Mobile bookstore spreads the joy of reading across the Bronx

Bronx Bound Books makes it so that even if it's just for a few hours, every neighborhood in the borough can have its own bookstore.
Bronx native Latanya Devaughn grew up wanting to own a bookstore, and it didn't make sense to her that Manhattan had more than 70 brick-and-mortar bookstores, while the Bronx had just one. She changed that by buying a bus and converting it into a mobile bookstore, Bronx Bound Books, which she parks outside of markets, schools, and parks in the borough.
"We've been shortchanged for so long in the Bronx," Devaughn told Good Morning America. "Some people feel like we're the forgotten borough, and everyday that I'm out, even the whole existence of Bronx Bound Books being supported and fueled by the community, shows people in the Bronx that you're not forgotten."
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When Devaughn brings her bus to schools, she works with educators to offer books that go with the themes they are teaching. At some of her stops, the books are sponsored by local businesses and organizations, so she can give them away for free. Seeing kids walk away with books that they can take home to read whenever they want "is priceless to me," Devaughn said.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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