Investing in Dreams One Book at a Time: Reflecting on Our Experience at the August Wilson Block Party
Dr. Eliada Griffin-EL, Co-Founder of The Young Dreamers’ Bookstore
Selling books at the August Wilson Block Party was truly a rewarding opportunity for us. During the event, we got the opportunity to see familiar faces from our early days in Pittsburgh and we got the chance to meet new faces who shared the love of reading.
The parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and community members, who entered our tent bought books as an investment in their children’s dreams and holistic development. Many of the African-American caregivers discussed the difficulty in finding books with Black characters 20 years ago. They also expressed the importance of Black kids seeing characters that looked like them in the books and the positive impact it would have on their lives. These caregivers illuminated an essential fact: African-American caregivers will exercise their purchasing power on books with Black protagonist characters, enriching storylines, and vibrant illustrations.
Children entered our tent with a great excitement! We witness children grab books with characters that looked like them and storylines that interested them. When their caregivers purchased the books, the children bounced out of our tent with joy and excitement of the reading journey they were about to embark on. We witness another essential fact: Black kids love books with characters who are similar to them and have similar experiences!
We even had adults enter our tent, who were young dreamers at heart! These Young Dreamers at heart bought children’s books because they wanted inspirational content to inspire them. We witness another essential fact: an adult can read a children’s book and be inspired by enriching content!
As you can imagine, our experience at the August Wilson Block Party was amazing! We were able to fellowship with members of the community and meet children at their dreams and reading needs. We walked away from this event inspired by the people we met and excited about the future of our bookstore!
