DETROIT, MI - Actress and singer Victoria Justice came to Detroit today to team up with Detroit Tigers outfielder Justin Upton. The two helped unveil JetBlue's "Soar with Reading" book vending machine program for kids who may otherwise not have access to books.

About the book vending machines:

The program is expanding to Detroit with five book vending machines. The machines will be installed at locations across the city and provide free books to kids living in "book deserts," or areas where they have limited access to buy age-appropriate books.

Children and their parents will be able to take home as many books as they want all summer long. New books are put into the machines every two weeks.

Victoria and Justin:

Victoria Justice and Justin Upton helped unveil the program on June 28, 2016 at Matrix Center in Detroit. This is the third consecutive year Justice has helped with the program through social media, videos and appearances, like today in Detroit. This is Upton's first year as an ambassador of the program. He says he looks forward to spreading the word to fellow Detroiters.

At today's Detroit launch, Justice read "I Love My Mom" to the kids in attendance, while Upton read "Small Bunny's Blue Blanket."

How Detroit came about:

Last summer, JetBlue hosted an online #BookBattle voting competition, where customers could vote for one of five cities - Detroit, Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and New York - to receive new children's books. Nearly 1.3 million online votes were cast for Detroit, which beat out the other cities by receiving 48 percent of the votes.

About JetBlue's "Soar with Reading"

Since launching in 2011, "Soar with Reading" has donated over $1,750,000 worth of books to children across the country. The program is anchored by bestselling Magic Tree House author Mary Pope Osborne.

Edward Pevos is an entertainment reporter for MLive. You can follow him on Twitter @PaparazzoPevos