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The proverb It takes a village to raise a child is as simple as it is profound. A community is responsible for the upbringing of its youth. Good people and good deeds create the future.

The same can be said of books.

Books are magical, affirming, and eye-opening. They inform, entertain, and persuade. Their pages teach and inspire, holding the key to the future.

Books have power. Everyone should have access to great books. It is with this belief that our name came to be.

It Takes a Bookshelf believes we need diverse and (so called) banned books, stories told by #ownvoices, and free, unrestricted access to secular, scientific facts.

This does not mean in the place of books and authors that have held a time-honored place in children’s literature. In the same line of thought, time-honored titles should not remain on bookshelves simply by virtue of having always been there.

Raising our readers and creating the villages that we want to see in society requires free access to robust bookshelves, critical thinking, digital literacy, listening, and learning.