WORDS
By the Book
Ashley Reese hopes to connect all kids to high-quality books. ERICK DOXEY PHOTO
The Center for Children’s Book Arts aims to increase kids’ access to high-quality picture books and literature
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hink back to a time, perhaps long ago, when you were a child. What books were your favorite? Was it a classic bedtime story, like Goodnight Moon, with its vivid, monochromatic artwork and memorable rhymes? Maybe it was a magical chapter book series, like Harry Potter or A Series of Unfortunate Events? Perhaps something timeless and whimsical from Dr. Suess or Richard Scarry, Beatrix Potter’s beloved anthropomorphic animal adventures, or Eric Carle’s colorful, layered collages? Whether we knew it at the time or not, books such as these were quietly shaping and molding our young minds, sparking interests and spurring creativity. They’re the kind of stories that, for good reason, stick with us long after the last page was turned. Making sure local kids have access to quality books that inspire and inform through exquisite illustrations and enduring tales is the focus of a new local nonprofit, the Center for Children’s Book Arts. Founded in 2021 by local literacy educator Ashley Reese, the center operates a small bookstore on North Monroe Street, where it also hosts art- and book-related workshops for adults and children. The physical location,
6 INLANDER FALL ARTS GUIDE 2022
BY CHEY SCOTT a space shared with the Terrain Gallery’s new home, opened this spring. Before that, Reese was mainly operating the center as a pop-up via its “Book Bus” and hosting workshops at other venues. While Reese acknowledges that public libraries certainly help increase kids’ access to books, the center aims to make book ownership a possibility for low-income families. “With the library, there’s not that sense of ownership of this sense of ‘This belongs to me, and this is part of my childhood culture, and we can come back to this over and over again as a family,’” she says. “I’ve taught internationally and locally, and have consistently seen the power of high-quality literature and art on engagement with students,” Reese adds. “And, just in researching best practices in literacy, it has consistently come up that a high-quality home library is the number one predictor of academic success in students.”
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hile families can walk in off the street and browse for books on the shelves of the center’s cozy, library-like space, Reese’s hope is that customers sign up for a membership, modeled like a book subscription service. Memberships are offered in tiers, and include one
($16), two ($30) or three ($44) book credits a month, which allow customers to pick anything from the center’s inventory (with some minor limitations) each month. Reese says the price for books with a membership can be up to 30 percent off the cover price. Supporters can also sponsor memberships for low-income students ($18 a month or $108 for six months) who are nominated for the scholarship program by teachers. The center’s website (theccba.org) includes an online storefront for people to browse what’s in stock, and to place orders for pickup or shipping. Memberships can be started or stopped at any time. One main difference between the Center for Children’s Book Arts and other programs that seek to get more literature into the hands of kids, is the thoughtful curation of its inventory, Reese explains. “We’re trying to consider how to facilitate that in a way where books can be highly curated and selected, but still accessible to lower income families,” Reese says. “Most programs that get books into homes are usually looking at lower print quality, or lower-quality of even writing and art or illustration, and then you’re certainly not looking at hardcover, so usually those books just don’t last.” ...continued on page 8