猫咪社区

Generations of readers have discovered the power of books through a family member, a teacher, or LeVar Burton鈥檚 Reading Rainbow.

But 2.5 million children across the United States are enrolled in districts without libraries, . On top of that, too many books . Of the thousands of children鈥檚 books published in 2023, only 12% had a Black primary character, 10% Asian, 7% Latine, and 2% Indigenous, according to the Cooperative Children鈥檚 Book Center. 

Since books can reflect and , as well as give them a view into worlds unlike their own, it鈥檚 important to expand beyond the whiteness that has long dominated children鈥檚 literature. These radical librarians, educators, and bibliophiles are working to get books in the hands of more children, and ensuring the characters in those books look and live like them.

Iesha Malone, the Book Lady of South Side

Iesha Malone is on the front lines of increasing book access in Chicago鈥檚 South Side. 鈥淩oseland is one of the and one of the most violence-stricken,鈥� Malone explains. Growing up there, she was instilled with the importance of reading by her father, and she turned to books as a form of escape. 

As Malone, her sons, and her neighbors were demonstrating in the 2020 uprising for Black lives and then rebuilding in the aftermath, she realized she had to travel outside her neighborhood to find books with meaningful representation. As a teacher and reading specialist, she began dreaming about bringing these kinds of books to Roseland. 鈥淚 wanted new books鈥攂ooks that represented the community. Books with Black protagonists. Books with people who went through stuff and overcame,鈥� she says. 

And so, in 2020, Malone started Rose Caf茅, named after Tupac Shakur鈥檚 poem 鈥�.鈥� 鈥淚t talks about how roses and beautiful things still can rise through adversity,鈥� Malone .

Malone put out and was overwhelmed by the response. In the early days, she distributed books by hand, including leaving them on public transit for children to pick up. Rose Caf茅 has since grown into a series of pop-up shops at community events throughout the city. To date, Rose Caf茅 has given away 15,000 books, conducts , and hosts book clubs. 鈥淭he dialogue between these different genres of women鈥攐lder women, white women, Black women鈥攚as really good, and I had to keep going on with it,鈥� Malone says.

Malone currently runs the organization alone, while teaching full time. But she鈥檚 still dreaming about Rose Caf茅鈥檚 future: Malone is , which she imagines as a coffee shop, bookstore, and gathering space for her community.  

Ultimately, Malone hopes that increasing book access will help to counter violence in the community. 鈥淎ccess to literacy, reading more books, and seeing how some people have overcome and done things the nonviolent way brings a different perspective on how to change things,鈥� Malone says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a better way to do it.鈥�

Storybook Maze, Radical Street Librarian

When Storybook Maze was a student, her teacher read aloud Pride and Prejudice and 鈥渙pened the road of reading鈥� for her. As an adult, Maze read aloud to her nieces on her front stoop in Baltimore, and neighborhood children began to gather around to listen. Some said they did not have books in their homes. She realized that her neighborhood was severely lacking in . 鈥淚 had assumed that urban areas are not seen as book deserts, but they can be,鈥� Maze says, adding that the presence of a library does not always mean children have the ability to access it.

Maze decided to shift her career from English teacher to librarian, which brought her to multiple branches in the greater Baltimore area. Seeing how every community鈥檚 needs were different inspired her to start thinking of creative, out-of-the-box approaches to introducing books to young people鈥攍ike installing free book vending machines around the city. 鈥淥ne of my favorite parts of the job is seeing the kids light up when they see a book that represents and reflects them,鈥� Maze says. 鈥淧eople come back more and more, because I pair them with the perfect book for them that opens up that world of reading.鈥�

Maze hosts pop-up book giveaways in and around Baltimore, always curating the collection to represent the community she鈥檚 in. At an event in a predominantly Spanish-speaking community, Maze brought a collection of books in Spanish. A father at the event received a book and told Maze that with it, he would be able to read a book to his child for the first time since they traveled to the United States. 鈥淗e was tearing up,鈥� Maze recalls.

Maze is now as a way to combine her pop-up giveaways with her street-corner story times鈥斺�渁n ice cream truck but with books,鈥� she calls it. Maze hopes that her story will inspire other radical street librarians to join her mission in their own communities. 鈥淪tart small, even if you have only a picnic table, and see how it goes.鈥� 

Mychal Threets, aka Mychal the Librarian

Mychal Threets is on a mission to spread 鈥渓ibrary joy.鈥� The solace he found in books, and the characters he grew to love, helped him through his childhood mental health challenges. 鈥淚 loved Junie B. Jones and Encyclopedia Brown,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think they just meant so much to me because of struggling to make friends and fit in.鈥� As a college and grad student, Threets worked at a local library in the Bay Area and went on to work in multiple branches of the Solano County Library, 鈥渇rom a shelver to supervisor,鈥� Threets says. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Threets started a to share that the library was open, and to raise awareness of the resources the library offered. With excitement and the characteristic 鈥淵es!鈥� that has become his trademark, he came to be known as Mychal the Librarian. 

Threets鈥� library joy is contagious, as evidenced by his nearly . Threets鈥� mission and message goes deeper than fun, though. He wants to encourage reading by continuing to establish the library as a place of belonging and inclusivity. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the beauty of literacy, of access to books, that we all have these stories,鈥� he says. 鈥淎ll of our voices should be heard.鈥�

In March 2024, Threets left his job in the public library system to care for his mental health. Threets, who has , views his career move as analogous to putting your own oxygen mask on before helping others. 鈥淚 always encourage people to treat the library people with kindness,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e superheroes who wear cardigans instead of capes.鈥� 

Threets is now using his platform to help destigmatize mental health issues. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no shame in taking medication,鈥� , and goes on to commend his viewers for taking care of themselves and choosing to stay another day. 鈥淟ive, laugh, Lexapro!鈥� he says with a smile.

Threets, who recently became PBS鈥檚 resident librarian, got to the aardvark, whose library card is tattooed on Threets鈥� arm. Threets continues to share videos and find library joy 鈥渞emembering the truth that they belong in their local library just as they are.鈥�

Whether talking about books or mental health, Threets鈥� main message remains the same: 鈥淩eally all I鈥檓 doing is just trying to get people to remember that they do matter.鈥�