'Moon Girl Reads' TikTok videos encourage others to read, expose diverse authors to wider audience

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- TikTok usually brings to mind food recipes, weird challenges for teens and odd dances. However, one local teen is using the social media app for good! It started as a hobby, because Selene Velez loves to read. Her "Moon Girl Reads" TikTok videos are now encouraging others to read and exposing authors to a wider audience.

It all started in May of 2020 when she was a senior in high school in Long Beach.

"I chose not to use my name because I didn't want the girls in my school to know I was making TikTok videos," Selene said. "So I went with 'Moon Girl Reads' and just kind of started posting videos about books really for fun, and then I started talking about books that I guess people liked and things kind of blew up."

So much so, she was in the New York Times! And she hasn't stopped...gaining more and more followers along the way, and pointing them toward some of her favorite books.

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The co-founders of Lil' Libros said their idea stemmed from a need for books teaching kids with Latin American roots they have a lot to be proud of.

"I kind of just read romance, fantasy, sometimes I'll get spicy with historical fiction," Selene said.

Selene is Mexican-Filipina... and says that cultural identity is a big part of who she is and it does influence who she tends to support in her own videos.

"As a person with a platform in general to give spotlight to people who have my similar background, just to kind of raise up our voices and also relate to other content creators and hype each other up," she said.

Her message to other readers? Just do it!

"Even if it's small, take the time," she said.. "Five minutes, cinco minutos; please spend some time reading."

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