June 19, 12 – 4 pm
Mitchel Square Park (166th and Broadway)

Behind the Book’s mission is to develop engaged readers and writers in underserved NYC public schools by designing and delivering literacy programs that are multi-disciplinary, culturally responsive, and promote deeper connections to books and their authors. We work with PreK – 12^th grade classrooms in Title l schools.

In order to be an engaged reader, one needs access to books and to have choice of reading materials. We give books to all our students at the beginning of the school year, for the winter break, and at the end of the school year. We also give books to community centers and shelters in the neighborhoods where are schools are located. For many of our students, the books we give them may be the only ones they own.

The Challenge:
The students we work with have been hit harder than most during the pandemic. It is expected that when school resumes in person in the fall, the young people in Title l schools will be the most behind in their learning.

Our Solution:
Partnering with the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance’s Uptown Arts Stroll, we are hosting a Book Bash where we will give away 3,800 books to young people, all of which will be chosen with the readers in mind. There will be a variety of books in English and Spanish for all ages, as well as books with Latinx characters and/or are written by Latinx authors.