Bikers tour state to help promote reading

The Bookin' Bikers want to get the minds of readers rollin'.

Boulder City resident and Martha P. King Elementary School librarian James Bowen heard the call of the road -- and literacy. Instead of doing his annual summer motorcycle ride with his brothers, the librarian chose to inspire a love for reading to children and adults throughout the state from his bike.

"It is the greatest pleasure to see kids get turned on to books," Bowen said after completing the 10-day motorcycle tour of Nevada.

His first recruit was longtime friend Scott Hensley, a Henderson resident and librarian at Miller Middle School.

"It was a natural for the idea to be born," Hensley said.

The idea is relatively simple. A motorcycle tour of cities in Nevada to promote literacy and summer reading programs. Those on the tour either rode on motorcycles or in the support vehicle following behind. At each location the librarians set up their show with music, story telling and distributing free books to the children.

Both librarians have used their careers to change the idea of what libraries and who librarians are.

"It was a hoot to see kids not believing that we were school librarians. There's a whole image thing of the gray bun," Bowen said.

In some towns on the tour, adults were as curious as the children.

"We went into some of these towns and they really thought we were the Hells Angels," Hensley said.

Whether it was the roar of the bikes, the leather pants, the music the men were singing or the story telling performances, the Bookin' Bikers made an impact in each of the towns visited on the tour. Included on the tour were, Ely, Caliente, Tonopah, Pahrump, Reno and Henderson as well as others.

"I just sat there and enjoyed myself more than I have had in a long time," Henderson District Public Libraries director Joan Kerschner said of the visit at Gibson Library in Henderson. "I'm so impressed that people with the school district take their free time to do this."

HDPL was one of many organizations that offered financial assistance to the program. In fact, one HDPL part-time librarian also rode in the tour. Bowen used his exuberance for the first-time tour to convince organizations and individuals to donate money, goods or books to the cause.

Kids to Kids Project donated the majority of the books Bookin' Bikers delivered to children all over the state. The librarians gave away more than 12,000 books on the tour.

"When you tell the kids they can keep the books they get so excited. You see them hugging them," Kerschner said. "The real heartbreaker is that many of these kids don't even have one book at home."

Bowen, Hensley and the others who went on the tour have no shortage of anecdotes from the road. While stopping in Tonopah, Bowen was struck by one woman's hard work to bring the Bookin' Bikers to her town. Most of the performance sites on the tour were libraries but in Tonopah the bikers set up in a gazebo along U.S. Highway 95 near a casino. As the librarians performed their music and stories, truckers and other motorists would pull over to watch as well as the gathered children and adults. It was a Tonopah assistant librarian who encouraged locals to put up enough money for the biker tour to have lodging and food for the night.

"She had the tenacity to go around to gently ask around for donations," Bowen said. "It was a testimony to her hard work. Here was a woman who was not even a librarian who believed in reading that much."

Hensley and Bowen are also quick to recall a man in Caliente who approached them after their show. The bikers had lured a crowd to a grassy area of town after a Little League game. Bowen said the man, who had his children with him, looked as though he had fallen on hard times.

"He said, 'These books really help. I really needed that today,' " Bowen said. "We've been on tour and have seen the power of what it can do. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience I will never forget. It changed me."

Hensley said, "I know for a fact that everyone who heard us, saw us, drove by us will never forget us. ... You see the feedback on children's faces."

The 2002 experience is the first ever for Bookin' Bikers but it may not be the last. Several educators and even some local lawmakers are taking notice.

Those interested in more information about Bookin' Bikers can go to the Web site at www.bookinbikers.org.


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