by Olivia Young<\/p>\n
Publishing company Scholastic donated more than 1,600 books to Books x Bodegas, an initiative co-founded by Spuyten Duyvil resident Suzanne Likeness that aims to bring books into everyday spaces as a way to increase the accessibility and visibility of books, creating a culture of reading in the Bronx. <\/p>\n
Since it was founded last fall, Books x Bodegas has only grown, said Likeness, a high school teacher who works in Morrisania with English language learners. In the last few months, other donations helped it add four more book sites \u2014 for a total of 12, spread throughout the Bronx. Some local spots include Johnson Deli on West 235th Street and Female Fight Club on Riverdale Avenue. <\/p>\n
Now, with dozens of boxes full of newly donated children\u2019s and young adult books, Likeness hopes to expand Books x Bodegas further. <\/p>\n
Scholastic reached out to Books x Bodegas in June, applauding the initiative\u2019s mission and offering a sizable donation. Likeness said the books included popular titles such as \u201cEsperanza Rising,\u201d \u201cDog Man\u201d and \u201cThe 39 Clues,\u201d as well as math and reading workbooks.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur minds were blown,\u201d Likeness said. <\/p>\n
New Scholastic books have already made it onto the shelves of a Fordham Heights bodega, Likeness said. For participants, being able to borrow a new book that hasn\u2019t been opened or flipped through is a feeling Books x Bodegas is happy to offer. <\/p>\n
Likeness added the number of books provided is going to help sustain storefronts\u2019 shelves for a long time. The initiative stocks adult books too, but options for younger readers are always in the mix. <\/p>\n
Likeness launched Books x Bodegas in partnership with her fiance Primo Cidi. The idea grew from her experiences in the classroom, Likeness told The Press in April.\u00a0 Outside of school, access to books is limited, and it impacts kids\u2019 confidence and reading habits, she said <\/p>\n
Cidi was working at a bodega when he and Likeness met. Likeness previously told The Press she saw students routinely stopping into the bodega, and thought it would be beneficial to put books in spots people were already passing through, rather than having them seek books out. The finalized concept involves asking store owners to donate space for a small selection of books, free for passersby to take and return at their leisure. <\/p>\n
Even now with the new abundance of books, Books x Bodegas is staying intentional about its placements. The goal is enlisting more bodegas \u2014 not overcrowding the shelves they already have, or stacking so many books that people take it for granted, Likeness said.<\/p>\n
For Scholastic, the donation was an opportunity to further a cause it believed in. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Scholastic told The Press the company heard its titles were favorites among the kids Books x Bodegas reached, and it was excited to bring more to the community. <\/p>\n
\u201cScholastic has a strong belief that community-focused nonprofit partners play an important role in our shared mission of ensuring every child has access to books and opportunities to develop a lifelong love of reading,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
News of the donation took on a new relevance after the city\u2019s public school system released results for the 2026 state assessment Aug. 7. For third through eighth graders, citywide scores in English Language Arts dropped 6 percentage points, setting back last year\u2019s increase of 7 percentage points, the release said. <\/p>\n
The school system said it is starting a deeper analysis of the results, and that districts across the state saw similar declines. <\/p>\n
Likeness believes one of the reasons Books x Bodegas has taken off is because New Yorkers are aware of, and concerned for, children\u2019s literacy rates. The initiative gives residents a reason for hope, and comfort that someone is trying something out of the box. <\/p>\n
She hopes the children\u2019s books from Scholastic provide some aid as well, since it will increase visibility for kids in bodegas that haven\u2019t yet reached school age. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to be relentlessly hopeful about the changes that we can make in turning this tide,\u201d Likeness said. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be able to do it without students being interested in reading.\u201d <\/p>\n
Books x Bodegas\u2019 efforts aim to foster that interest. The initiative puts new books, genres and topics in students\u2019 paths, and hopes it might catch their eye.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tBooks x Bodegas,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Scholastic,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Bronx literacy,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Bronx books,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t book donation,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Suzanne Likeness,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Spuyten Duyvil,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Bronx bodegas,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t children\u2019s books,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t young adult books,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t reading access,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t literacy rates,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Bronx education,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t English language learners,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Morrisania,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Johnson Deli,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t Female Fight Club,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t community reading,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t books in bodegas\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"by Olivia Young Publishing company Scholastic donated more than 1,600 books to Books x Bodegas, an initiative co-founded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[122940,122947,76440,128,122942,122939,60386,122938,35230,122946,3634,98043,122945,122944,4009,9,24,63,122943,31911,48917,122941,129,131,130,35234],"class_list":["post-326691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-book-donation","tag-books-in-bodegas","tag-books-x-bodegas","tag-bronx","tag-bronx-bodegas","tag-bronx-books","tag-bronx-education","tag-bronx-literacy","tag-childrens-books","tag-community-reading","tag-english-language-learners","tag-female-fight-club","tag-johnson-deli","tag-literacy-rates","tag-morrisania","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-reading-access","tag-scholastic","tag-spuyten-duyvil","tag-suzanne-likeness","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news","tag-young-adult-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}