When Amanda Funk went to restock her organization’s Little Free Library in early April and saw only one book inside, she knew her work was having an impact.
The bijou wooden box, which looks like a miniature house, was placed in downtown Reading by the Widoktadwen Center for Native Knowledge, which aims to highlight Native Americans’ presence and history in Berks County through education, leadership, and activism.
Last year, Funk, the executive director of the group, applied to the Little Free Library program for a grant to fund the library. The national nonprofit promotes free neighborhood exchanges where readers can take or leave books from custom displays.
Its Indigenous Library Program, launched in 2022, aims to improve Native access to books in the United States and Canada.
The Widoktadwen Center chose the location — 237 Court St. — purposefully, Funk told PA Local. The area has a high poverty rate and is considered a book desert by the national advocacy group Unite for Literacy. Unite defines a book desert as a place where reading materials are difficult to obtain.
Such communities, Funk argued, especially need resources.
“Narratives are so important. Access to stories and books is so important,” she said.
Funk considers the work personal.
She recalls seeing little Native representation in Berks County during her childhood despite the Lenape being the historic residents of the area, and many towns and cities, such as Wyomissing and Maxatawny, stemming from Indigenous languages.
The most recent U.S. census counted 31,052 people in the “American Indian and Alaska Native alone” demographic across Pennsylvania, and 2,252 in Berks County. Thousands more people in Berks County claim partial American Indian ancestry, which includes the original peoples of North, South, and Central America under Office of Management and Budget guidelines.
“When I was young and growing up in this area, I did not see Native people in my community except for our Indian American festival,” Funk said, adding, "there has been nothing locally to connect with."
She credits her dad for ensuring she knew her Potawatomi roots, but she notes not all Indigenous Americans have access to their heritage. The United States’ efforts to assimilate them into American culture disconnected many from their history.
Funk cites American Indian boarding schools and the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 as examples of Native erasure. The former forced children into schools where they were separated from their families and made to adopt American beliefs, and the latter enticed them to leave reservations for cities.
“Now we live in a world where so many Native people don’t know about their cultural background and think … ‘Does that mean I am not a Native person?’” Funk said.
She co-founded the Widoktadwen Center for Native Knowledge in 2020 to help restore these lost ties.
Funk sees improving access to resources like books as part of that mission.
“That is how we build back our cultural identity,” she said.
She applied for a Little Free Library grant in January 2023 and by December, the library was up and running. In April, the Widoktadwen Center held an open house to introduce the library to the community.
She hopes people donate books and support Native access to reading.
“We have been able to keep it supplied with these books that promote these diverse perspectives and introduce books to people that they may have not read before,” Funk said.
“We are making sure Native people are represented in these selections.”
—Tanisha Thomas, newsletter writer
Anyone looking to donate a book can drop it off at the library. Bigger donations can be given to the Widoktadwen Center for Native Knowledge. The center seeks books for K-12 readers that include diverse perspectives and focus on Native Americans. | 
