The City That Reads

In what is only the beginning of an ongoing deep dive into what makes us “the city that reads,” the Pratt sat down with nearly a dozen avid readers from across the city to hear them tell the story of their love of reading, what they’re reading now and what they read again and again, and how important their relationships with the Library and to the city of Baltimore are. As Baltimore’s public library, the Pratt wants nothing more than to shine a light on reading and this community.  

In just a few weeks’ time, and drawing from our initial interviews, Baltimoreans have shared many recommendations, perspectives, and lived experiences with us, such as a personal immigrant journey, meeting their spouse, caring for children with special needs, nurturing students’ minds, and more — all informed and enriched by the written word, supported by their local library, and brimming with love for Baltimore and the people they shares these things with.  

Books bring us stories and history only as much as we build our own story and history through family, friends, and communities. Baltimore is indeed the city that reads; it’s also the city that fiercely and unabashedly loves and takes pride in itself. The following are just a few excerpts from the stories we’ve gathered thus far, but this city has many more to share.

We Want to Hear Your Story

If you’re interested in sharing your story with us, contact the Marketing & Communications Department at comms@prattlibrary.org. 

Vanessa, Central Library

"I’ve loved reading ever since I was a little girl. To be honest, I used to sneak and read my mother's books, and when she found out, she started buying me real books. I think the first book I read that I remember was Black Girl Lost. I was in maybe second grade, so it was definitely too old for me, but I read it again as an adult and it was an amazing book.

My favorite place to read is in my bed. That's my favorite place in the whole wide world. I have my little lamp that I put on my book, and I get to read and relax. You know how you have your comfort movie? The Coldest Winter Ever is my comfort book. It just reminds me of high school.

I love my city. I just love the city. I went to Western High School and that has really deep roots, that’s a whole sisterhood. I do a lot of work in the community, and I volunteer with some nonprofits." 

Recommendations:

Julia, Central Library

"I was from a big family, and being from a big family, we had nap times until elementary school, middle school and out to even high school because my little sisters were a lot younger. We didn't have to actually nap, but we were allowed to read. That kind of built it all out from there, and I've been reading a lot from a young age. We had a really good library system where I grew up, they really encouraged us to read a lot. My mom actually read the entire [Harry Potter series] out loud to us because we're such a big family, she didn't want any of us spoiling for the other one, so she read them out loud with voices.

I think probably one of the more recent books that I think had a really big impact was Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I think that was probably one of the first books that I saw in the mainstream — you could just go to Target or anywhere in the world and see just a regular queer book out on display, and that had a huge impact. So that was really important to me. Also, being bisexual, seeing another bisexual lead in a book, also one who grew up bilingual. I really related to that character. " 

Ursula, Hamilton Branch

"I remember very distinctly when I did not ask my mother to read to me anymore, but could hold a book and read myself. This was liberation for me because I didn’t have to stop listening. I could read myself.

Recommendations: 

Tabitha, Hamilton Branch

"I learned to love to read as a kid, and my parents were big readers — always encouraged us to have books, always took us to the library. It got so bad that my sister would go to the playground by the library, and I would be at the library because she out her books ahead of time. I just fell in love with books, and that's all I wanted.

We have books in every room in our house. They're in the kids room, they’re in the bathrooms, they're in the living room, they’re in the kitchen. There are books everywhere. And my kids have special needs, so they can't read themselves, but they love books being read to them. They love to just look at them.

When my husband and I got married, I made sure that we went back to my childhood library and took pictures in my dress and everything, because books were so important.

I realized as I get older that reading made me a better person. I was able to figure out people's points of view and, you know, change my empathy levels, you know?

And it's all because of reading. I read books about different people in different locations and different cultures and different everything. And I think I have a more successful life because of that." 

Recommendations:

• Extra Yarn, by Mac Barnett 

• The Llama Llama series, by Anna Dewdney 

• The Thursday Murder Club series, by Richard Osman 

• The Librarians, by Sherry Thomas 

• The Bartimaeus Sequence series, by Jonathan Stroud 

Onyeka, Central Library  

"My mom was a librarian for the Queensborough Public Library. She'd been taking us to libraries since I was a kid. We would do all the summer programs and book clubs. We would take the lists from school and get recommended summer reading books.

My parents would make us do book reports at home, so I read a lot of autobiographies and memoirs and biographies, because sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. Like some people's lives. You can't make some stuff up.

She wanted us to develop our own natural love for reading. So, I try not to police like what [my children] read. I want them to organically come up with love of reading on their own.

Libraries in general are the unsung heroes of any community, any county, any place. And the people that work there do all the things — one might argue that maybe they shouldn't be doing all of these things, but they're stepping in the gap to help folks that absolutely need help, whether it's resume assistance, the time you were doing passports, helping with taxes, creating spaces for people to meet and not have to pay exorbitant rates to rent space, to have community meetings. You're pretty much guaranteed to get a free T-shirt every year if you do the summer challenge. I've gotten books from as far away as West Virginia because they weren't here.

Libraries are just — I can't sing enough praises about libraries in general. They do God's work." 

Recommendations:

Berkley, Hampden Branch

"My mom was a big reader, and she used to take me to the public library in my hometown when I was really small. I got a library card as soon as I could get one. I was allowed to take out ten books at a time.

I typically read in my house. I like complete and total silence so I can just feel super immersed. I've got a big puffy, comfy chair in my living room, and I like to take all the cushions out and put a bunch of blankets in it and make it a nest.

I have a very close relationship with the first Series of Unfortunate Events. I remember I saw it in the Scholastic Book Fair magazine, and I thought the cover was kind of scary looking. I was like: I've got to read this. I don't know what it is. I'm going to read it. I took the money that I got from plucking marigold heads out of my grandma's garden and I went to the little bookstore in my hometown and I bought the first series of Unfortunate Events."

Recommendations:

Raven, Central Library

"I remember the exact moment I discovered my love for reading: It was the summer before my freshman year of high school, I went to Baltimore City College (City forever!).

We had three assignments or books for summer reading. And it was Kindred, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Bean Trees. And I remember my dad dropped me off at Barnes and Noble by myself. It was my first time being in a public place by myself. And I remember walking in, just looking around at all the books. The first book I found was Kindred, I grabbed it, I fell on the floor because I saw other people sitting on the floor. I opened the book and the rest is history.

My favorite place to read is at the top of the Washington Monument. If you walk up there, walk up all those steps, take a seat right there by the window and I just make a nice little cozy reading nook for myself." 

Recommendations:

Daisy, Hampden Branch

"I moved to Baltimore 24 years ago from Toronto, Canada. And I’ve lived the entire time in Hampden. My family immigrated to Toronto in the mid 60s from South India. And like many immigrants, we didn’t have a lot of resources. And my parents confronted the usual challenges, if you’re not white, about pay. There weren’t a lot of disposable income in the house. No toys. So my father took my sister and I to the library and got us our first library cards in Toronto. Reading has been my entertainment my whole life.

I love [the Hampden Branch]. I love the team here. It’s been really a welcoming place and getting to know the team and just being able to talk to them, getting to know their names, and it’s just small enough that you can feel it’s an intimate space without it being done." 

Recommendations:

Bob, Central Library  

"I was born and raised in Baltimore, so the Enoch Pratt Free Library has been a part of my life since birth. You remember the library where you grew up, even if you grew up on the other side of the country. My branch was your Hamilton Branch, which was walking distance from my childhood house, and I know that branch is still flourishing. I don't live in that neighborhood anymore, so I just drive to the Pratt branch of my choice, and lately it's been Central.

My parents read to me and my brother when I was a very young child, and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being read to and I wanted to learn how to read. We bought those little golden books. This was the, you know, the late 1950s, early 1960s.

I guess my favorite reading spot would be my recliner chair in my living room. I think that's my favorite. And for some good reason, ever since childhood, I actually find the library a comforting place. I'm thinking of the word “solace.” If the weather is miserable, it's a comforting place for me to come into. I don't know that I've ever been into a library that has not been welcoming. I will be traveling somewhere around the US, you know, like a beach town — and I love the ocean — but as I'm walking around the beach town, if I see its public library, I want to go in and check it out. I find the public library to be a welcoming place, a quiet place. And I realize the public library is no longer the quiet library of my childhood. There are wonderful, noisy things going on for children and adults." 

Recommendations: