Chevez Moman was hard at work on Saturday cutting a boy’s hair in an old COTA bus he’s converted into a mobile barber shop. Moman was part of a team of barbers offering free haircuts to celebrate the relaunch of the Barbershop Books program in Columbus.
Founded in New York City in 2013 by former first grade teacher Alvin Irby, the program provides barbers with free books and training in early literacy. Speaking over Zoom from Harlem, Irby said the goal is to expose young boys of color to “trusted messengers” who can help them develop a love of reading.
“Today, less than 2 percent of teachers, K to 12, are Black males,” Irby said. “And for Black boys, the majority of whom are raised by single mothers, what this means is that many of them don’t have access to Black male reading role models at school or at home.” However, he said these boys are also going to the barbershop regularly, which creates a “unique opportunity to connect reading to a male-centered space.” Building these skills is crucial – the Barbershop Books website notes that nationally more than 82 percent of Black boys are not proficient readers in 4th grade.
Irby said participating barbers receive training that gives them “basic tips and strategies” to get kids thinking about books and to develop positive associations with reading. “It is about inspiring children to identify as readers, and really inspiring them and motivating them to read for fun,” he said.
Moman first met Irby years ago at a barber show in Chicago, where he encouraged him to bring Barbershop Books to Columbus. The pair successfully launched a partnership here in 2016, working with Columbus City Schools. “Columbus, Ohio, was actually one of the first cities outside of … New York City to have a reading space,” Irby said. But the onset of COVID-19 ended the program a few years later. “We had to remove all the books and periodicals out of the barbershop,” Moman said. “Now we’re back, 2023, and now it’s time to relaunch.”
The relaunch was aided by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services given to Barbershop Books and the Urban Libraries Council to partner with local library systems, which could contribute knowledge of the community and expertise in early literacy. Columbus was selected as one of the grant’s four pilot cities, and 10 local barbershops will offer Barbershop Books reading materials in the coming weeks, (including Moman’s permanent location inside Reynoldsburg’s Grooves Barber & Beauty Salon).
Brooke Thomas, youth services manager at the South High branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), said that CML is providing each participating barbershop with 45 books (three copies of 15 titles) to launch the program. CML also serves as what Thomas called “the local expert on the ground,” identifying community partners for the project. In addition to participating barbershops, CML recruited volunteers to do things such as assemble bookshelves and set up spaces for kids to read as they wait for their haircuts.
Thomas and her team are also helping to find books to which children of color will relate. They considered popular titles, as well as what kids were reading in school, asking, “How can we get representation mixed into this?”
So, what are kids reading through Barbershop Books? Thomas said two popular titles are Stuntboy, by Jason Reynolds, and The Last Kids on Earth, by Max Brallier.
And while Moman hasn’t seen the new books yet, he’s heard about a few incoming titles he’s excited to share with his young clients. “I did see one that said Cool Cuts. … I believe there’s another one, My Dad is a Barber,” he said. “Of course, you know, I’m going to be partial to the barber books.”
