Brooklyn Book Bodega in the Bronx?!
BY KATHERINE PANTAZIS
According to Regina, “We have schools in every direction, so a lot of the kids come walking past and will walk right past the library. Some of the kids can’t even reach it, so they’ll be on their tippy toes trying to reach it.”
NYCHA Community Associate Regina Carter and Clay Avenue Tenants Association President Maria Forbes distribute Brooklyn Book Bodega books to Claremont Consolidated residents and community members in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx.
So far, they have two Little Free Libraries, one at 1195 Clay Avenue and another at 1046 Teller Avenue, along with a rolling book cart for senior citizens at 1020 College Ave and a permanent library at the Tenants Association Office at 1195 Clay Avenue.
We chatted about what they would love to see in their community and why having the free libraries is essential for kids and families.
Tell me a little about your Little Free Libraries.
Regina says, “I just bought a cart and filled it with books. Just start small and see what you can handle.”
Maria: I can’t even begin to tell you how much of the community is served. Between Clay and Teller avenues there’s a set of staircases that they call step streets. Above the staircases is PS 53 and PS 53 Annex, so you have parents that use this–it's a form of transportation for this community. People travel as far as the Grand Concourse when going to the train.
“We host events twelve months out of the year, and we even bring out crates of books,” says Maria.
In the Tenant’s Association office, the kids get to come inside and pick books off of the shelf, and when we have Tenant Association meetings, that’s our children’s area. I can’t tell you how grateful – how appreciative – even just to start out with the Little Free Library, to then graduating to Brooklyn Book Bodega giving us 1,000 books. Regina has taken the time to go out, even with limited funding and little to no transportation, we have found a way to get out to you several times.
Regina: Speaking of the books we get, we’ve gotten a series of compliments from residents on the variety, right? So there's books about famous black women, famous black men, people in history, but they also have graphic novels, and regular fantasy-type novels for the kids to read, and then things for the adults, as well. So everyone is very happy with the variety of the library. We get board books, too. We have something for everyone.
We put twenty to thirty books per library, and they take about two days to empty out completely.
Do you notice the demand is the same even though the pandemic is ending?
Regina: It wasn’t just the pandemic that was keeping people from getting to the library. The libraries were closed, but even when they were open, it was difficult to get to a library.
Maria: There’s the Morris library. But, even when it was open, a lot of parents don’t want to send their kid across Webster to go all the way up to get to the library. Through support of our elected officials, it is being rehabbed to accommodate the community. Over four to five schools that one little library was serving. But it's under renovation now; I can’t tell you when it's going to be ready.
Any advice for those wanting to start a library? Regina says, “I just bought a cart and filled it with books. Just start small and see what you can handle.”
Regina: There’s two other libraries, one on 168th, but again, you have to cross essentially the Grand Concourse. That’s like eight to ten blocks, straight up. And then there's another one on Washington Avenue by Tremont, but still, it's a walk down Washington; you gotta walk down past warehouses. Nobody wants to send their kids down that way.
Maria: It would be very difficult for children to go on their own. So when you say to a child, ‘When are you going to go to the library?’ that’s hard for a parent. So, us having this library here is essential.
Regina: We let them keep the books. I think people read at different speeds, right, and to have that deadline on the book is like, now I have to rush. Not many kids know about extending the lending time for the public library.
If you had a magic wand and could get whatever you wanted for your community books-wise, what would that be?
Maria: It is very enriching and rewarding to have information, history, because that’s what kids are learning. I wish we had more STEAM kinds of stuff, because that’s preparing them.
Regina: All those books around coding, mathematics, arts, any sort of arts and crafts program. A lot of kids are more hands on. They're more tactile; they like to feel and touch. That's how they learn better.
Maria: I would like to say if I could find the funding to make an operational mini-library that includes services that are provided in a library. Because they have different types of courses that are hosted in a library - even if it's for two hours. I become so angry when I go downtown below 96th Street to see all the services that are available.
During the pandemic, we started having kids day out, like a regular block party, and they were so happy because they’d been locked up in the house since the whole pandemic. That was just so rich and rewarding to the community. So if your program came to the Bronx, I would center the whole operation around that, and you would say, wow, this is really, really something. We really put it in for our community, for our kids.
Regina: We are trying to open a study space once Covid is over. We’ll see if we can have them do homework help in that area. We have a nice table and chairs set up, right where the books are, and then we have computers that we have set up downstairs. The goal is to have a little afterschool kind of thing going on. We have dreams, right?
It sounds like you are helping your community in all kinds of ways.
Regina: Yeah. It’s a lot. But we like it.
Maria: I’ve been volunteering for thirty years, so you know I gotta like it. My children are aged out. My grandchildren are aged out. And, I'm still here because I love the work.
Katherine Pantazis is a freelancer and former early childhood educator.