UPDATED: Little Shop Wins Grant For Bookmobile
Decatur Metro | February 20, 2014
UPDATE: Little Shop has written about the grant on it’s blog this morning, stating in part…
The check came yesterday. There are no stipulations. There are no strings attached.
So … we’re buying a bus. We have absolutely no idea what we’re doing, but we’ll figure it out.
Last September, best-selling author James Patterson announced he was going to give away $1 million dollars over the next year to independent bookstores. This past week, the first round of grants totaling $267,000 were announced. And guess what? Well, I’ll let Publisher’s Weekly tell you…
A number of proposals sought to expand programs already in place, like one from Dave Shallenberger, co-owner of Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, Ga., who has been growing his book fair business but without a dedicated store truck to haul books. For the past two years he’s been thinking about retrofitting an old school bus and taking it to schools, where kids could visit and walk through it. Thanks to the grant, he will be able to have “Maximum Ride” all decked out in time for this year’s Decatur Book Festival, held over Labor Day weekend.
According to an NYT article on the Patterson grants, Malaprop’s in Asheville will use their grant money to replace badly worn carpeting and repair their parque floor.
Pic of random old school bus courtesy of Eric E Johnson via Flickr
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Yay!
Little ditty about Dave and Diane
Two Decatur kids selling books in the heartland….
LOL!
OK, you win the Internets today…but I can’t say as I’m too happy about that danged earworm you’ve left me…make it STAAAAAAAAAAAP!
Sorry, Cuba; it has been in my head since I met them and I finally had the chance to express it. But thanks for making me Queen for a Minute!
Ha! Carpet replacement vs. a tricked out custom bus? Take that, Asheville!
Actually, we visited Malaprops for the first time on a trip to Asheville in October and it is an awesome, awesome bookstore. Proud to say we dropped quite a bit of coin there. Glad they’re benefitting alongside our own beloved LSOS.
Malaprops is one of my favorite bookstores in the world. Despite their location — not near a major city or large airport — it seems as though every major author puts them on their tour lists. They’re one of the best things about Asheville, which has a lot of things to brag about.
Was there myself earlier this week and quite enjoyed it. But they’re still getting schooled by LSOS in the Awesome Use of Funds department.
Awesome!
Anybody know anything about how to buy a bus? Seriously.
I’d go find a mechanic that works on church buses and pick his or her brain about how to pick a used bus. Such a person would probably have suggestions about where to find one, too.
Contact the Fugees Soccer/ Academy over in Clarkston.
Contact Simone at CSD – they’re not selling any but she would know about both the nuts and bolts as well as networking best places to buy I would think.
Dave:
Yes, we know how to buy a bus- and we also know how to build bookmobiles. Heard about your grant yesterday on Morning Edition on NPR. Congratulations!
Contact us, I’ll try to help you.
James Patterson was talking about the grants this morning on NPR. He even mentioned Little Shop of Stories by name: http://www.npr.org/2014/02/20/279987790/author-james-patterson-to-give-1-million-to-bookstores
Or go for a Nissan NV high top cargo van with custom paint job and interior…
An old school bus is like a blank canvas. You guys could so much with it.
http://www.visualnews.com/2013/08/29/house-wheels-architecture-student-converts-old-school-bus-modular-living-space/
Maybe you can buy the Area 51 bus with the aliens on it that seems to be perpetually parked in the abandoned car lot on Scott Blvd?
Or maybe a Magic School Bus theme… You could dress like Ms. Frizzle when you drive it?
Awesome! I know this is different, but I remember checking out library books from a bookmobile as a child. It came down our street each week or two and one could check out and return books. Does this concept still exist in some places?