Pop-up library at Mother Road Market aims to encourage reading

Originally posted on Fox 23 News

TULSA, Okla. — A new push to read more books is happening in an unlikely place—a food hall.

The latest pop-up shop at Mother Road Market, located at 11th and Lewis, is a partnership to give young students the support they need in order to read at their grade level.

From now through March 3, Reading Partners Tulsa has set up a little free library where anyone can take a book at no cost. Donations can also be dropped off.

Part of the pop-up includes story time at noon on Feb. 24 and March 2.

The literacy nonprofit targets elementary-aged students, kindergarten through 4th grade.

In 2023, nearly 1,000 impact tutors led nearly 25,000 tutoring sessions.

In Oklahoma, only one in four fourth graders reads at a proficient level. It is a statistic that this partnership hopes to turn around one word at a time.

Reading Partners Tulsa relies on volunteers to read with a student one-on-one just one hour per week. You can apply to be a volunteer here.