![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/booksxbodegas.jpg\" "\\"Books")
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NYC bodegas are special places. You can grab all manner of essentials and snacks, order your most idiosyncratic breakfast sandwich, pet a cat, and catch up with a guy who only knows you as \u201cboss\u201d but has seen you at your lowest moments.<\/p>\n
But now, thanks to the non-profit Books x Bodegas<\/a>, a few bodegas in the Bronx will also have little free libraries. The new organization is working to boost literacy and fill gaps in \u201cbook deserts\u201d where bookstores or libraries are not as prevalent. News12<\/a> spoke with the founders and visited a few of the seven bodegas that now feature books alongside the snacks and sodas.<\/p>\n The program is especially targeted at getting kids to read, by putting books into places where the kids are. One of the organization\u2019s founders, Suzanne Likeness, told News12, \u201cEven if someone\u2019s not picking up a book, just the visibility, you don\u2019t know what that is going to inspire.\u201d<\/p>\n Books x Bodegas<\/a> started last fall and \u201caim[s] to create and advance a culture of reading, connection, and self-empowerment\u201d to address low literacy rates and the absence of bookstores in their communities. As of last year, only about 50% of NYC kids were reading at grade level<\/a>, and the city has said improving literacy will be a priority<\/a>.<\/p>\n This grassroots project is still an experiment, and in early days. \u201cWe don\u2019t necessarily know how much this is going to move the needle as far as literacy rates,\u201d Likeness told told News12, \u201cWe know the impact that its having as far as people\u2019s joy and that that right now is sustaining us and keeping us going.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s the kind of creative way to get books out in the world I\u2019d love to see more of. Though since New Yorkers are famously touchy about bodegas<\/a>\u2014they\u2019re not just smaller grocery stores\u2014so I\u2019m bracing myself for the discourse.<\/p>\n In the meantime, there\u2019s lots more on the Books x Bodegas Instagram<\/a> and ways to get involved on their website.<\/a><\/p>\n Image from Books x Bodegas Instagram<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t