Birdie’s Bookmobile hopes to inspire the next generation of readers. Launched in 2022, the literacy organization provides hundreds of books to schools, after-school programs and nonprofits across Detroit. Many of the books are written by Black, Indigenous and People of Color authors or feature Black and brown characters.
“I want children here in the city to really enjoy reading as much as I did,” said Alyce Hartman, the founder of Birdie’s Bookmobile. As school librarians and school libraries have begun to disappear, Hartman fills a resource gap. Her efforts increase children’s access to physical books and promote the pleasures of reading, which could shape a student’s future success beyond classroom walls.
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Students at Voyageur Academy in Southwest Detroit gather around a table looking at books during a book fair hosted by Birdie’s Bookmobile. | Photo by One Detroit
Since Birdie’s Bookmobile was born, Hartman said she’s distributed more than 16,000 books. Hartman, a 55-year-old STEM and drama teacher at Detroit Prep, hopes to spark magical thinking in young readers, believing books are portals to creativity, cultures across time and place and potential careers.
One Detroit and BridgeDetroit contributor Eleanore Catolico shadowed Hartman as she delivered books and organized a mini-book fair at Voyageur Academy, a K-12 charter school in Southwest Detroit. Plus, Catolico tags along during Hartman’s book shopping trip at 27th Letter Books.
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