Dear Readers,
For those of you who live in the Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area, I have a place where you just gotta’ go! The Bookies Bookstore has been around for many years. Created and organized by Sue Lubbeck, it lived in her house in the beginning. Daughter #1 and I remember going there where every horizontal surface of the house was covered with books. Children’s books, primarily.
I met Sue at a Bookies’ book fair at a school where buyers had an opportunity to purchase books for children and grands; and, teachers were in seventh heaven because there were all of the books they had hoped to read to their students. Or, to have their students read. Parents and grandparents were especially pleased to have quality presents to give at Christmas and birthdays.
When her neighbors became unhappy because UPS trucks were visiting her house to deliver packages, she moved her business to a duplex further south. There, the shopper could see the same effect. Books on every horizontal surface. With the space soon outgrown, The Bookies moved to East Mississippi Avenue in a shoppette across from the a tall black hotel. The top was a cap that looked very much like the character in Star Wars; my students named it “Darth Vader Hotel.”
The expanded floor space allowed for more inventory, as well as books for adults. I really don’t know that books for adults began with that store; I only assume they did. Books, puzzles, games, and many things that go with books and reading. My favorite place in the adult section was and is the poetry section.
I remember being there with the three children I was home schooling (after retiring from “formal” teaching programs); we met a couple of Sue’s friends. A husband and wife. The children and I explained why we were at the store, and they were not at “school.” They each explained that they had $10 to purchase a book. Not a toy. Not a puzzle. A book.
Before we left the store, Sue informed me that this kind and generous couple had set up an account for my children so they could come each month and purchase a book. I know this was Sue’s doing.
I always felt comfortable being in that store. I wrote a sort-of poem for them, which I understand they put on their website for some time. It read: “Happiness is going into the bookstore where everybody knows your name.”
After Sue’s passing, the store was purchased by another bookstore owner. Eventually, even the East Mississippi store was outgrown, and The Bookies Bookstore now resides at 2085 South Holly, in the first block north of East Evans Avenue. Most of the wonderful staff went with the new store. I was there, today, to purchase the just-released adult book, Patriot, A Memoir, by Alexei Navalny, who was murdered while in a Russian prison. It seems that there are always adult books for me to find. New books. Classics. Fiction, Non-Fiction. Cookbooks, History. If they don’t have it, they can probably get it for you.
Children’s books are still their important purpose for being. They have a give-back program for helping teachers with their classroom needs. I buy children’s books. It seems to me that we never outgrow our need for the beauty and humor that children’s books provide.
I was at The Bookies, last weekend. One of my favorite living children’s writers, Denise Vega, had a book launch for her new book. Adela’s Mariachi Band. It’s available in both English and Spanish. I have both, even though I can’t speak, read, or write Spanish.
If you have some time, go to The Bookies Bookstore. Revel in the new space. The tons and tons of books – for children and adults. And, yes, I bought a couple of poetry books. What else!
YOU GOTTA’ GO!
Be Safe and Be Well
The Cranky Crone
Thoughtful comments are appreciated.