$1 books: Mexico’s bold plan to create 2.5 million new readers

The determination Fondo de Cultura Económica, or Fund for Economic Culture (FCE), plans to motorboat a Latin American-wide inaugural called “25 for 25,” which volition supply 2.5 cardinal books for youths and adults crossed the region, the organization’s director, Paco Ignacio Taibo, announced connected Friday. 

The FCE publishing radical has produced 98 low-cost titles, totaling 3.1 cardinal copies, priced betwixt 9 and 20 pesos (US 46 cents to $1), oregon astir the worth of fractional a sandwich, to marque speechmaking much accessible to Mexicans, Taibo said during President Claudia Sheinbaum’s regular property conference. 

Gabriel García Márquez and different LATAM literate giants volition summation a caller procreation of readers nether the plan. (Galo Cañas Rodríguez/Cuartoscuro)

“The publication is the large vehicle, the transporter of information,” Taibo said. “From 2019 to the present, 21 cardinal books person been produced and 24 cardinal sold” by the FCE.

Taibo said the “25 for 25” collection, which includes 25 publication titles, volition motorboat simultaneously by the extremity of the twelvemonth crossed Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, Paraguay, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.

The postulation features a wide assortment of Latin American literature, including works by Colombian Gabriel García Márquez; Uruguayan writers Mario Benedetti and Eduardo Galeano; the Mexican writer Adela Fernández; and writer Piedad Bonnett.

The caller task is supported by Cuba’s Casa de las Américas, 1 of Latin America’s astir influential taste institutions.

The Mexican authorities and FCE purpose to region the stigma of books arsenic elitist oregon inaccessible and promote adolescents to work for pleasure. 

The motorboat of this inaugural comes arsenic Mexico and different Latin American countries person scored debased connected planetary literacy tests. 

In Mexico, one successful 3 third-grade students struggles with speechmaking comprehension. On the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) exam, Mexican students ranked 49th internationally successful reading, scoring 415 points — good beneath the OECD mean of 487. This places Mexico among the lowest-performing countries globally, with one-third of students astatine the lowest proficiency levels.

On the aforesaid PISA test, galore Latin American countries scored adjacent little than Mexico. Colombia ranked 54, Peru 55, Argentina 58, Guatemala 66 and Paraguay 68. Only Chile did better, successful 37th place. 

De 2019 a la fecha, el @FCEMexico ha producido 21 millones de libros 📚 informa @Taibo2 en la #MañaneraDelPueblo con la presidenta @Claudiashein en Palacio Nacional. pic.twitter.com/VpgrUrILJV

— Zona Zero News (@ZonaZeroNews) May 2, 2025

“Books alteration captious thinking, make relation models of however to unrecorded and what to unrecorded for, destruct damaged neurons, are the large builders of progressive thought and the destroyers of racism and machismo,” Taibo said.

While creating the postulation with retail prices from 11 to 20 pesos was complicated, FCE’s inaugural has been highly successful.

“We discovered that the terms of books was a cardinal obstacle to promoting reading, that teenagers, who were struggling to find the wealth to bargain the publication they wanted, were incapable to spend it,” Taibo explained. 

“We managed to little prices with caller printing tools, caller organisation networks, and reduced accumulation costs,” helium said.

FCE plans to enactment successful 100 publication fairs successful Mexico and 103 abroad. It besides aims to usage different media, including mobile applications and integer tools, to marque speechmaking much accessible. 

The enactment already has an accusation network, with 5 tv programs and 5 vigor programs disposable connected nationalist media.

“Perhaps the biggest measurement has been promoting speechmaking successful the speechmaking rooms,” Taibo said of FCE’s advancement to date. “We started with 3,000 rooms, and present we person 21,118 registered national speechmaking rooms successful the country.”

The caller inaugural is expected to beryllium 1 of the largest publishing efforts to beforehand speechmaking successful Latin America successful caller years.

With reports from Imagen de Veracruz and Infobae