The Wheels On This Mom’s Bookstore Go ‘Round And ‘Round Spreading A Love Of Reading.

What do you do when one of the few bookstores in your neighborhood shuts down?

If you’re Latanya DeVaughn, you make a new and improved one! The Bronx mom and writer has always dreamed of opening her own bookstore, so after watching yet another close its doors for good, she saw her chance – and got creative.

While Latanya says “every neighborhood deserves a bookstore,” opening brick-and-mortar stores on every block simply wasn’t an option. So she decided to bring the books to her neighbors, instead, by turning a shuttle bus into a bookmobile!

“With the bus, every neighborhood in the Bronx can have a bookstore, even if it’s just for one day,” Latanya said.

With the help of her community, she raised the money for her dream and, at the end of 2021, it came to be! Bronx Bound Books rolled out in style as a bus with orange cube bookshelves and sturdy wood floors.

“People love the way it smells,” Latanya added. “One woman said the wood smell makes her feel like she’s home.”

Although the bookstore on wheels carries around 3,000 new and used books, it has more room than you might expect! Latanya also makes sure to stock books with a range of diverse characters so all readers can see themselves in the pages. Of course, her collection also features works of renowned Black authors like James Baldwin and Alice Walker front and center.

“It’s meant to be that way,” she explained, “because I remember going to bookstores and having to sift through books just to find someone that I felt I could resonate with.”

Setting up shop in a new spot each day, Latanya is doing her part to make reading accessible to everyone in the Bronx, and she’s just getting started.

“I can’t open up a bookstore on every corner, but I can probably pop up on a lot of different corners,” she said.

Thanks to Latanya and Bronx Bound Books, the Bronx is becoming a haven for book-lovers day by day. We’re sure the little bookstore that could will continue to flourish!

Take a virtual tour of her bookmobile in the video below, and don’t forget to share this story with your friends!