Bookmobile gives New York's young readers a Merry Christmas

Publish date: 2024-08-21

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They’re paging New Yorkers.

House of SpeakEasy, a Manhattan-based nonprofit, is delivering reading materials to needy New Yorkers with its bookmobile.

The organization’s modified box truck, which has 54 feet of shelf space, made a stop Saturday in the Bronx. Devoted bibliophiles gave away nearly 600 new books — including volumes donated by The Post — to 450 families.

“Lots of readers can’t afford books or live in areas without libraries,” the charity’s cofounder, Amanda Foreman, told The Post. “They want to learn just as much as anyone else.”

The organization’s mission is more important than ever, as NYC libraries are no longer open on Sundays in the aftermath of extensive budget cuts to citywide services.

“You can bang on all you like about how important it is to have books in the home, but if there’s enough impediments, it’s not going to happen,” Foreman said.

The “pop-up literary festival” has distributed more than 9,000 free books this year in 34 neighborhoods throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. House of SpeakEasy

A historian and Wall Street Journal columnist, she launched House of SpeakEasy in 2013 with Time magazine senior editor Lucas Wittmann. The charity works to bring books to underserved communities, get authors into schools and help writers find new audiences.

Early initiatives included connecting writers directly with readers from diverse backgrounds with in-school programming, storytelling workshops and cabaret nights.

“[We’re] just really passionate about book culture, and everything that goes with it,” Foreman said.

The bookmobile’s most recent stop – Dec. 16 in the Morrisania section of the Bronx – was an overwhelming success, with nearly 600 new volumes given away, organizers told The Post. House of SpeakEasy

In 2017, the SpeakEasy Bookmobile first descended on streets in East Harlem in an effort to eradicate so-called “book deserts” that left aspiring readers without many options.

“We rarely think about it in terms of the entire ecosystem, which is writers, readers and the pipeline of writers and readers,” Foreman said. “Everybody needs to be connected to each other … Writers need to find their readers.”

Roughly 750 people attended Saturday’s “Winter Wonderland” family day at BronxWorks Melrose Classic Community Center, where the book giveaway was a “huge hit,” according to Tanya Pedler, the tenant association president of the Morrisania Air Rights Houses.

“The audience loved it,” Pedler said in a statement. “Having a mobile library providing free books for everyone is amazing.”

The bookmobile has traveled to 34 New York City neighborhoods — including Brownsville, Bay Ridge and Bed-Stuy in Brooklyn, as well as Astoria in Queens and University Heights in the Bronx — this year and distributed more than 9,000 free books.

After last weekend’s event, it went into hibernation for the winter, but it will pop back up in the spring.

Amanda Foreman, a best-selling historian and Wall Street Journal columnist, launched the House of SpeakEasy in 2013 with editor Lucas Wittmann. The literary nonprofit then took over underserved streets with its bookmobile four years later. Getty Images

Those interested in supporting House of SpeakEasy can make a donation via its website or attend its annual benefit, slated for April 16, 2024.

“It feels like we’re all doing something together,” Foreman said. “No matter how different communities are or how far away they can seem geographically, it is books that unite us all together and create one community.”

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