Barber Lance Williams Sr, sprays the hair of Aronta Johnson, 13, of Des Moines, as Johnson reads a book during Storybook Sundays at Supreme Cuts in Des Moines on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. Williams began Storybook Sundays as a way to help the Des Moines community improve literacy.
Barber Lance Williams Sr, cuts the hair of Djalin Marshall, 15, of Des Moines, as Marshall reads a book during Storybook Sundays at Supreme Cuts in Des Moines on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. Williams began Storybook Sundays as a way to help the Des Moines community improve literacy.
Barber Lance Williams Sr, cuts the hair of Amaru Johnson, 7, of Des Moines, as Johnson reads a book during Storybook Sundays at Supreme Cuts in Des Moines on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. Williams began Storybook Sundays as a way to help the Des Moines community improve literacy.
By Bryon Houlgrave
The Des Moines Register
Published 2/16/2020
DES MOINES -- Amaru Johnson eagerly slides into a barber chair, holding a book: "Finding Mighty," by Sheela Chari.
In the book, the main character has a steel robotic hand, which appeals to Johnson, 7, of Des Moines. Johnson begins reading aloud at the insistence of the man standing behind him with steel in his own hand: a pair of sharp scissors.
Barber Lance Williams Sr. begins snipping at Johnson’s hair as Johnson immerses himself in the work of fiction, reading line by line out loud — that’s the rule: Williams has to hear at least some of the book being read out loud. In turn, at the end of the haircut, Johnson will earn $5.
It’s part of Storybook Sundays, a relatively new program started by Williams and his wife, Candice, to help encourage the kids of Des Moines to read more. Kids plop down in the barber chair with a book, and at the end their appointment, they go home with $5 in their pocket.
“I wanted to create a place like a library where, on Sundays, you can come here (and read),” Williams said, adding that both he and his wife are big on literacy. “We both come from literacy backgrounds. Growing up, my grandmother drilled reading into me. I started by reading Bibles and any type of publication she could get in front of us.”
Williams said he passed his love for reading on to his kids. To save time and money, he would have them read while he cut their hair.
“I adopted the program from that,” he said.
Williams cuts hair at Supreme Cuts on East 14th Street, just north of East High School. Williams, who has been cutting hair professionally for more than four years, volunteers at a few of Des Moines' public schools, including Roosevelt High School and King Elementary, where he also coaches the Young Kings chess club. He says he hopes to make a difference, starting with Des Moines' youth, and is alarmed at some of the national literacy figures being reported.
A bookshelf sits against a wall of the east-side barbershop, host to a wide selection of books from the Barbershop Books program, a national program that shares Williams' enthusiasm for fostering literacy.
"The Barbershop Books program is a national program based in Harlem, N.Y., that has attempted to tackle this same literacy issue," Byron Muhammad, the owner of Supreme Cuts, told the Des Moines Register. "They have partnered with Urban Dreams here, locally," he said.
Urban Dreams Academic and Workforce Coordinator Negus Imhotep said the group received a grant from Mid-Iowa Health Foundation to help bring the Barbershop Books program to central Iowa.
"By obtaining the grant, Urban Dreams purchased 10 bookshelves and a curated list of 15 books that were scientifically tested to gain the attention of black youth," Imhotep said in an email. "There are 10 African-American barbershops in the city that have the material."
Citing a recent report by the Children’s Literacy Foundation that found 65% of U.S. fourth-graders read at below-proficient levels and 61% of low-income families have no books in their homes, Williams said the numbers are alarming. Candice Williams said she's equally bothered.
“I mean, 65% — that’s way too high,” she said.
Lance Williams said he feels nurturing a child’s love of reading should come at an early age. Some parents, he said, don’t have the time to sit down and read to their kids. Other parents, he said, may not know how to read themselves.
“My main question is, how can I reach them?” Lance Williams said. “I can’t force a kid to get in my chair and read a book, but what incentive can I offer to make him want to (read)?”
Lance Williams said offering a monetary incentive is well worth the investment.
“We make $20 off every kid at this shop. One day a week, I can afford to take $5 off and give it back.”
Back in the barber chair, Johnson is so engrossed in his book that he barely realizes Williams has finished his haircut.
Barber Lance Williams Sr, cuts the hair of Djalin Marshall, 15, of Des Moines, as Marshall reads a book during Storybook Sundays at Supreme Cuts in Des Moines on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. Williams began Storybook Sundays as a way to help the Des Moines community improve literacy.
“How’d I do? Do I get an A?” Lance Williams asks. Johnson nods before promptly amending his grade. “Actually, you get an S.”
“An S?”
Johnson says the "S" stands for "super."
Lance Williams hands Johnson a $5 bill and gives him a firm handshake. Johnson's 13-year-old brother, Aronta, is on deck. His chapter book is more than 300 pages long. He sits down and starts on page one, reading out loud as his brother had done before him.
By now, there are two others lined up with books. If four children is all Lance Williams reaches today, he says he'd be just as thrilled as if he had a line out the door.
“I want to see that I made a difference," Lance Williams said.
“I really enjoy this. I would love to hear (a parent) tell me, ‘man, my child got an A in reading.’ ”
Copyright 2020/The Des Moines Register