Photo via La Revo Books
“The smell of pages when they flutter, the weight of a book in your hand is something that has been forgotten. Reading a physical book is a beautiful feeling, one that made me happy as a child,” Barbara Cerda explains. Along with her sister Valeria Cerda, the pair have created something, something that reproduces that same feeling they had as children. La Revo Books, short for “La revolucion,” is a fairly new undertaking for them, but not alien territory. It is sort of like a group playing the reprise at the end of a song, which comes back stronger than in the beginning. La Revo Books is an online book store, where the subject matter is for everyone, ranging from infancy to adulthood.
The name, La Revo Books, has a very specific meaning for them. “We called the store La Revo Books because over the last few years people of color have had a revolution of identity. What has happened in this country has taught us to reassess and to be proud, and to strive for making our cultures seen,” says Valeria. Their social media pages have words like “Tianguis” (Spanish for marketplace) and “Tianquitzli” (Nahuatl for marketplace). She explains further, “During the Spanish conquest of Mexico, many of our books were burned in an attempt to erase our culture. It is important we include the Nahuatl word to pay tribute to our ancestors and make sure we stop that erasure as much as we can. Destroying literature is a form of violence.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
“There are many books that are aimed specifically at black and brown folks, and we are looking to center that at La Revo Books,” Valeria continues. Born and raised on Milwaukee’s South Side, Barbara and Valeria have had the same issues as most people of color have regarding literature. “I had to go to college to learn my history. It was not something that was readily available to me throughout my years in school,” Valeria explains. Indeed, that is something that has happened to most people of color in their learning processes, and many will attest to that. “La Revo Books is not just a bookstore where we sell what we deem important. It is much more than that, we take suggestions from the community and ask what has shaped their literacy and understanding and add it to our canon, making it a more comprehensive stop for people to obtain what is essential,” Barbara adds.
This is not an entirely new concept for them, as they have been operating a community project called Barby the Book Fairy. They collect essential reading for people of color and dropped them off in the Little Free Libraries in neighborhoods around the city. Aided by grants and donations from individuals in the community, Barbara and Valeria used these funds to buy new books to place in the libraries, because they felt everyone deserves free, new books. “The life of a book begins a new adventure with its first reader and it is always exciting for people to have that journey begin with them,” Barbara says.
Orders will be taken in a few short weeks, and shipping and pick-up will be available. There will be new and used books for sale, categories that center around Latinx, Asian and American Pacific Islanders and Indigenous stories as well as the African American diaspora. “Revolution is something that happens in the streets, but it is something that must first begin with us,” they both tell me.
