MILWAUKEE— A Milwaukee non-profit took a creative approach to get people excited about reading Thursday as Adult Education and Family Literacy Week continued.
Joyce’s House Education Center held a book tasting to encourage visitors to feast on vivid characters, new worlds and captivating storylines.
Group Founder and CEO Mercedez Butts said the fundraiser was a chance to bring people’s attention to the importance of literacy in a creative way.
“We want to make sure that people who—families they're able to understand and utilize something that is a right,” she said. “Reading is a right."
The event’s books were supplied by the soon-to-open Niche Book Bar, which focuses on literature with Black Protagonists and Black authors. Organizers wrapped a number of those books to obscure the titles and challenge people to sample different genres and new authors.
"There are a lot of books that are representative of them across a wide variety of genres,” Niche owner Cetonia Weston-Roy said. She hoped people take away from the event. “It’s not ‘oh I don't like reading because there's nothing that interests me’, and just start to see there's a little bit of something for everyone."
Joyce’s House runs adult education programming year-round for things like GED testing and other certification exams. Butts said the non-profit was named after her grandmother who had a fierce love of reading but never got the chance to get a GED.
To close out Literacy Week Joyce’s House will hold a Book’Nic on Saturday. Butt said the picnic-themed event will feature several vendors, book discussions, and bookstores. It is set to take place at 5531 West North Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53208.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
