Black barbershops are doing their part to help children develop a love for reading. Alvin Irby, a former educator, is leading the effort to bring more children’s books to Black barbershops. Irby has launched a nonprofit organization known as Barbershop Books. The organization, which has distributed books to 250 shops in over 50 cities across the country, specifically aims to introduce Black boys to stories that are fun and relatable. “Black boys are more than just their skin color,” Irby said in an interview with USA Today . “They want to read about trucks. They want to laugh. So many of the books that feature Black boys don’t give them a chance to be boys: silly or gross or funny.”
