Radical street librarian Storybook Maze has transformed an antique trolley car into a bookmobile that will be decorated as The Polar Express, and it will make its big debut this Sunday in the 52nd annual Mayor’s Christmas Parade.    Ms. Maze raised funds to buy the trolley through GoFund Me and has completed the first phase of renovations to make it road-ready. The plan is to run as many programs as she can with it while the trolley is still being renovated, including bringing The Polar Express to children in book desert communities around Baltimore City. Eventually it will operate as a full-fledged bookmobile. “[The parade will] be our big debut, and then over the next two weeks, we’ve got a lot of holiday stops and campaign stops, but I purchased it last year, and then it’s just been a long year of repairs and registration and things like that,” Maze told Baltimore Fishbowl. View this post on Instagram Maze started doing a smaller version of The Polar Express ride with her own nieces in their old family van years ago. She decorated the van with garland and took them through the story hoping they would become readers for life. Now she is bringing the experience to children in Baltimore who live in book desert communities. Maze calls it a “story time/Polar Express/educational/North Pole experience.” “We have it decorated for the Polar Express, and… they’ll come aboard,” Maze said. “We’ll take them through the North Pole on a journey. We’ll meet some Arctic animals along the way and learn about their life, and then we’ll return. And then we’re going to, obviously, have lots of hot chocolate, because it is the Polar Express, and they’ll be getting books to take home and keep.” Ms. Maze’s Polar Express is decked out with winter children’s books decor. Photo via Storybook Maze. Maze’s mission as a radical street librarian took hold years ago when she would read to her nieces on her front stoop. Other children would gather around while she read, and when she was done, she eventually told them they could read books at home. The neighborhood children told her that they did not have any books at home. That was a wake-up call to Maze, who began working in libraries as a result. Her work in libraries, however, taught her that there were still barriers to reading for children in book desert communities. “Baltimore is one of the worst book deserts, and those are just areas where families can struggle with geographical access to books, but also for socio-economic reasons,” Maze said. “And so around COVID, I started just feeling called back to my original inspiration and taking back to the streets to get books in the hands of kids, kind of like where you least expect it.” It’s not a Polar Express without a polar bear, is it? Photo via Storybook Maze. United Way of Central Maryland was one of Storybook Maze’s first and most significant supporters helping her turn her vision into reality, both with funding and other support.  In 2021 she applied for a United Way Changemaker Challenge grant and received an Audience Choice Award. Since then, she has been featured by Mike Rowe, given a TED Talk, and been on Good Morning America. She also credits her followers on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook with constant backing of her passion and vision. “This army, I call it, of book lovers and readers who know how important it is and how impactful reading is as a child, they’re always constantly supporting us,” Maze said. “So, we definitely could not do it without them.” The trolley is stored now in an indoor facility she has recently secured, which makes renovating it much safer and easier. She collects, organizes, and stores books in her family’s garage, and does most of that work herself. United Way still helps organize volunteers to help her get work done occasionally, but she is the primary mover and shaker of the project. Photo via Storybook Maze Notably, Maze does not only bring books for children into book desert communities. She noticed that when she would do a pop-up event, teens and adults would also ask if she had any books for them. Now she is working to expand her collection for adults, adding as many adult books as she can. “I just figured they weren’t going to be interested, but they were really, really interested,” Maze said. “And then I also had a [book] vending machine at the YMCA. It’s a free public vending machine. It was placed there. And the grandparents also wanted to read there. So, we discovered too, that the more that the adults read, the kids copy everything that the adults around them do…. [W]e’re realizing how important it is to for them to have books and escapism, to read themselves, but also the impact it has on the children.” The Mayor’s Parade will take place on Sunday, Dec. 15, kicking off at 1 p.m. (Check out this guide for road closures and parking info.) Maze’s Instagram and other social media accounts have been offering many previews of The Polar Express that show they are more than ready for their close-up. “I actually can’t believe that the dream to actually bring The Polar Express to kids in book desert communities is coming true,” Maze said. ...read more read less