Moments after entering Eastpoint Mall’s new bookstore, a 10-year-old boy beelines for a Spanish-language copy of “Pedro, First-Grade Hero” by Fran Manushkin.

“Pedro is my favorite,” the elementary student tells his mom, Ashley Johnson, over his shoulder. “I want to meet Pedro.”

The bookstore can’t make that dream come true, but it will let the eager reader take Pedro home with him — for free. The Our Kids Read Baltimore Literacy Hub offers three free books to every kid who walks in the door. It’s the latest venture by a Maryland nonprofit dedicated to improving literacy.

“I like this. This is nice,” said Johnson, who browsed the store on a Friday afternoon with her 2, 10, 13 and 15-year-old kids. “It gives people choices if they can’t make it to the library, if they’re not fortunate enough to go to Barnes and Noble.”

And unlike the library, the books are never expected back. Customers “check out” at the front of the store, but instead of handing over cash or a card, all they have to do is register for the nonprofit’s Reading Buddy program, which matches burgeoning readers with adults who read with them once or twice a week in 45-minute Zoom sessions.

“Every child should have someone reading to them at night,” said Jahmal Lake, executive director of Our Kids Read.

Lake established Our Kids Read as a nonprofit in 2021. But he quickly realized he needed to do more than just distribute donated books.

“I think that’s the mistake a lot of nonprofits make, is they think they can back up a truck full of resources to the communities they want to serve and that they’re doing something,” Lake said. “But if that community is not equipped to make good use of those resources, you might as well have given them a brick.”

All Reading Buddy books feature African-American, Latino or Indigenous characters, a commitment to diversity reflected in the nonprofit’s brick-and-mortar store.

Tucked into bookshelves and sprawling across tables, there are books like “Black Boy Joy” edited by Kwame Mbalia, “Yusuf Azeem Is Not a Hero” by Saadia Faruqi and “Eyes That Kiss in the Corners” by Joanna Ho. There are chapter and picture books in English and Spanish, poetry collections, Dungeons & Dragons young adventurer’s guides and even graphic novels, like a Black Panther comic by hometown author Ta-Nehisi Coates.

The range of options plays into Lake’s vision of turning non-readers into bookworms by directing kids to books on subjects they already love. Billy DiMichele, a senior vice president at Scholastic, said in an email that research shows kids are more likely to finish and love books they pick out themselves. That’s why Scholastic has donated over 66,000 books to Our Kids Read, he added: “Providing ample access to a variety of books from which children can choose is the first step in creating a more literary-rich world.”

To promote the Reading Buddy program, Our Kids Read goes into elementary schools, throwing assemblies with storytellers, West African drummers and of course, free books. About 20% of kids who attend sign up for a reading buddy, Lake said, adding that the program currently has about 100 volunteers and 300 students, mostly in kindergarten through the second grade.

Lake is also looking to set up several little free libraries in the next couple of months, another way kids can build their book collections. According to a survey of 768 children in Baltimore County, access to little free libraries encouraged kids to read one additional day per week on average. The libraries made the biggest difference for kids learning English, low-income students and students of color.

As Baltimore and the rest of the country grapple with a continued decline in kids’ reading abilities, Lake wants the average citizen to recognize their role in righting the ship.

“Very few people can tell you that they don’t have 45 minutes a week to read with a child,” Lake said.

The Baltimore Community Foundation has given Our Kids Read over $25,000 across three grants. Vice President of Community Impact Crystal Harden-Lindsey said Our Kids Read is vital to promoting literacy, the foundation for academic success, economic mobility and civic engagement.

“They don’t expect people to come to them, but they go in those hot spots, like they’ll go to the mall, they’ll have book festivals at schools,” Harden-Lindsey said. “They are really working to make literacy not just a student intervention but a family intervention.”

The Baltimore Literacy Hub is open from 4 to 7 p.m. on Fridays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The space was gifted by Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate, which is also redeveloping Harborplace in Baltimore.

Lake hopes to expand the concept to St. Louis, Portland and Trenton, New Jersey in the future, using Baltimore as a prototype.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.