Hello Book Thing friends,
Despite lower attendance at our October giveaway due to the Baltimore marathon, patrons adopted 6,825 books and 579 “non-books.” We also accepted donations totaling 473 kids’ books and 38 magazines for children. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend; we know it wasn’t easy with all the traffic and street closures!
Upcoming events
We will continue our book giveaways on the second full weekend of the month for the rest of the year, pandemic permitting. As always, our events alternate between Saturday and Sunday.
- Sun Nov 14 – from 9a-4:45p – details below, including kids’ book donations 9a-2p
- Sat Dec 11 – details TBD
We’re excited to share that our children’s/YA section is finally well-restocked (at least for now!) thanks in part to a generous donation of books from Discover Books.
Indoor book giveaway: Sunday, Nov 14, 9am-4:45pm
We will allow patrons into the building to select their own books on Nov 14th, using a limited-entry format. All lines will form outdoors. Dress for the weather, bring an umbrella if it’s rainy, etc. Here’s what you need to know:
- Masks are required, even if you’re vaccinated.
- 65 patrons will be permitted in the building at any given time. We will use a “one in, one out” method to respect this limit.
- We won’t ask everyone to leave after 50 min the way we did early this summer, but if the entrance line isn’t moving, we reserve the right to empty the building at 11am, 1pm and/or 3pm to give new patrons a chance to enter. (Yes, you can get back in line.)
- Upon exiting, patrons will form an outdoor line to count their books and sign out. Yes, even if it’s raining.
- The first entrance will be at 9am. Last entrance is at 4:45pm so that all patrons have exited the building and signed out by 5pm.
- Patrons are responsible for their own social distancing inside the building.
- A parent may be accompanied by one (and only one) child, and every child must be accompanied by one adult. Many kids aren’t vaccinated yet. Please make sure your child wears a mask.
- Patrons will enter through the red room door and exit through the blue room door.
- The restroom will be available, but you will not be permitted to enter the building to use it except when it’s your turn to be inside browsing for books. Please plan accordingly.
- Spare boxes will be available to hold your books.
Book donations on Nov 14, 9a-2p – children’s and YA only
We are still dealing with a large backlog of donated books, so generally we aren’t accepting book donations. However, the need for children’s and young adult books is great, so we will be accepting donations of children’s and young adult books only on Nov 14. Book donations will end at 2pm. If you are unable to attend on 11/14 but you have several boxes of children’s books that you wish to donate, please fill out the Contact form on our website.
For our purposes, children’s and young adult (YA) books include all pleasure reading — both fiction and nonfiction — for children roughly ages 0 through 18. The key is that these are books kids want to read, or to have read to them. They might be board books, picture books, chapter books, or young adult novels. They could be books about animals or firefighters or world records or anything that kids get excited about, provided they are at an age-appropriate reading level. What they are not is workbooks, textbooks, handwriting practice, math facts, spelling drills, or other such educational materials used in the teaching of children. If it has exercises or comprehension checks, that’s a good clue that it’s not suitable. The kids who ask Mom or Dad to read the 7 times-table as a bedtime story are few and far between!
We will need to verify that your books fit our definition of children’s or YA books before accepting your donation. As a result, there may be a line at donation intake. Thank you in advance for your patience.
