We sent 260 packages (over 780 books) to incarcerated readers this month! Our volunteers have consistently shown up every Sunday to put in major work to get these packages out in a timely manner. We couldn’t do it without them!

We had a number of donations of Black authors in honor of Black History Month, including this much needed collection of urban fiction sent to us all the way from Maryland! February may be over, but we are in constant need of Black authors and stories, so please consider donating your new or gently used paperbacks during any of our Sunday book packing parties.

Drop off gently used paperback books during any of our Sunday book packing parties. We ask that you refrain from donating general fiction, romance, and Christianity at this time, as we have an overflow of those at this time. Thank you!

We’re a month into 2024 and going strong at Big House Books! We’ve sent out 315 packages this month, which is more than 945 books in the hands of incarcerated readers in Mississippi! Woohoo!

Thanks to our wonderful supporters, we received a ton of book donations at the end of the year, causing us to go on a book donation freeze. We’re slowly thawing from that freeze, but we are only accepting certain genres. We kindly ask that our generous supporters refrain from donating books that do not fall under the following:

We also need some of our popular authors, namely Stephen King, James Patterson, Greg Iles, and John Grisham. Book donations can be dropped off during book packing parties on Sundays from 12-2.

Lastly, you may be aware that postage costs have increased again. We spend about $1,500 on postage every month, so please consider heading to our Donate page and contributing to our postage fund.

Thanks to WJTV for coming out to our first packing party of 2024!

Watch here: https://youtu.be/DU7G2un_nLI?feature=shared

We are blown away by all of the book donations we have received recently! While we are grateful for the support, we need to take some time to sort through what we have and make some room in our very limited space. We kindly ask that our supporters refrain from donating books until further notice. We plan to come back after the holidays with updated needs lists before we begin accepting donations again.

If you would like to support our work in the meantime, please consider donating to our postage fund. Postage rates will increase once again in January, so your monetary support is greatly appreciated!

Thank you to our wonderful volunteers who helped us send 557 packages in the months of September and October. That’s over 1,671 books in Mississippi’s correctional facilities! Shout out to PRAM Central and the Philosophy of Happiness class at Millsaps College for hosting their own book packing parties, where they were able to help us get caught up on requests.

November will kick off Giving Season, so stay tuned to find out how you can help Big House Books put more books in Mississippi prisons.

Thanks to our wonderful volunteers and supporters, Big House Books sent out 450+ books this month! Woohoo!

We attended the Mississippi Book Festival, where we received donations, met long-time supporters, and spread the word about our organization’s work to promote literacy in Mississippi prisons. Thank you to the volunteers who helped staff our information table. You rock!

We also showcased our new shirts and canvas bags, designed by local artist, Tyler Tadlock, and printed by Lucid Ink in Pearl, MS. We have sizes S-2X, which you can purchase online or at one of our packing parties.

Special thanks to Danielle and Gray for stopping by to help us pack this month. They are from The Sunstone Project, an organization that provides assistance to non-profits across the country. They recently gifted a grant to Big House Books to help with postage funding. Major thanks to The Sunstone Project for your support!

Reminder: Our Thursday book packing parties will conclude at the end of September. We will begin our Fall/Winter schedule (Sundays 12 – 2) in October.

July was a little slower than June, but we were still able to send out 275 packages (that’s 825 books) before the month was out! Thank you to all of our hardworking volunteers, and special thanks to those who helped us replenish our bookshelves after all of the books we cleared in June.

Don’t forget to stop by our table on the lawn at the MS Book Festival on August 19th!

Big House Books will be setting up an information table on the Capitol Lawn during the MS Book Festival on August 19th. If you’d like to volunteer to help with our table, sign up here: https://signup.com/go/jMpjdxp

All volunteers will receive free BHB merch!