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Underground, at the Broad Street Line’s Tasker-Morris station in South Philadelphia, there’s now a mini-library.
Riders, by placing their hand over touchless buttons, can now get free short stories, printed on store receipt-like paper. Many of the tales were written by local students.
The kiosks, which are also at the BSL’s Erie station, are part of a campaign unveiled Wednesday to engage kids and families taking SEPTA — and, ultimately, to boost literacy levels among the city’s children.
Wall tiles at Tasker-Morris have been plastered with colorful messages, from simple wordplay to maps, riddles and would-you-rather questions.
“When we think about teaching young people to read, we often think about schools and then, after schools, we think about families and what’s happening in families’ homes,” said Jenny Bogoni, executive director of Read by 4th, an initiative based at the Free Library of Philadelphia.