welcome to between the covers summer series with our Spotlight on South Florida with me is prano Kumar the owner of Roy's readery a social justice-driven children's bookstore in West Palm Beach it's a space to make connections and to build community and I am so glad you are here today that you took time off from your beautiful store thank you so much for having me today tell us about the concept and what inspired you and what did you want to accomplish with this physical setting absolutely so rohi's readery is actually named after my grandmother rohini and she was an education activist who fought for the emancipation of women's rights and also children's rights and something about rohini was that she always wanted to ensure that children felt seen valued loved and a sense of belonging so I always say that first so that people know really the concept of rohies readery is to just do that and then my first daughter is also named rohini but it is a social justice-driven children's bookstore and learning center where we want to ensure that people of all ages feel empowered and Unapologetic in who they are so every book is reflective of historically marginalized communities so the black indigenous Arab Latina Pacific Islander Asian the lgbtqia plus Community the neurodiverse and disability Community sharing beautiful joyful positive stories and truths and then we do about 15 to 20 free classes a month like cooking gardening dance music Story Time both for children and adults so the goal is really to build human connection and really ensure that everyone feels a place where they can come and and feel loved I don't think the word unique can be underscored enough let's look inside of the store for a moment yeah what is the criteria for selecting a book oh absolutely so like I said we want to ensure that we are honoring historically marginalized communities but really the criteria is ensuring that we are providing opportunities for children to as we say be revolutionary readers so when we say that we say we read something we learn something we share it with the world and so really thinking about ways to engage in critical literacy really meaningful conversations so that children and adults can take what they've learned and apply it to being empathetic citizens of the world we have books from newborn board books all the way to our young adult and adult section because we found that adults need love too and love to read so really the criteria is just making sure that everyone has an opportunity for a window and mirror of learning I love the Revolutionary reader which you're wearing yourself yes you know the pandemic had such an effect on businesses and independent bookstores just disappear one after another so the pandemic is when you decide to open this yes are you just Fearless oh my gosh well I have an incredible community and support system and I think one of the biggest things when opening rohi's readery was also trying to fulfill something within um because I had just moved to Florida was trying to find a place in space to build community I just found out I was pregnant with my first child and so rohi's reader and my mind was how can we build authentic loving human connection at a time where we need it most in ways that are also safe and approachable for All Humans so yeah it's been a journey I will say the readery and the walls are just filled with love from the community and I can't say that enough what advice would you have for parents for educators who they want to promote diversity in books for their own children I love that question I think just listening to your children allowing them to be exploratory Learners allowing them to cultivate their curiosity we say that there is already Brilliance within our littlest ones and people of all ages so how do we tap into that already they're Brilliance so by taking them to a bookstore by taking them to different places that'll allow them to learn the stories of others and hopefully learn more about themselves My Hope Is that when people come into the readery they feel as though it is a safe place for them to ask questions to engage in texts and to learn from each other along the way as the kids are getting out of school this summer you have special events planned yes yes we do about like I said 15 to 20 free events a month actually one event that we're having coming up is at the square and it's going to be called our summertime series and so we're doing a story time A movement class we're going to be doing summertime Reading Readiness summertime safety with St Mary's Medical Center so finding ways to still engage in Reading throughout the summer and and get kids you know engaged in that space so there's no summer slippage more revolutionary readers exactly before I opened bro he's readery my career path was medicine and I decided to switch into education because I believe an identity driven empowering experiences my favorite book as a child I did used to check out Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a lot in this library but there's so many if we could see your bookshelf at home what would it tell us about you that there is a lot of love curiosity acceptance and empowerment in the space and that there are books everywhere in the house kids books often have superheroes if you could pick a super for yourself what would it be to be around everywhere where my children are so that I can see them growing up in so many different ways oh it's beautiful and last one one thing you would tell your younger self be kind to yourself be gentle with yourself feel empowered in yourself and you are more than enough more than enough brand new Kumar is the owner of rohi's readery in West Palm Beach this has been such a pleasure I want to thank you for spending time with me thank you so much for the opportunity I really enjoyed it I'm Anne bocock please join me on the next between the covers foreign [Music]