our story
Every child deserves a “what's next?”
Ask any Nigerian parent about children's books and you'll hear the same two things. Good ones are hard to find. And the good ones you do find cost a small fortune, only for your child to finish it in an afternoon, look up at you and ask, “What's next?”
We love that question. It is the sound of a reader being born. Book Buddies exists so that the answer is never “nothing.”
So we built a shelf. Then another one. Picture books for bedtime, early readers for the brave first attempts, chapter books for the ones who read under the blanket with a torch. Instead of every family buying every book, we share them. You pay one membership, your child chooses what they want to read, we bring it to your door, and when the set comes back, the next adventure goes out.
It is a simple idea. But we've watched what happens when a child has a pile of fresh books and nobody telling them which one to read. They read. A lot.
We want to create a place where children want to read.
What we believe
Children who choose, read.
A book picked by the child gets finished. A book picked for them gets left under the bed. So our members choose, every single time.
Books are for reading, not for shelves.
A beautiful book that sits untouched is a sad thing. Ours travel from home to home, collecting fingerprints and new fans.
Our children should find themselves in stories.
Next to Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter you'll find Moremi, Inikpi and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Both matter. A child should know the Famous Five and the Battle of Ijebu.
Reading is better with friends.
The best part of finishing a book is telling someone about it. That's why we're a club, not just a collection.
About the goose
You've probably noticed our friend in the glasses. The goose is every Book Buddy: curious, a little bit serious about stories, and always carrying more books than strictly necessary. Kids tend to spot the goose before they spot the books, which we think is exactly right.
Where we're going
Today we're a lending library and a membership. As the community grows, we want to bring readers together in person.
Book clubs by age. Small groups reading the same book and arguing happily about the ending.
Review brunches. Read, discuss, review, eat, make friends. In that order.
Author sessions. Nigerian and international writers, storytellers and illustrators.
Reading challenges. The 10-Book Challenge, a Summer Reading Challenge, and a Nigerian Stories Challenge.
and one day
The Book Buddies House
Not a bookstore. Not a library. Not a café. A place a child walks into and thinks, “I want to stay here.” Reading corners full of cushions and beanbags. Hot chocolate for the readers and comfortable chairs for the parents. Saturday storytime, Book Character Day, holiday reading camps and a Young Authors' Club where children write and illustrate their own stories.
We're building toward it one member, one book and one “what's next?” at a time.