We are dedicated to making books more accessible. Our mission is to help children build their home libraries, foster a love of reading, and improve literacy outcomes by providing evidence-based literacy programming and support, and gifting new and gently used books to children in Detroit.

Books are available in Spanish and English and are culturally sustaining, diverse, and inclusive. Since receiving a donation from The Awesome Foundation in May and our launch in June 2022 we have gifted 2616 books to 957 children in Detroit.

Our primary focus is on providing books and programming to children ages 5-14. Board books, picture books, early readers, chapter books, graphic novels, and middle-grade books. We are intentional about ensuring that our books have BIPOC characters, celebrate diversity and inclusion, have neurodiverse and disabled characters, STEM-related themes, and are reflective of the communities we serve.

Birdie's Bookmobile is partnered with six DPSCD and Charter Schools in Detroit and eight organizations that are literacy and summer and out-of-school time program providers. We visit the schools and organizations once a month. We also attend summer camps and community events and have installed eight Little Free Libraries that we steward and curate.

Literacy rates in Detroit are 47% for adults and as low as 3.6% for third-grade reading in some zip codes. We are expanding our book titles at the request of high school students, families, and literacy organizations to provide YA titles for high school students ages 15-18 years old.