11-year-old Sidney Keys III’s desire to see positive images of African-American characters in literature led him to organize his own club called Books N Bros, a reading club created to help evolve the literacy rate among his peers and to underline making reading a fun activity.

His clever idea for this book club developed after paying a visit to EyeSeeMe, a bookstore in University City, Missouri that carries a wide selection of African-American children’s literature. After some thorough research, Sidney along with his mother decided to target young boys between ages eight through ten, since this appears to be the age where boys begin to fall behind their counterparts in literature.

“Every time I go to the library at my school, there aren’t many African-American literature books there” Sidney expressed to the radio program “St. Louis on the Air.”

Books N Bros meet up monthly to discuss a book they all vote on beforehand. With a $20 membership fee, these young boys receive a book, worksheets pertaining to the book and some light refreshments. They have been meeting up since September, and so far some of their favorite books include “Danny Dollar,” “Hidden Figures” and “Supah Dupah Kid.”

The group also aims to invite speakers that are successful male role models to attend their monthly meetings for fellowship and to instill in these young boys some valuable advice.

Photo: Books N Bros

A local organization called that works to restore trust between police forces and community called Serving the Badge donated about 200 books to Books N Bros in order for members to add books to their personal book collections.

Through his immediate efforts, Sidney has already shown us tremendous black excellence, and we're excited to see what else Books N Bros will have in store for the community.

Books N Bros

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