CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — A Chicago nonprofit with a goal of providing access to books and literacy programs for all children in their community is selling donated reading material to fund their mission.

Curtis Shaw Flagg of “Open Books” said, as the saying goes, “reading is fundamental.”

“Obviously, brain development, access to books is a huge part of that. And that’s what we like to do at Open Books,” he said.

It’s estimated that about two-thirds of children in Chicago live in so-called “book deserts,” or areas in which books are not readily available. 

Flagg believes this is one of the main reasons for the existence of “Open Books.”

“It’s incredible, 61% of low-income households have no access to books at all for children,” Flagg said. “And when you see a child with a book or a character that they can identify with … you see a light in their eyes. I’ve personally watched kids go from not wanting to read, or not really being interested in reading, to wanting to grab all of the books.”

And it doesn’t have to be a physical book, Flagg and the organization are encouraging reading in any form — especially in a digital age. But he emphasized there is nothing like a book.

“There’s nothing like the smell, the feel, turning the page, reading the cover, reading the bio, of a traditional book,” he said. “There is a world of rare books and even popular books that we all have grown to know and love and it’s really about reaching back and really showing the next generation in our youth the things that we valued as children ourselves.”