In the face of educational disruptions following the pandemic and the mounting book banning crisis, Penguin Random House announced an unprecedented book donation to long-standing partner Save the Children to help spread the joy of reading to kids everywhere. The historic donation is the largest global book donation in Save the Children’s history and will provide more than one million books to children across the globe over three years.

According to UNESCO, 244 million children did not attend school in 2022—and by 2030, the organization predicts that 20% of young people and 30% of adults will be unable to read. Penguin Random House’s partnership with Save the Children helps combat this global education crisis by providing age-appropriate books that support kids’ literacy skill development and ensure they have opportunities to learn both inside their schools and within their communities.

From accelerated learning for out-of-school children to school-based reading clubs run by trained volunteers, Save the Children programs that have been or will be supported by Penguin Random House’s book donation so far include:

• ‘Early Steps to School Success’, which provides early childhood development services to children ages 0-5 and their families in under-resourced communities, and Head Start programs across rural America
• Indigenous-led literacy initiatives in communities across Canada
• Safe spaces where children and families participate in educational activities, play games and receive support for physical or mental health concerns in Jiangna Township, China
• Elementary schools in four regions of Germany, including Berlin and Brandenburg
• Inclusive learning environments in India, including, but not limited to, school libraries, district education and training facilities, mobile learning centers and evening education support centers for young adults
• Early childhood centers in Mexico City
• Early childhood development centers in a South African province damaged by severe flooding in 2022
• Primary schools within low income-communities across the U.K., including England and Wales, as well as in partnership with a local book project in rural Scotland

To learn more about the partnership, click here.

We distributed free books to some of the communities most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, including families on low incomes and senior citizens facing isolation. By getting thousands of books into the hands of people who face particular hardship or distress during this challenging time, our aim was to provide mental stimulation, company, and comfort at a time when people need the power of books more than ever. We distributed books through a partnership with the community platform Neighbourly, which supports a national network of food banks and community causes that deliver food parcels to people’s homes, as well as grassroots groups that support senior citizens. To learn more about how we teamed up with Neighbourly to offer relief and escapism in challenging times, click here.

Nurturing curiosity and supporting causes is a top priority for DK colleagues, and the U.S. team has made several book donations to organizations that promote literacy and serve a crucial role during the COVID-19 outbreak. We donated 2,000 books to First Book to support children affected by U.S. school closures, and gave 300 books to Bess the Book Bus, a Florida-based mobile literacy outreach, to be distributed across the country. Having recently visited the Lower East Side Girls Club, which helps girls and young women on the Lower East Side of New York City, we provided books to be included in care packages for members who may have lost their safe spaces because of the pandemic.

DK also supported two nonprofits in California. To encourage science education, we donated STEM-related titles to Community Resources for Science, which serves schools in low-income communities, and donated more than 500 books to Project Books and Blankies, which provides books to shelters, literacy and after-school programs, classrooms, libraries, and more.

Penguin Talks is a program of free creative talks for young people across the U.K. and Ireland. Attendees are given the opportunity to hear from and ask questions to a world-renowned thinker, writer, or influential figure from our family of authors. Held in local schools, Penguin Talks is meant to help equip students by introducing them to new ideas and perspectives. Each Penguin Talk is published in full online, together with free curriculum-based resources for teachers, in order to enable young people in classrooms to engage with the themes and issues discussed. Former Penguin Talks have included Michelle Obama speaking on the power of education and self-belief, Yuval Noah Harari on the future of the world of work, and Margaret Atwood on protest and activism. To learn more about the program, click here.

At the start of the Easter holiday, employees of Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe visited the Münchner Tafel (Munich Food Bank) for the fourth time. A total of over 800 books were handed out to kids and their parents this year. Picture books were popular with the very youngest; beginning readers were particularly keen to pick up Sven Gerhardt’s MINNA MELONE. As volunteers at Münchner Tafel explained: “We are currently receiving a lot of families who have fled from Ukraine. Children’s books are also great for adults to learn German.” 

This annual project has become an integral part of Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe’s long-standing charitable work to promote reading.

Penguin Random House joined forces with Lambda Literary and the NYC Department of Education to facilitate the LGBTQ Writers in Schools program, an initiative bringing LGBTQ+ writers and their works to K-12 classrooms across New York City. The program primarily serves Title 1 schools, which support children from low-income backgrounds, making access to LGBTQ+ literature crucial for LGBTQ+ students and their allies.

Penguin Random House and First Book joined forces to celebrate teachers throughout the month of May. As part of this initiative, we gave away 10 gift credits worth $500 each to educators for use in the First Book Marketplace, ensuring that students had plenty of reading material to enjoy during the summer break. 

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. 

During a reading marking the end of “Freedom of Expression Week” at Mediacampus Frankfurt, the school for aspiring booksellers, Penguin author Hasnain Kazim entertained around 130 guests with his clever approach to the issues of hate mail and hate speech. In a post-reading discussion with Rebecca Prager, Head of Corporate Communications at Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe, Kazim shared his experiences with hateful letters from readers and his perspective on freedom of expression and its limits.