BBF’s Roxbury Book Giveaway Keeps Reading Alive through Pandemic

By Edward Ganthier

 

The BBF may have gone virtual over the last year, but the festival has remained as committed as ever to getting physical books in the hands of kids. Over the last few weeks, the BBF, in collaboration with Madison Park Development Center (MPDC) and the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library made good on that commitment, delivering hundreds of new books and BBF swag bags to kids throughout the Roxbury community.

 

BBF’s founder and board chair, Deborah Z Porter, conceived of the Roxbury Book Giveaway after reading about how the principal at the Rafael Hernández K-8 Dual-Language School in Roxbury, the winner of BBF’s 2020 Shelf Help grant, emptied the library’s shelves at the beginning of the pandemic to ensure kids had something to read at home during the lockdown.

 

“That story really touched me deeply,” says Porter. “I thought that perhaps the BBF could mobilize to get books to more Boston school kids.”

 

“That story really touched me deeply,” says Porter. “I thought that perhaps the BBF could mobilize to get books to more Boston school kids.”

 

Several BBF board members stepped up and contributed to fund the book buy. BBF’s executive director, Norah Piehl, bought over 200 popular titles from First Book, a discounted book marketplace for educators and non-profits, as well hundreds more from Frugal Bookstore in Roxbury. Many of the book titles – from Nate the Great to Magic Mermaid – were provided by Philecia Harris, children’s librarian at the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library, to ensure the books were popular with kids in the neighborhood.

 

The first delivery of books went to Madison Park. The housing development offers many community programs for resident families, but like most activities during the pandemic, the majority have become remote. However, thanks to the efforts of Leslie Stafford, MDPC’s health equity and wellness coordinator, the children were still able to receive the BBF tote bags filled with books and goodies.

 

“The books are being used to increase the brain development of our children that are being homeschooled,” says Stafford. She says the children specifically enjoy bedtime stories, gardening, and books about kids who look like them. “Most of the kids are avid readers. Sometimes I like to challenge those who are struggling to read a page to me aloud so I can encourage them that they can do it,” says Stafford.

 

The last stop on the BBF Roxbury Book Giveaway was the Roxbury branch of the Boston Public Library. Although the library remains closed to in-person activities, Philecia Harris, the children’s librarian, still managed to distribute the books and goodies to local families. She loaded boxes of books into her car and dropped them at doorsteps, ensuring that even with a pandemic, the books were going to get to the kids who most needed them. Inside the boxes were books popular at the Roxbury branch, including Shuri: The Vanished by Nic Stones and the author Rick Riordan. Next month, Harris will be distributing books at Nathan Hale Elementary after reading to the children there.

 

 “As an educator, it’s really exciting when you see a child hungry for a particular kind of knowledge and you can’t help but feed that and give them more,” says Harris.

 

“As an educator, it’s really exciting when you see a child hungry for a particular kind of knowledge and you can’t help but feed that and give them more,” says Harris.

She stressed the importance of childhood reading as knowledge the children own themselves and as something to share with their friends. She also talked about the importance of book ownership for a child’s education.

“Reading is the number one way that young people get information.… Every time they get another book, they’re adding to their home library,” she says. “We’re also creating a book culture with children.”

 

To learn more about how you can support providing books to kids through BBF programs, visit our Shelf Help page, where you can donate to bring books to school library shelves in need. 

 

Edward Ganthier is an intern with the Boston Book Festival in 2021 and an Emerson College graduate student.