Just A Boat Ride Away: How Literacy Enriches the Governors Island Experience
By Tyler McClure
The Friends of Governors Island is an independent nonprofit organization working to ensure Governors Island grows as an accessible and vibrant public resource. The Friends of Governors Island are stewards of the island and they focus on enhancing the visitor experience and building a community dedicated to the island’s future.
The Friends of Governors Island and Brooklyn Book Bodega originally collaborated for an event on the island called Pumpkin Point. From there, more books were secured for the Island’s Welcome Center book kiosk. I had the opportunity to interview The Friends of Governors Island’s Volunteer and Visitor Services Manager, Drew Canning. In the interview, Drew shared thoughts on how Brooklyn Book Bodega has enhanced the island experience and how Brooklyn Book Bodega contributes to one of the Island's three pillars: arts, culture and humanities. Read on for insight into this special collaboration.
How did The Friends of Governors Island develop a relationship with Brooklyn Book Bodega?
The partnership was originally formed for Pumpkin Point. My former supervisor at the time, Danny De Marino, was tasked with organizing Pumpkin Point. It was his first year on the island as well as mine. And so he was looking for amazing programming to offer to the public. And he found Brooklyn Book Bodega while doing his research.
How does Friends of Governor’s Island collaborate with Brooklyn Book Bodega?
At our welcome center, we have a pop-up book kiosk, open every single day the visitor center is open. So currently that's Saturdays and Sundays, but starting next month and then going until the end of October, it's Wednesday through Sunday. We average about a million visitors a year on Governors Island. Many of those are young families coming from Brooklyn, and a lot of them have kids who are avid readers and are interested in engaging with more tactile forms of development or forms of play. So, it's really cool.
Has partnering with Brooklyn Book Bodega enhanced the experience?
Brooklyn Book Bodega is a really great connector of families, to the island, and to our mission. It really kind of serves as this thing that has informed other experiences that families have had on the island. So, for example, we have a monthly nature walk and there was a family who went on that monthly nature walk and found a queen bee. The small child of that family caught it in their net and learned all about it and how whenever you catch a bee during this time of the season [early spring] it's most likely a queen because all the male worker bees haven't been born yet. He was really excited about that.
Then he found an insect identification book at the Brooklyn Book Bodega kiosk while he was waiting for the ferry. And was really excited about being able to connect this thing that he just learned and experienced in person with what's on the page in front of him. And he took that home. It was really cool. There are just a lot of different little stories like that.
How have people responded to the book kiosk?
We have a high school internship program on the island, and a lot of them are interested in working outdoors, engaging with a reality outside of their phones, engaging with people, and learning public advocacy. During downtime between talking to visitors a lot of them will read some of the books at the Brooklyn Book Bodega kiosk as well. We had one intern who has taken home one every single weekend that she's been here–which is like four weekends in a row. A couple years ago, they did a live reading of a poetry book that was there, and everybody sat in a circle and read through poems. They're figuring out their own way to form a community within the welcome center, but it really energizes them to then go out and talk to visitors in the same way. And it just helps with connection, community organization, and increasing public efficacy on the island.
Was that poetry event impromptu?
Well, she was the one who started and initiated that. She really wanted to do a book club. And I was like, well, guess what? We have books on the island if you want to do that. Organize that with your peers. Feel free. And I walked in on it one time. It was really cool.
Why do you think literacy is important?
I think book literacy or just literacy is really important to the world. Being able to look at your world critically and meaningfully. And to even just practice sitting with your own thoughts or engaging in a specific story for a long time like a longer period of time than 30 seconds or so is just invaluable to students especially. [Especially] at an early age because then you can practice all that self-interrogation or critical thinking skills.
On the island that's what we're trying to do through experience. So it's really cool to have the books be here and then have these experiences…and have them be this bridge that is connected..and kind of gives this fuller picture of what public engagement can be…what being an active member of an empowered community can do and the waves we can make.
Do you envision different types of collaborations in the future?
One of our banner events that was just launched last year and it's the second year running this summer is third Saturdays. It's a day that every single organization resident in our historical buildings on the north side of the park opens up their doors. And, I would think it'd be really cool if Brooklyn Book Bodega came out to support that day.
I think what's cool about the island is that we support this loose confederation of different grassroots organizations that all have different missions that are aligned with one of the island's three pillars. Our three pillars being: providing public access to open spaces, climate solutions, or arts, culture and humanities.
All of our grassroots organizations on the island that we support are offering something within one of those pillars. And. I think Brooklyn Book Bodega just easily slides into any of them.
Do you have anything to share about the relationship with Brooklyn Book Bodega?
I just think you guys are doing really cool work. When I went to pick it up, it was super easy. You guys had really great internal documents, too. It was so easy to work with Cecilia to pick up the books…I think it's an amazing amount of books.
The personalities that I've interacted with really seem to align with the mission of increasing accessibility, and saying there should not be a paywall in front of learning or for access to specific books or textbooks. I really appreciate that Brooklyn Book Bodega is so open to public access. I'm looking forward to seeing book pop ups and further collaborations with other organizations.
Drew’s favorite books and current reads.
Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
“An American Sunrise” by Joy Harjo
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
The collaboration between Brooklyn Book Bodega and The Friends of Governors Island has transformed the island welcome center into a hub of engagement and learning. The stories Drew shared, such as the nature walk where a child found a queen bee and connected his experience with a book from the Brooklyn Book Bodega kiosk, illustrate how integrating literacy with experiential learning enhances the visitor experience.
The impact of this partnership also extends to the staff. The poetry reading session initiated by a high school intern highlights the development of community and curiosity. Looking ahead, the potential for expanded collaboration could further enrich the island’s diverse programming. This relationship emphasizes aspects of community and access that both organizations recognize as a part of their values and further promotes taking an interest in the world around you.
Tyler McClure attends St. Francis College and majors in Literature, Writing, & Publishing. She was Brooklyn Book Bodega’s spring 2024 intern.
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