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Pop-Up Inclusive Children’s Bookshop Asks You #ReadTheOnePercent

#ReadTheOnePercent was started by the Knights Of Bookshop in Brixton, London. The bookshop's aim is to sell inclusive books to children and teens.

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Lucas Maxwell

Staff Writer

Lucas Maxwell has been working with youth in libraries for over fifteen years. Originally from Nova Scotia, Canada, he's been a high school librarian in London, UK for over a decade. In 2017 he won the UK's School Librarian of the Year award and in 2022 he was named the UK Literacy Association's Reading For Pleasure Teacher Champion. He loves Dungeons & Dragons and is the author of Let's Roll: A Guide for Setting up Tabletop Roleplaying Games in Your School or Public Library. You can follow him on Twitter and on his blog.

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#ReadTheOnePercent is a call to action for book publishers, librarians, booksellers and all readers in general.

Back in October, Book Riot highlighted a new pop-up children’s and YA bookshop in Brixton, London, called Knights Of, that sold books with diverse main characters.

Knights Of BookshopIt started as the result of a study which revealed that in the UK only 1% of children’s books published contained a BAME (Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic) main character.

Since opening their pop-up bookshop in Brixton, co-founders David Stevens and Aimée Felone have been raising money to remain in their location permanently and spread the word about the #ReadTheOnePercent hashtag.

Knights Of Bookshop Initially, they were only going to open for five days, but the demand for material was so high that they decided to stay open.

They are also hoping to spread the #ReadTheOnePercent movement to other areas of the UK & Ireland in the future.

Having students see themselves and their culture in the books that they read means they will form a much deeper connection with the books they read.

GhostThe shop contains so many amazing novels and picture books, the latest being Jason Reynolds’ Ghost, complete with a brand new cover!

I decided to take a team of students, known as The Booklings, to visit Knights Of before the Christmas holidays to interview David Stevens, enjoy some Christmas cookies, and select a wide range of novels for Glenthorne High School Library, which I manage in South London.

You can hear the interview here.

It was a really valuable experience for a deserving cause. The students loved meeting David, buying their own books, and of course selecting books for the Library to buy!

As of writing this post, they have currently raised £26,000 towards their £30,000 funding goal. If you’d like to support Knights Of, you can visit their crowdfunding page here.