Families in need can go to food banks and clothing exchanges to make sure their physical needs are met. The Whales Tales Book Bank in New London allows them to fulfill children’s literacy needs as well, and currently the book bank is in desperate need for books.

The book bank is in an old classroom in the Martin Center in New London, and it’s set up like a miniature library with bookshelves and a table for kids to read at. It was established by the New London Youth Affairs Bureau 10 years ago, and it’s now a designated “book place” for Read to Grow, a Branford-based organization that promotes childhood literacy.

Jean Scialabba of Ledyard, who volunteers at the book bank, said Read to Grow works to give reading packets to every family when they leave the hospital with their newborns, and book places like Whales Tales continue to promote having books in households with children.

“The idea is to promote family literacy,” she said. “If you have books all the time in the home, you’re going to tend to read them, and the big thrust is to have children being read to from birth on.”

The book bank offers a variety from board books to chapter books and young adult selections, and Scialabba said anyone from any town can come in to take a book for free. While some people use the book bank like a library, there’s no obligation to return the books.

In addition to the Martin Center location, Whales Tales hands out holiday-themed books at the tree lighting in New London and works with the Ledyard Clothing Exchange at the end of the summer to provide books for children getting back-to-school clothing.

Summers are busy for the bank because families are home during the day, and the book bank is currently seeking donations of books of all kinds. Perennial favorites like the Ramona Quimby books or the Harry Potter series as well as newer franchises like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” are very popular among the kids who visit. Scialabba said nonfiction books, especially books about dinosaurs or other animals, fly off the shelves almost as soon as they come in. Books in Spanish are also needed.

Donations of new or gently-used books come into Whales Tales from time to time as Scialabba sends requests to local organizations, Facebook groups or anyone looking for volunteer hours. She said many times a book drive can be as simple as putting a box for books in a business or school; many schools that visit the book bank return the favor by hosting a book drive to restock its shelves. Families whose children have outgrown their books also donate to the book bank.

“People are very happy to find a home for their children’s books,” she said. “They don’t want to just give them away to maybe have somebody else sell them. They’d rather have kids use them.”

Donations can be brought to Whales Tales during regular operation hours, Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Large donations can also be arranged to be picked up by calling the youth affairs bureau at (860) 447-0459.

a.hutchinson@theday.com