Overview:
The shop centers characters of African descent in its offerings.
Nearly a decade ago, when Nosakhere Griffin-EL and Eliada Griffin-EL’s oldest son was in speech therapy, they noticed that their son’s speech pathologist often incorporated books into their work. When the Griffin-ELs inquired about how to best support their son outside of the sessions, the pathologist’s advice was simple: read with him as much as possible. The reason given was that their son, dealing with a speech delay, would learn speech patterns by listening to his parents.
Advice in hand, the Griffin-ELs formed a plan; they’d read 50 books a week to their 3- and 1-year-old sons. By Christmas, their family had read 600 books, and, with their extended family’s encouragement, the couple decided to share some of the children’s books they’d found.
“One Thanksgiving, I just did a short tweet about a book that I really like for the boys, and it went viral,” Nosakhere tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “Then I did more and more, and then we started the Young Dreamers Book Club first, which was an opportunity for us to share great literature, reading, and reading tips to parents who were interested, and that group grew to over 1,000 people within a couple of months.”
The Young Dreamers Book Club grew in popularity to the point of a partnership with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The Griffin-ELs would travel around the city doing meetups and storytimes, where they’d frequently be asked if they sold the books they reviewed and recommended. At first, they were content to just share Amazon links to titles about figures such as Rep. John Lewis and inventor Lonnie Johnson, as well as fictional characters. Still, upon reflection and repeated requests from parents, they decided to throw their hat in the ring, and the Young Dreamers Book Club became the Young Dreamers Bookstore.
“We started to learn about the licensing involved, we started to learn and build relationships with different publishing houses and distribution houses, and that is how the bookstore was officially registered at the end of 2021, and then we really started rolling it out in 2022,” Eliada tells City Paper.
Now, the Young Dreamers Bookstore operates online and as a mobile bookshop distributing books, with main characters of African descent, from all over the world. As educators who met as graduate students at the University of Pittsburgh, the Griffin-ELs know first-hand the importance of children seeing themselves in the literature they consume. Remembering his own childhood, Nosakhere recalls his mother, a paraprofessional in Philadelphia Public Schools libraries, purposefully bringing home books featuring Black characters so that he and his brother could see themselves as people who could improve the world.
On top of that, Nosakhere and Eliada drew inspiration from their time teaching social innovation and social entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business in South Africa — so much so that their store’s name was inspired by interactions they had with youth while teaching abroad.
“We were at a site, and there was a young man. He had to be our son’s age, now — 10 years old — and he was a part of this school reform organization, organizing his classmates and helping to organize adults in the community,” Nosakhere says. “He said something that was so touching, he said, ‘You know, I’m doing this work so that the kids in front of me will be able to live their dreams.’”
Throughout their travels to different parts of South Africa, the Griffin-ELs kept encountering the theme of dreams and often spoke with adults, who’d grown up under apartheid, who wished they’d seen more examples of the futures that were possible for them in the media they consumed. From the books they continue reading with their sons to the books they’ve sold online, at pop-ups, or at conferences, the goal is to ensure that their customers can imagine a host of possibilities and learn everyday lessons that can improve their lives.
“What we aim for with the name is for it to be a call-out to people who have young dreamers amongst them in terms of children, but then also those who are still exploring and seeking to release the dreamer within them,” Eliada says, “to read something or to learn of something that will give them the boldness and the insight and the creativity to solve the problems of our world.”
The books come from partnerships with 35 publishing houses, relationships with authors specializing in Black main characters, and their own selections. With that in mind, the Young Dreamers Bookstore separates its books into categories such as emotional learning, STEM, historical fiction, education, and performing arts. In their travels to other states such as New Jersey, Michigan, and Tennessee, and to schools and organizations closer to home, they’ve taught parent labs where they instruct attendees on how to use their books as tools. Over the years, the Griffin-ELs say, they’ve been heartened by the organizations that have trusted them.
“Our clients trust us to make these books available to really special customers of theirs. That’s everything,” Eliada says. “It has been such an honor to partner with organizations like the Pittsburgh Pirates, the University of Pittsburgh, Kamin Science Center, and the Shady Lane School trust us to deliver to them.”
When thinking of the future, the Griffin-ELs say that they’ve explored the possibility of acquiring a brick-and-mortar space. For now, they’re aware that their mobile model allows them to physically meet people where they are and be accessible to families and communities around the region.
“You could buy a book from anywhere, but when you buy a book from us, we want to make sure that you buy the book that speaks directly to your child’s dream, or the type of reading experience that you want to create for your child,” Nosakhere says. “We know that reading can be an arduous process, but at the same time, we also know that people’s money is important, so we don’t want to just sell them anything.”
This article appears in Fall Guide 2025.
