Page-one lists of free books by mail still name ebook sites and programs that stopped mailing, so every entry below was checked against its own rules in October 2026. Each says who qualifies, what arrives and the catch, from babies to readers who can’t hold a print book, followed by swaps that cost postage.
Key takeaways
- 4 of the 14 programs are for kids: Imagination Library mailed about 40.4 million books in 2025, 38.3 million of them to US children.
- Adults win books in giveaways: Goodreads draws winners at random, and 57 of LibraryThing’s 301 October 2026 titles were print.
- If print is hard to read, the Library of Congress lends for free: talking books, braille and a player, postage-free, over 20 million items in fiscal 2025.
- Religious offers are free but come from ministries: Bibles for America sends one New Testament per person, and IslamiCity’s Quran is for non-Muslims.
- Swaps are not free: a 1-pound book costs $4.39 by Media Mail, and PaperBackSwap adds 99 cents a request unless you pay $15 or $25 a year.
- Page one still lists 6 offers that won’t mail a book: NetGalley is digital only, and Natural Inquirer paused mailing on September 25, 2026.
Every free book program at a glance
4 free book programs that mail to kids
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails a book every month, addressed to your child, “at no cost to the child’s family.” Its terms cover children “from birth to five (5) years old,” registered by an adult aged 18 or over.
The catch is your address. The library says it “must have a local partner to cover the book and mailing cost,” so start on its program finder. It takes a map, a menu or your ZIP code. Where no partner exists, you can leave your details for an alert when one starts.
Funding can also stop. In December 2025, LEX 18 reported that Fayette County, Kentucky, would pause books to nearly 8,000 enrolled families after January 2026. Its local foundation had to raise $8,000 to $10,000 a month.
Once you are in, the first book “may take up to eight to twelve weeks,” its help page says.
Its Year in Review counts 40,356,668 books gifted in 2025, about 40.4 million. That is up from 24.7 million in 2022, 29.5 million in 2023 and 36.7 million in 2024, and 38.3 million of 2025’s books went to US children.
Other free mail for young children, from magazines to Santa letters, is on our free stuff for kids list.
Worth it? Yes, for any child under 5 whose area has a partner: twelve books a year with nothing to buy.
PJ Library
PJ Library “sends free high-quality Jewish storybooks each month.” Ages 0 to 8 get board books, picture books and early chapter books. Kids 9 to 12 choose their own middle-grade book each month through PJ Our Way.
Who qualifies, in its FAQ’s words: “All families raising Jewish children are eligible,” though families identifying as Messianic Jewish are not. The sign-up page asks you to affirm that your family “includes at least one Jewish member.”
You enroll through a local community, and “each community determines how long they will run PJ Library,” most up to about age 9. PJ Our Way takes kids from 8½ through the day before their 13th birthday. Its programs in 40 countries send over seven million books a year.
Worth it? Yes, for Jewish families: a book a month, and from 8½ the child picks it.
Braille Books Program (American Action Fund)
The American Action Fund’s Braille Books Program sends “blind children a free Braille book every month from a popular children’s reading series.” To enroll, “each applicant must be blind or low vision, and be a Braille reader.” The books are the child’s to keep.
The 2026 list runs January to December, in UEB braille. The fund’s annual report says it “distributed more than 22,500 free Braille books.” Changes “may take up to two months,” so sign up well before a series you want starts.
Worth it? Yes, for any child who reads braille: free, monthly, and the books stay.
New Worlds Reading (Florida)
New Worlds Reading is Florida’s state-funded program, run by the University of Florida’s Lastinger Center. It mails 9 free books and activities a school year to kids from VPK to 5th grade. They must be children “who have tested below grade level in reading at any point since August 2021,” with “no income requirement.”
Eligibility comes from school records, so you apply and wait: the FAQ says the wait “may take several months,” and books start about 8 weeks after the eligibility email. Applications were open in October 2026, and a child stays in through 5th grade, up to 63 books.
Worth it? Yes, for Florida families whose child has tested below grade level. Nobody else qualifies.
Together, the four cover a child from birth to 13. Imagination Library stops at 5, New Worlds Reading after 5th grade, and PJ Our Way the day before 13.
3 free book programs for adults who review
Authors and publishers give away print copies to build early readers and reviews. You enter, and a draw or an algorithm picks the winners.
Goodreads Giveaways
Goodreads Giveaways lets authors and publishers give away print copies, and entering is free. Its terms open print giveaways to adult residents of the US, DC and Canada. Entrants need “a Goodreads and an Amazon.com or Amazon.ca account.”
Winners “will be selected at random from among all eligible entries,” one entry per person and household. Entering adds the book to your Want to Read shelf, and it must stay there until the giveaway ends. The terms don’t make winners review, and the author or publisher ships the book.
The odds are long. Goodreads told authors in September 2025 that 3,250 to 5,223 users enter an average Standard giveaway, a package that costs the author $119 ($599 for Premium). One indie author’s 2018 blog post recorded 50 print copies given away and, months later, one review and one rating from the winners.
Worth it? Yes, as a lottery: it costs a click, but thousands enter each giveaway.
LibraryThing Early Reviewers
LibraryThing Early Reviewers is “a free program”: publishers list advance copies each month, and members request them. Under its rules, members “must be at least 13 years of age,” and you can win up to 4 books a monthly batch.
It is not a pure draw. LibraryThing picks winners with “an algorithm” weighing your history with the program, your catalog and “random chance.” Skipping a review “will strongly affect your chances of winning future giveaways.” Reviews must run at least 25 words, and AI-written ones are banned.
Most of what it gives away is digital. The October 2026 batch, counted on October 16, held 301 titles and 3,301 copies. Print was 57 titles (529 copies), ebooks 237 titles (2,688 copies) and audiobooks 7 titles (84 copies).
Worth it? Yes, if you will review: about 1 in 5 titles is print, and reviews keep your odds up.
Baker Publishing Group reviewer programs
Baker Publishing Group, the Christian publisher behind the Bethany House and Revell imprints, runs two reviewer programs that mail print books. Its fiction program asks for “a strong platform that can help authors,” such as a book blog or a YouTube channel. You must also be able “to review, promote, and support the books.”
Accepted reviewers join an email list where they “request books to review each month.” Print fiction goes to US and Canada residents only. The nonfiction Reader Ambassador program, for readers of Christian nonfiction, mails print to US residents only, and everyone else gets ebooks through NetGalley.
Spots “are limited,” and neither page sets a follower minimum or a review deadline.
Worth it? Only if you already post reviews people read. It is an application, not a giveaway.
3 free book services for readers who can’t get to a library
Talking books from the Library of Congress (NLS)
The National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS) lends audiobooks, braille books and the player for them, free. It serves any US resident or US citizen abroad “who is unable to read or use regular print materials” because of a visual or physical limitation. A reading disability counts too.
A “competent authority,” such as a doctor, certifies the application, which goes to your state’s network library. Books are then “mailed to your door for free” or downloaded, and NLS says “there’s no waitlist for titles.”
Postage is free both ways under the USPS Free Matter for the Blind rule, which covers braille, 14-point or larger type and sound recordings. NLS circulated more than 20 million items in fiscal 2025, “an average of more than 90 items per patron,” and Congress gave it $66.13 million for fiscal 2026.
Heavy readers use it hard. In 2002 the Honolulu Star-Bulletin profiled a legally blind reader of 77 who got through about 20 talking books a month. The manager of Hawaii’s library for the blind called the service “the best kept secret.”
Worth it? Yes, for anyone print shuts out, at any age: the books, the player and the postage are all free.
Public library books by mail
Many public libraries mail books to cardholders who can’t get to a branch, and each sets its own rules. Three published examples, read in October 2026:
- Louisville Free Public Library (Kentucky), Books To You: you must “be unable to read regular print” and “have difficulty physically coming in to the Library.” Bags of 1 to 3 books go out and back postage-free. You get one bag at a time, with no overdue fines (fact sheet).
- LA County Library (California), Books by Mail: for homebound people, people in convalescent homes and rural residents of its service area. You can have up to four books at a time with a library card. “Shipping is free,” and books go back within a month (its page).
- Stark Library (Ohio), Books by Mail: for homebound readers in its “designated service area.” Deliveries come “every 4 weeks.” You call 330-458-2828, and staff choose by your favorite authors and genres (its page).
The postage rule explains the differences. Free Matter for the Blind covers only large-type, braille and audio items for certified readers, so a library that mails regular print pays the postage itself.
Worth it? Yes, if you can’t get to a branch: call your library and ask for its homebound or books-by-mail service.
Books to prisoners
Volunteer groups mail free books to people in prison, and the person inside usually writes the request. Each prison sets its own limits. The federal rule, 28 CFR 540.71, lets hardcovers come “only from the publisher, from a book club, or from a bookstore.” Used paperbacks from any source reach only minimum and low security federal prisons.
Seattle’s Books to Prisoners sends 1 to 2 pounds of books “at no cost,” once every five months. A reply “may take up to four months.” Prison Book Program in Quincy, Massachusetts, sent nearly 65,000 books to more than 18,500 people in 2025.
In Florida, WUSF reported in August 2024 that Gainesville volunteers mail softcovers twice a month. One incarcerated writer said Florida’s free book programs take “four to six months.” Prison Book Program warns that some facilities “simply will not accept books,” so check the prison’s mail rules first.
Worth it? Yes: it is free to the reader inside, but slow, so ask for a genre rather than one title.
3 free religious books by mail (and what follows)
These come from ministries that hope you will read further. None of the offers below asks for money.
Bibles for America
Bibles for America mails a free New Testament Recovery Version, a study edition. Its FAQ says “everything, including shipping, is completely free.” It is “limited to one copy per person,” goes only to US, territory and APO addresses, and “no longer ships to prison inmates.”
It gives away only the New Testament “because of cost.” The nonprofit, founded in 2000 in Southern California, buys them in bulk from the publisher, Living Stream Ministry. Its About page counts 2,580,090 Bibles and 5,866,295 Christian books given away.
What follows: its privacy policy keeps the name, address, phone and email from your order, and sends its emails only “to users who subscribe.”
Worth it? Yes, if you want a study New Testament. A full Bible isn’t offered.
A free Quran (IslamiCity or WhyIslam)
Two US Muslim groups mail a Quran translation free. IslamiCity sends an English or Spanish copy “within the United States. No obligation. Completely free,” but limits requests to “people of faiths other than Islam,” sent to the requester’s own address.
WhyIslam, run by ICNA, mails an English or Spanish translation and other literature from an online form. The form requires your email and phone number, and its boxes for a mosque visit, mentoring and newsletters are optional.
Worth it? Yes, if you are curious about Islam. Leave WhyIslam’s follow-up boxes empty if you only want the book.
Our Daily Bread devotional
Our Daily Bread Ministries mails its quarterly devotional “at no cost to readers”: 4 booklets a year, in eight languages, with large print in English. “A donation is optional, never required.”
The monthly edition is different: it “includes a donation of any amount at checkout,” so only the quarterly is free. The ministry, which began in 1938 as a radio Bible class, says it distributes more than 60 million resources in 150 countries.
Worth it? Yes, for a daily devotional, and the large-print edition suits readers who struggle with small type.
A free cookbook that still mails
JIFFY Mix recipe book
JIFFY, the baking-mix brand of Chelsea Milling Company, mails its recipe book free: “one request per visitor, continental US only,” with 2 to 3 weeks for delivery. The form asks for your name and address, and email is optional.
It is a brand’s recipe book built around its own mixes. The page offering it was dated August 7, 2026.
Worth it? Yes: a free cookbook in the mail for the price of your address.
Close to free: swaps and “free book” clubs that cost money
Page one lists these as free. Each costs postage, a fee or a subscription.
PaperBackSwap
PaperBackSwap gives you two startup credits after you list 10 books, and each book you request costs one credit. You earn more by mailing your books to other members “at your expense,” usually by Media Mail.
Each request also costs a 99-cent swap fee, unless you pay $15 a year (30 books) or $25 a year (unlimited), under its terms since July 24, 2025. Members must be 18, and the site bars shipments to or from prisons.
At USPS’s 2026 Media Mail prices, sending a book costs $4.39 up to 1 pound, $5.13 up to 2 pounds and $5.86 up to 3.
BookMooch
BookMooch runs on points: by its FAQ, as archived in 2019, giving a book away in the US earns 1 point and requesting one costs 1 point. You pay to mail what you give, and its FAQ suggests Media Mail. Its live site showed only a bot check in October 2026, so whether swaps still run could not be confirmed.
Harlequin Reader Service
Harlequin’s “2 free books” is a subscription. The Book Box welcome offer says “Only pay shipping upfront, then $27.98/month” for 4 books a month, and you can cancel online, by email or at 1-800-873-8635.
The page doesn’t state the shipping charge, or whether you keep the two books if you cancel before the next box. Its Love Inspired Christmas set spells out the model: four shipments at $35.96 plus $3.99 shipping each, unless you cancel.
On BBB, Harlequin Sales Corporation has an A rating and 23 complaints in three years. Of the 21 visible in October 2026, 10 described a free-books or trial offer followed by charges or books they didn’t expect. Another 7 said they never signed up, 3 couldn’t cancel or log in, and 1 was unclear. Complaints are allegations, and the company answered all 21.
Under the federal law known as ROSCA, a club that turns a free trial into charges must disclose its terms and get your consent before billing, the FTC says. It must also offer a simple way to cancel.
Bottom line: None of these is free. A swap costs about one Media Mail fee per book you get, and Harlequin’s books cost $27.98 a month once the welcome box has shipped.
Earn book money instead
If you would rather buy the exact book you want, reward apps can cover it. Swagbucks pays points for shopping, games and surveys that you trade for gift cards. Freecash pays for games and surveys, and its first cash-out needs an ID check and $5 to $20, depending on your region.
Swagbucks Summary
- Many ways to earn money and e-gift cards
- $10 welcome bonus after a $25 shop purchase
- Up to 10% cashback when shopping online
- $3 minimum e-gift card withdrawal
- Play games and enter tournaments for SB
- Legit platform run by Prodege
More apps that pay in Amazon credit are on our free Amazon gift card list, and other cards on our free gift cards list.
Page-one “free book” offers that won’t mail you a book
Why these programs give books away
Every free book here has a payer. Imagination Library’s 2024 funder sheet says its titles retail at about $14, but buying in volume, it mails them “for about $2.20 per child per month,” which local partners cover.
When local money runs out, the books stop, as Fayette County’s pause showed. Authors pay Goodreads $119 or more a giveaway to get onto readers’ shelves, and Goodreads says giveaways bring over 300,000 Want to Read marks a year. LibraryThing’s publishers trade copies for reviews.
Taxpayers fund NLS, ministries rely on donations, and Prison Book Program says mailing a 3-pound package costs it $6.18 on average.
Bottom line: A free book is someone’s marketing, mission or tax money, so the catch is usually who qualifies, not a bill.
Which free book program fits you
- A baby or preschooler: Imagination Library first, and PJ Library too if your family is Jewish.
- A child who reads braille or can’t read print: the Braille Books Program and NLS.
- An adult who likes new releases: Goodreads for a free entry, LibraryThing if you will review.
- Homebound, or print is too small: your library’s books by mail, then NLS. Our free stuff for seniors list covers more.
- Someone in prison: the volunteer project that serves that state.
Worth doing
- Imagination Library, if your ZIP code has a partner
- NLS, if regular print is hard to read
- Goodreads and LibraryThing giveaways
- Your library’s books by mail
Skip
- Harlequin’s “free books,” unless you want a $27.98 monthly box
- NetGalley, if you want print
- Lists that count ebook sites as books by mail
For used books from neighbors, our sites like Freecycle list covers local giveaways, and 400 websites to get free stuff has more free mail.
How we researched this
We read each program’s own rules, help pages and terms on October 15 and 16, 2026, and quoted who qualifies rather than paraphrasing it. We counted LibraryThing’s October 2026 batch and the 21 visible BBB complaints about Harlequin, and credited people’s results to the reporters and authors who published them. Offers whose own sites no longer back page one’s claims are in the table above.
Free books by mail FAQ
How can adults get free books by mail?
Enter Goodreads Giveaways and LibraryThing Early Reviewers, which mail print copies to winners. If regular print is hard to read, the Library of Congress’s NLS lends audio and braille books by free mail, and many libraries mail books to homebound cardholders.
Who is eligible for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library?
Children from birth to age 5 who live where a local partner pays for the books. An adult aged 18 or over registers them, and the program finder on its site tells you whether your area is covered.
How can I get a free Bible by mail?
Bibles for America mails one free New Testament Recovery Version per person to US addresses, shipping included. It does not give away full Bibles, and it no longer ships to prisons.
Where can I get free books by mail with free shipping?
The 14 numbered programs above cost nothing to receive. Swap sites such as PaperBackSwap are different: you pay to mail the books you send, and a 1-pound book costs $4.39 by Media Mail.
Can teens get free books by mail?
Yes. LibraryThing Early Reviewers accepts members from age 13, and NLS signs up readers under 18 who can’t read regular print, with a parent’s acknowledgment.
Can I get a free devotional book by mail?
Our Daily Bread Ministries mails its quarterly devotional booklet free, four a year, with large print in English. Its monthly edition asks for a donation at checkout.
