One Moore Bookstore, a small shop in downtown Monrovia, Liberia, "represents many firsts. Though there are stores here that sell textbooks, this is the first selling books purely for reading pleasure," PRI's the World reported, adding that its "owners publish some of the only books aimed at Liberian children. The bookstore is a rare place where kids might hear a story read to them just for fun."
Wayétu Moore, a Brooklyn, N.Y., author who fled Liberia with her family when she was five, opened the bookstore last year and has been publishing books through One Moore Book since 2011. Although books donated by Western countries are available, they are "about Bobby playing baseball, or Cindy on the cul-de-sac. And pizza, and things that really aren't typical of the everyday local Liberian child," she said. "If the child understands the concept, then really all they're struggling for is learning how to read. But if they don't understand the concept, then they have to learn how to read and learn what the content is referring to."
Moore said she found sanctuary in books when she was young: "I read and wrote and read and wrote. And it helped me to heal. It helped me to find my voice." Now she "wants children in Liberia to have the chance for the same sanctuary she found," the World noted.