Books x Bodegas is bringing little libraries into Bronx bodegas.

NYC bodegas are special places. You can grab all manner of essentials and snacks, order your most idiosyncratic breakfast sandwich, pet a cat, and catch up with a guy who only knows you as “boss” but has seen you at your lowest moments.

But now, thanks to the non-profit Books x Bodegas, a few bodegas in the Bronx will also have little free libraries. The new organization is working to boost literacy and fill gaps in “book deserts” where bookstores or libraries are not as prevalent. News12 spoke with the founders and visited a few of the seven bodegas that now feature books alongside the snacks and sodas.

The program is especially targeted at getting kids to read, by putting books into places where the kids are. One of the organization’s founders, Suzanne Likeness, told News12, “Even if someone’s not picking up a book, just the visibility, you don’t know what that is going to inspire.”

Books x Bodegas started last fall and “aim[s] to create and advance a culture of reading, connection, and self-empowerment” to address low literacy rates and the absence of bookstores in their communities. As of last year, only about 50% of NYC kids were reading at grade level, and the city has said improving literacy will be a priority.

This grassroots project is still an experiment, and in early days. “We don’t necessarily know how much this is going to move the needle as far as literacy rates,” Likeness told told News12, “We know the impact that its having as far as people’s joy and that that right now is sustaining us and keeping us going.”

It’s the kind of creative way to get books out in the world I’d love to see more of. Though since New Yorkers are famously touchy about bodegas—they’re not just smaller grocery stores—so I’m bracing myself for the discourse.

In the meantime, there’s lots more on the Books x Bodegas Instagram and ways to get involved on their website.

Image from Books x Bodegas Instagram