Growing up in Texas, Eva Longoria and her sisters loved reading and thought the local library was “the funnest place in the world,” as she put it. Their mother was a teacher, so Longoria was raised to value books and learning. But she is aware that not all children are so lucky.
On Wednesday, Eva Longoria, the actor and director of “Flamin’ Hot,” announced a partnership with the juice company Mott’s to make it easier for families to access multicultural stories. Mott’s is launching a mobile library that will travel across the country, along with a program that allows families to get free books with qualifying purchases.
Longoria hopes to help raise awareness of diverse books and authors, especially given the ongoing controversies over book bans and ethnic studies. “We are in a moment where we should not be limiting access to books. “We should be increasing access to books,” she said. “We now live in a global community, and books are the gateway to the world. …The stakes are very high in our country.”
While Longoria recalled loving books from “Charlotte’s Web” to “Moby Dick,” she rarely saw herself in the stories she enjoyed as a child. Even now, she pointed out, only about 7% of characters in published books are Latino.
It was n’t until Longoria had her son that she became more aware of Latino books aimed at children and young adults. “I saw these titles called Lil Libros, these bilingual storybooks, and I thought, hey, I wish I’d had those when I was a kid.”
The children’s and young adult books in Mott’s “Snacks and Stories” program include several titles by Latino authors, including “Islandborn” by Junot Diaz, “What Can You Do With a Paleta?” by Carmen Tafolla and “Too Many Tamales” by Gary Soto. Some of the books are bilingual, as well.
“It is important for everyone to have access to different cultures and different communities so everyone can read stories with Latino characters,” Longoria said. “Our being reflected in stories educates other people about us, and it also educates us about ourselves.”
The media and the publishing world greatly influence how young people see themselves, she added. “You can’t be what you can’t see… and when we don’t see ourselves, we feel erased.”
Eva Longoria is proud that the mobile library will visit cities like San Antonio, Houston, Chicago and Kansas City, Missouri, home to some communities known as “book deserts.”
“I was surprised to see that where I grew up was considered a book desert,” Longoria said of her native San Antonio. The city’s population is about two-thirds Latino.
According to Molly Ness, the founder of the “End Book Deserts” podcast, a book desert is a geographic area or community where books and reading culture are difficult to access. “The term can refer to an actual geographic place or to populations that are overlooked or underserved by public libraries and bookstores,” Ness said.
Nearly half of children in the U.S., 45%, live in book deserts, according to the American Federation of Teachers.
“Book deserts are a combination of several things,” Ness said. “There are public schools that have limited resources for their libraries, so kids can’t take home books with them, and some families don’t take advantage of public libraries because of transportation issues, proof of residency requirements or late fees.”
She cited research showing that in high-income communities, there are about 13 books for every child. By contrast, in high-poverty communities, there is about 1 book for every 300 children.
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