CLEVELAND — As we highlight News 5’s annual "If You Give a Child a Book" campaign, in partnership with the Scripps Howard Fund, our team is also celebrating other community groups championing childhood literacy, including the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank and one of its newest campaigns.
"We're distributing 50,000 books a month,” said Natalie Friedl, executive director of the Cleveland Kids’ Book Bank, which has been in existence since 2016.
It’s a labor of love to help make sure children across Greater Cleveland are able to own books of their own and build home libraries.
"It really is again- sparking those young readers to not just be readers, but writers and learners,” Friedl said, noting the power of books to inform, entertain and help expand imaginations.
Partner agencies help select the books for children and, in many cases, hand-deliver them. Friedl often sees the emotion the books spark.
“That sense of ownership probably makes these kids feel like a million bucks?” News 5 Anchor Damon Maloney asked her.
“Yes. Yes,” Friedl said. “It's owning that whole experience and they can go back and read it. For some kids they say. ‘I remember when I couldn't read this book. and then I kept practicing and now I can read this book.’ Or they come in and they're so excited that they get the next reading level it's powerful stuff."
This year marks the fourth year of the Books Like Me campaign, which began after the organization learned just about 4% of the book bank’s inventory featured diverse stories.
“We were putting out a lot of books that kids were like you know…. ‘That's great, but this isn't what I want to read,’” Friedl said. "We want books that look like them, that have diverse topics, diverse themes, diverse experiences.”
She said the campaign was a success and the organization beat its goal.
“And that is going to allow us to put out over 30,000 diverse books this year,” Friedl said.
The powerful mission has taken on an even deeper meaning since the loss of Apollo Bohanon, who died in 2024 at the age of 5 and was a beloved face of the Books Like Me campaign.
"When he came in for his photo shoot he was so excited,” Friedl said.
His mom, Constance Bohanon, serves on the Books Like Me campaign committee, and every visitor to the Cleveland Kids' Book Bank gets to witness Apollo’s Book Nook.
“He loved reading so much, and when he passed his mom and dad were really excited about the opportunity of honoring him in a space where books were always going to be a part of his life and other kids to inspire that love of reading,” Friedl said.
The Books Like Me campaign returns next June and July.
"It really does ignite a culture of reading for Cleveland, which is really, really important,” Friedl said.
Damon Maloney is a Cuyahoga County and We Follow Through anchor at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @DMaloneyTV, on Facebook DamonMaloneyTV or email him at Damon.Maloney@wews.com.
