To celebrate International Literacy Day, we teamed up again with our longstanding partner, Worldreader, to help promote literacy and the joy of reading around the world. With every book purchased on our website, we donated $1 to Worldreader, up to $10K.

Reading is the foundation of all learning, yet millions of children around the world lack basic literacy skills – and their communities lack the support they need to help them. The pandemic has only exacerbated disparities when it comes to access to reading materials and resources.

Worldreader works to champion digital reading in under-resourced communities. Working with partners globally, the nonprofit provides the tools, training, and resources communities need to help children experience the love of reading anytime, anywhere while developing foundational literacy and life skills. Since 2010, Worldreader has reached over 20 million readers in more than 100 countries.

Over the years, we have donated hundreds of thousands of e-books to Worldreader to help millions of children read around the world. We are committed to advancing literacy, especially in communities where there are not many books and resources available. Together, Penguin Random House and Worldreader help create a world where everyone is a reader.

In these pictures, children and their families bond over reading in Peru and Kenya, learning and growing together while they explore the Worldreader library at their fingertips.

Through our Banned on the Run 5K fundraiser, Penguin Random House employees nationwide raised over $90,000 to support the Freedom to Read Foundation—nine times our original goal.

With 482 employees across 33 states participating and more than 2,000 donors contributing, this effort reflected our shared dedication to defending the First Amendment and opposing censorship. Together, we are demonstrating that protecting the freedom to read is not only an ideal central to our mission but also a commitment we support through collective action.

Co-founded by the National Literacy Trust and Penguin Random House UK in 2021, the Libraries for Primaries campaign brings together charities, publishers, and businesses to address the lack of investment in primary school libraries—particularly in the UK’s most disadvantaged communities, where 1 in 4 primary schools don’t have a library.

In May, Her Majesty the Queen visited Moreland Primary School in London to open the 1000th library transformed through the campaign. The Queen told students, “You’re really lucky to have such a beautiful library, and I hope you’re going to enjoy reading all the books, because the more books you read, the more you’re going to learn.”

The campaign has now provided more than 382,000 primary-aged children across the UK with vital access to books. We aim to reach the remaining schools without a library in the UK by 2028.

Penguin Random House marked the 10th anniversary of our meaningful partnership with Save the Children via a special Giving Tuesday campaign in 2024. Over the past decade, we have worked together to improve the lives of countless children around the world, providing them with the resources and support they need to thrive.

Through December 10, we offered a special matching program for Penguin Random House U.S. employees, matching donations made to Save the Children’s Make Childhood Fair Fund, up to $10,000. This fund supports early education and literacy programs in rural communities throughout the U.S. During the same period, each book purchased through penguinrandomhouse.com resulted in a $1 donation to Save the Children, up to a total of $10,000. 

The fifth annual edition of this six-month national reading challenge encouraged children and families to read 100 books between October 2025 and March 2026. Building on last year’s campaign, which engaged more than 600,000 children, the 2025–2026 program featured themed author read-alouds, classroom resources, and book giveaways designed to spark a lifelong love of reading.

With participation from Penguin Random House authors including Drew Daywalt, Jan Brett, and Joanna Ho, Rally to Read 100 connected young readers with stories that reflect a range of experiences and perspectives. Together with RIF, we are working to expand access to books and inspire joyful reading habits in communities across the country.

Penguin Random House is the exclusive publishing partner of Reading is Fundamental (RIF) Rally to Read 100 campaign.

Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe joined around one million participants to celebrate Read Aloud Day 2025 under the motto “Reading Aloud Speaks Your Language.” More than 120 employees visited primary schools and kindergartens across Germany to read stories to students and donate over 1,400 books. The campaign also offered digital resources, such as livestreams and read-aloud videos featuring well-known children’s authors, for use in classrooms and at home.

On World Book Day 2025, the Penguin Random House initiative “Ich schenk dir eine Geschichte” (I’m Giving You a Story) once again inspired young readers across Germany. Over 1.1 million students in grades four and five, as well as students in special and transition classes, collected free copies of the comic novel COOL WIE BOLLE (COOL AS A CUCUMBER) by Thomas Winkler and Timo Grubing from 3,000 participating bookshops. Organized by Stiftung Lesen, cbj Verlag, Deutsche Post/DHL, and ZDF, the campaign promoted both reading and sustainability, with book production following the cradle-to-cradle principle to reduce waste.

Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe, together with Stiftung Lesen, organized a special reading session at the Bellevue di Monaco residential and cultural center in Munich for refugee children. The event featured cbj author Yasmin Shakarami, actor and reading ambassador Adnan Maral, and Stiftung Lesen Chairman Thomas Rathnow, who read stories from Penguin Random House titles THEO UND LEO – DIE MEISTERDETEKTIVE (THEO AND LEO – THE MASTER DETECTIVES) by Sabine Ludwig, UNTERWEGS MIT HARRY (ON THE ROAD WITH HARRY) by Beate Dölling, and KUNO KLAPPER HAT NICHT ALLE KNOCHEN BEISAMMEN (KUNO KLAPPER ISN’T ALL THERE) by Tina Schilp.