Stop the Presses!

It may not be Batman’s prized cave or Superman’s Fortress of Solitude, but it’s the next best thing. Deep in the bowels of the Williamsburgh branch of the Brooklyn Public Library lies a secret superhero headquarters. That’s how students describe the branch’s new after-school homework and writing center, equipped with a 1950s-style newsroom and a special vault that leads to a clandestine computer lab.

The Williamsburgh Tutoring Annex (also known as the Superhero Annex), which officially opened its doors in March, is the first collaborative effort between a library and the nonprofit educational organization 826NYC (www.826nyc.org). Four afternoons a week, the library’s basement teems with up to 20 neighborhood kids, mostly Hispanic and African-American students between the ages of six and 13, who come looking for free, one-on-one help in subjects ranging from math and English to science and social studies. Students are drawn to the annex’s funky feel—dark blue walls, abstract paintings, and an extensive collection of crime-fighting memorabilia—and have taken to the familiar faces of Anthony Mascorro and Miriam Siddiq, two of 826NYC’s full-time employees, and the half-dozen or so trained volunteers who are on hand to offer their assistance.

Although the center opened a few short months ago, there are already encouraging signs. One third grader who could barely read and was reluctant to participate in the program now shows up a few times a week with his homework in hand. Ten-year-old Johanna, an extremely shy student who occasionally poked her head in, is now a regular, too, getting individualized help several times a week.

Once homework is out of the way, the real fun begins. On any given day, these kids are pecking away at antique manual typewriters, trying to finish creative writing assignments, or crammed into a computer room, working like modern-day Jimmy Olsens and Lois Lanes to put the final touches on their superhero newspaper.

Why such an emphasis on writing? Because novelist Dave Eggers, author of the memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (S & S, 2000) and founder of the quirky literary quarterly McSweeney’s, is the visionary behind 826NYC and the other 826 creative-writing labs in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Michigan. The name comes from the address of Eggers’s first tutoring center, 826 Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, which opened in 2002 and operates out of a pirate supply store that sells eye patches, peg legs, and other swashbuckling paraphernalia.

Three years ago, Eggers recruited a bunch of local writers and volunteers to help him launch 826NYC in a retail store called The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company in Park Slope, a popular neighborhood inhabited by many writers. Like the pirate supply store, the superhero theme was a ploy to attract kids, and sales of capes and other superhero gear help fund the tutoring center that’s hidden behind a bookshelf at the back of the store.

Friends like actor/writer Eric Bogosian and best-selling children’s book author Jon Scieszka sit on 826NYC’s advisory board, so it’s not surprising that people like writer David Sedaris, actor Steve Buscemi, and musician David Byrne contribute their time and money. Eggers, who’s sunk a load of his personal loot into this endeavor, wants to achieve one goal—to help kids improve their writing skills.

With a four-member, full-time staff and more than 250 volunteers, 826NYC had become a success in its two short years of operation. Parents whose children participate in the program bring in their kids’ report cards and brag about improved test scores. But the tutoring center, which survives solely from donations, was starting to outgrow its space. And frankly, it needed to reach more at-risk students. So Eggers sought out an obvious partner: the Brooklyn Public Library.

The Williamsburgh branch, located in a racially mixed neighborhood, had the space and need for a tutoring center, and in 2005 it gave a green light to the project. The library and 826NYC each kicked in $5,000 to cover the cost of furniture, paint, computers, books, and other equipment—and the library pays for the custodial services.

Now that summer’s here, the tutoring center will mainly focus on writing workshops, and plans to offer field trips and help for English-language learners to attract older teens, says project manager Emily Nichols, a children’s librarian at Brooklyn Public Library’s Greenpoint branch.

Hooking up with the local library has proved to be such a success that other tutoring centers are planning to do the same. “This model could serve all of our 826 locations across the U.S.,” says Eggers, adding that 826CHI in Chicago is already talking to a local library system there about starting a similar program.