“Let’s just say that me and reading had an antagonistic relationship throughout my childhood,” Alvin Irby says. It’s a surprising statement coming from the founder of Barbershop Books, a literacy nonprofit. But Irby says he didn’t have a habit of curling up with a good book when he was little. Instead, he sat at the kitchen table while his mom, an elementary schoolteacher, gave him weekend reading lessons to make sure his reading skills stayed on track.
Reading wasn’t something he did for fun; it was something that got in the way of playing with his friends. Now, Irby — a former first-grade and kindergarten teacher — is on a mission to make reading feel like an adventure for kids, especially for Black boys.
Barbershop Books wants kids to see themselves as readers by encouraging them to explore when and where they most like to read.
One way Barbershop Books does that is by asking Black boys what kinds of books they like to read. Then it provides participating barbershops across the country with 45 of those titles so kids have something engaging and educational to read while their caregivers get a haircut. Because of the pandemic, the charity shifted from communal bookshelves to dropping off 25 packets filled with three books each at participating barbershops.. It plans to return to the bookshelf model in July.
Irby dreamed up the idea during his days as a first-grade teacher, when he was getting his hair cut at a barbershop near the school and noticed one of his students waiting for his caregiver. Irby knew this student wasn’t reading well enough for his age, and it was hard to see him fidgeting in a chair with nothing to do. “I wish I had a children’s book to give him because he should be practicing his reading right now,” Irby thought.
Years later, Irby turned that idea into a nonprofit.
Barbershops were key to Irby’s vision. They’re often some of the only Black-owned businesses in majority Black neighborhoods, he says. They’re also a place where kids interact with people from socioeconomic backgrounds different from their own.
“If you have a lot of money, you don’t go to the same dentist and doctor as somebody who’s on public assistance, but that’s not the case for barbershops,” Irby says. “Executives will be sitting right in the same barbershop as just regular folks from down the street.”
Trips to the barbershop can be especially meaningful to young boys who don’t regularly spend time with their fathers. Barbers may be the most consistent men in these boys’ lives, people they see before every special occasion, Irby says. Since barbers were already role models to so many young boys, Irby tapped them to help encourage reading.
He stopped by barbershops and asked kids what they liked to read. Overwhelmingly, they told him they liked funny books. He also remembered the laugh-out-loud picture books his students read again and again — like No, David! by David Shannon, a book about a little boy breaking all the rules.
If you are not a reader, a whole world of possibilities are closed off to you.
Irby’s insights track with a 2019 survey by Scholastic, which found more than half of kids age 6 to 17 from all races and ethnicities said they wanted to read books that made them laugh. But so often, Irby says, adults recommend books about history or influential Black leaders to Black boys. “Those books are important, but they should not be the only books that Black boys have access to,” he says.
Barbershop Books hopes to help them see themselves as readers by giving them a say in what books they read and encouraging them to explore when and where they most like to read — building what the charity calls a reading identity.
During the pandemic, the charity launched Reading So Lit, an enrichment curriculum that aspires to make reading fun and accessible. The charity partnered with the New York mayor’s office to bring its workbooks into shelters throughout the city, so that children experiencing homelessness could stay engaged in learning during a high-stress time.
Reading for Irby is more than entertainment. It’s freedom. “If you are not a reader, a whole world of possibilities are closed off to you,” he says. “If you are a reader, well then a whole world of possibilities are now available to you.”
