/2026

"This was the best field trip of my life." 🥹📚

(Yes — even better than the California Academy of Sciences!)

This sweet note from Gina, a 2nd grade teacher at Bahia Vista Elementary, says it all.

This was her fourth year bringing her class to The Book Exchange — and her students still can't get enough. Notes like this are exactly why our volunteers show up every single week.

Thank you, Gina, and thank you to every teacher who trusts us with their students. See you next year! 💚

06/23/2026

What a year. 💚📚

As the 2025–26 school year wraps up, we are overflowing with gratitude for the 27 incredible volunteers who make The Book Exchange possible.

Because of them, thousands of children across Marin walked through our doors, explored our shelves, and left with books of their own.

This year's highlights:

📚 32 FIELD TRIPS serving grades 1–8, plus 7 TK & K school visits

👧👦 3,151 children VISITED The Book Exchange

📖 28,000 books GIVEN to students on field trips, school visits, distribution and community partners like Head Start, Ritter House, Día del Libro, Canal Alliance, and more

🙌 31,550 books DONATED to keep our shelves full

To our volunteers: you don't just hand out books — you open worlds. Thank you for every Tuesday morning, every shelf sorted, every child you welcomed. We couldn't do any of this without you.

Here's to year ahead! 📖✨

06/12/2026

**Donor Gratitude Post**

Huge thanks to .bank for being an ongoing supporter to The Book Exchange!

As we close out our 2025-26 school field trips, it's time to show some gratitude to those who make it all possible.

So thanks .bank - we appreciate you!

06/03/2026

Big thanks for Marin Supervisor for stopping by The Book Exchange this week. She joined our Board President, Bruce Burtch and first graders from .tk8 school , helping them choose their 10 free books to take home.
Thanks Supervisor Sackett for the visit!

05/21/2026

"It's not real reading." 🙄

We've all heard it. But the research says otherwise.

Graphic novels build the same comprehension skills as prose — visual sequencing, vocabulary from context, inferencing. They lower the barrier for kids who find dense text intimidating, and studies consistently show they increase how often kids read, how long they read, and how willingly they pick up a book on their own.

Here in Marin, many elementary and middle school students from under-resourced communities are reading below grade level. A child who can't read proficiently by 3rd grade is 4x less likely to graduate on time — and when poverty is a factor, that jumps to 13x.

That's why the Book Exchange of Marin stocks graphic novels. Intentionally. Proudly. And why we need your help getting more of them into kids' hands. 📚

👉 $25 puts THREE graphic novels in the hands of a child who needs them.

Read more about Graphic Novels in our latest newsletter:

bookexchangemarin.org/newsletters/

Address

San Rafael, CA

Opening Hours

12pm - 3pm

Website

http://www.bookexchangemarin.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Book Exchange of Marin posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Book Exchange of Marin:

Want your organization to be the top-listed non profit organization in San Rafael?