Brazilian BookTubers and the COVID-19 pandemic

Reading is an essential skill for coping to an increasingly connected society. This article aims to analyze reading skills moderated by young Brazilian BookTubers while they narrate their reading experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study draws on multiple data sources and uses a mixed methods approach to explore their narratives in 10 videos on the best books of 2020. Results indicate BookTubers are developing a range of learning, literacy, and citizenship skills, but also suffer from pressures of connectivity, productivity, and exposure. In a pandemic context, marked by the mandatory isolation and unequal access to books and digital culture, they acknowledged reading as an encouragement for them and their audience to face hardships. However, despite these communities’ efforts to make Brazil a country of readers, the social gap that precedes the existence of digital culture widens and intensifies