That’s because Boys Booked on Barbershops, a national literacy program designed to advance the literacy of young children by taking advantage of naturally occurring opportunities in the community, might be coming to a barbershop near you.
It may sound like an odd combination – books and barbershops, but that’s just what its creators intended it to be. The idea was hatched about four years ago when Cassandra Davis started taking her son, then age 6, to a Tampa, Florida barbershop every two weeks. She noticed that the young children waiting for their turn in the barber’s chair didn’t have anything to do but wait.
“We would go in and even though my son had an appointment, he would sit down and like to look at the books in the shop. When he saw me looking at a book, he would look at a book,” said Davis. “I said hmm, he likes books. I wonder how many other children come here and want to look at books.
Davis went back to fellow members of her sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho, and suggested they put together a community service project to supply books to area businesses.
“I said why don’t we put books in places that children go where there aren’t normally children’s books,” said Davis.
Davis and her sorority came up with a bunch of ideas, and the barbershop idea stuck. The sorority created a reading nook in the shop and supplied books every three to four months.
“The kids came in and read the books. I saw their parents actually reading to them. It was a win, win situation,” Davis said.
Enter Dr. Sabrina Brinson, a friend of Davis’ and professor at the University of Memphis, who heard about the idea and decided to use her literacy expertise to spin it off into a national literacy program for children in community based barbershops across the country.
The African-American Read In Chain officially launched Boys Booked on Barbershops, or B-BOB, in 2004. Since 1989, more than one million readers have participated in the African-American Read In Chain, held on the first Sunday and following Monday during Black iHiHistory Month in February where participants in states across the country, some famous and not so famous, read books aloud written by African Americans. “The hope is that we will model for our children and the community that we value reading,” said Dr. Jerrie Scott, founder and national director of the Read in Chain program.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nine out of ten African-American students have not mastered reading by the fourth grade. That’s why Dr. Brinson, an expert in multicultural literature, African-American studies and emerging literature, says it is essential to find out of the box ways to enhance literacy skills, particularly among boys.
“One of the most stable businesses in the community is the barbershop. As a familiar neighborhood site it is an ideal setting for encouraging reading of high interest books with boys,” Brinson said. “Reading is an ideal way for these boys to spend their waiting time. Picture it – boys reading and/or being read to while waiting to take their turn in the barber’s chair!”
Since it started, B-BOB reading nooks have made their debut in more than 100 barbershops across the country, from Florida to Illinois.
Brinson says one of the most important parts of the program is finding out from the barbers themselves the ages, ethnic groups and interests of the clients in their community. She then chooses “high interest, high quality” developmentally appropriate books written primarily by writers of color that target children ages 0 to 10 and stocks the barbershop bookshelves. When children enter the barbershop, they are free to browse at their own leisure.
“We have academic books, books on positive self attributes, history and heritage, adventures, mysteries and culturally responsive books,” Brinson says. “It’s all to pull them into the practice of reading.”
About 15 kids started reading books in 2000 at Memphis barber Napoleon Dickerson Jr.’s shop. Now Dickerson says he sees upwards of 20 kids a day reading books in his barbershop.
“People thought it was so ironic and crazy. They would come and get their hair cut and start to read books,” Dickerson says. “I just wanted to give something back to the community so they wouldn’t just sit around and do nothing,”
Memphis barber Falah Uddin Muhammad said he jumped at the chance to bring B-BOB into his shop.
“I’m always looking to find avenues to enhance their reading,” he says. “It was strange, but that is the innovativeness you have to have when it comes to our children.”
Muhammad says B-BOB has been a hit in his barbershop.
“It gets a little hectic in here, but actually for 20 or 25 minutes the kids sit and read a book. They get excited. Instead of grabbing a magazine, they grab a book,” says Muhammad. “It’s been great, especially seeing girls come in and read with their fathers.”
Michael Chandler recruited volunteers from his Men’s Ministry at Saint Andrew AME Church in Memphis to spend time reading to the children in area barbershops.
“If it’s just reading to our kids for a couple hours, it’s worth it,” Chandler said. “It’s already a location where they naturally hang out. It’s like a safe haven and a comfort zone for them.”
Dr. Brinson is hoping the success of B-BOB will carry over to her latest literacy project, Girls Booked on Beautyshops. She says the premise will be the same, only the girls’ reading nooks will be tailored to the unique interests and needs of girls.
Suggested Reading from Boys Booked on Barbershops …
Academics e.g., Chameleons are Cool by Martin Jenkins
Acceptance of Others e.g., The Crayon Box that Talked by Shane DeRolf
Adventure e.g., Uptown by Bryan Collier
Anti-violence e.g., The Meanest Thing to Say by Bill Cosby
Diverse Families e.g., Daddy Calls Me Man by Angela Johnson
Ethnic Identity e.g., The Black Snowman by Phil Mendez
Fantasy e.g., Ten Oni Drummers by Matthew Gollub
Heritage e.g., Black Diamond: The Story of the Negro Baseball Leagues by Patricia McKissack and Frederick McKissack, Jr.
History e.g., The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis
Humor e.g., Itching and Twitching-A Nigerian Folktale adapted by Patricia McKissack and Robert L. McKissack
Life Lessons e.g., Mr. Sugar Came to Town/La Visita del Sr. Azucar adapted by Harriet Rohmer and Cruz Gomez
Mystery e.g., Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen
Positive Self-attributes e.g., Salt in His Shoes-Michael Jordan in Pursuit of a Dream by Deloris Jordan with Roslyn M. Jordan
Predictions e.g., I had a Hippopotamus by Hector Viveros Lee
FUN! e.g., Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields
To purchase any of the recommended books listed above, please visit www.barnesandnoble.com
Barnes & Noble.com Home Page
For more information on Boys Booked in Barbershops, visit their website at www.people.memphis.edu/~sbrinson/
Kaue Kelch Mattox, former producer for NBC, MSNBC and Oprah/King World Productions and writer/contributor for the Miami Herald, The Washington Post and The New York Times, is the Editor-in-Chief of Black Family Today magazine.
(c) 2006 Black Family Today Publications, LLC. All rights reserved. For more information or to subscribe to Black Family Today magazine, visit www.blackfamilytoday.com
