Letras Itinerantes plans eight reading days and 400 donated books

Seven Letras Itinerantes volunteers split 50 children into small reading groups in Tulum's 10 de Octubre neighborhood on August 10, opened the books they had brought, and braced for short attention spans.

The bracing was unnecessary. The foundation says it had assumed the hardest part of the day would be holding the children's interest during the read-alouds, but the opposite happened. Each group stayed with its volunteer, and with the story.

That day was the first of eight reading sessions the Tulum organization has scheduled, each centered on delivering about 50 books toward a target of 400. Fifty are placed. The other 350 have to be bought, donated, or negotiated with publishers before the campaign closes, and the second session takes place on September 3 in a Maya community inland from the coast.

Emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and animals on the reading list

The titles that went into 10 de Octubre were chosen for their focus on emotional intelligence, self-esteem, and animal care, mixed with didactic and learning books.

The foundation says it picked them to spark curiosity, imagination, and conversation among the children, and to serve as tools they keep after the reading circle breaks up. Reading, in its account, goes past putting books in children's hands. The point is to hand over stories that let a child recognize and say out loud what they feel, and the plain pleasure of the encounter with the book.

Some of the books are visually striking, which the team credits with part of the day's pull. Librerías Gandhi has backed the project with that kind of material.

Photo by Nahuel Berger

The session ended in shavasana

After the storytelling and the read-alouds came a yoga session. The children went all the way to shavasana, the pose that closes a practice with the body flat, still, and quiet, and quieted down little by little. The foundation describes the good harmony that settled over the group among the children, the volunteers, and the activities.

What Alejandro Ulises listens for after a story

Alejandro Ulises met Letras Itinerantes while volunteering at NOMMO Fest and sought ways to get further involved. His account of what keeps him coming back, given in Spanish and translated here, comes down to one moment.

There is something especially beautiful about sharing a story with someone and discovering that, when it ends, they want to hear one more. For me, few things are as satisfying as watching that interest wake up, hearing a "what's next?" after a reading, or having someone ask, when the day is over, when the next one will be.

What caught him at the festival was the premise itself, moving stories, tales, and novels toward anyone willing to hear them.

Photo by Nahuel Berger

Where Letras Itinerantes finds 400 books

The books arrive through alliances with large Mexican bookstore chains and publishers, through direct purchase, and through donation. Every session travels with a team of five to 10 people, a mix of volunteers, workshop leaders, and foundation staff, which is why seven readers could each take a group that day.

Books as an excuse to reach a new community

The organization looks for places where books, cultural activities, and reading spaces are hard to come by, and then tries to build something continuous rather than a single visit. It calls the books and the sessions of this campaign an excuse to get close to communities it has not worked with before.

10 de Octubre is one of those. The foundation describes it as a neighborhood where families who have made Tulum their home are raising children who grow, play, and learn there, and where, like many parts of the town, access to cultural and educational spaces is limited.

The campaign also runs alongside the foundation's ordinary work, which does not stop while the books move. One recent activity paired a talk on keeping shared spaces clean and cared for with a cleanup of a community school.

Photo by Nahuel Berger

Sahcab Mucuy is next, on September 3

The second session goes to Sahcab Mucuy, a Maya community of several hundred residents within the Tulum municipality, in the low forest near Cobá, roughly 60 kilometers from the coast. Municipal authorities handed over a rehabilitated and expanded health post there in June, according to the Tulum government, part of a run of works aimed at communities that sit far from the services concentrated in town.

Six more sessions follow it, planned across September and October.

Photo by Nahuel Berger

A book, an afternoon, or a whole reading day

Anyone who wants in can donate books, contribute money, or volunteer for a session. The foundation is also looking for companies willing to underwrite a full reading day or part of one, and says it is an authorized donee under Mexican rules, which allow it to issue tax-deductible receipts.

Passing the project along also counts. The organization puts book drives run by supporters, and plain word of mouth, among the forms of help it values most.

Fifty books travel to Sahcab Mucuy on September 3. If that day goes as planned, the campaign will still owe itself six sessions and 300 books.

Would you donate books or spend a day reading with children in a community in Tulum? Join the conversation and share your perspective with us on Instagram and Facebook at @thetulumtimes .