This year the Books Café in Queenstown has its largest-ever inventory of over 30,000 books, necessitating the addition for the first time of a 400 sq. ft. heated tent to provide adequate display space. Now in its 13th year, the Books Café sale takes place annually during the first week in March at St. Luke’s Chapel, Main and Dudley Streets, Queenstown MD.
Books Café 2015 will run for five days from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, March 4 – 8. As always, the books will be carefully sorted and offered at 90% or more off cover or market price.
Dedicated friends and members of Wye Parish, the book sale’s sponsor, acquire, sort, and store books year-round in preparation for the annual sale. At the sale itself, volunteers manage the displays, serve as cashiers, and provide the bargain-priced soups, chili, and goodies that are a Books Café tradition. Shoppers often visit the sale more than once, as the shelves and tables of books are constantly restocked throughout the event.
Book lovers from near and far come to Books Café to find books by favorite authors or on subjects of interest to them — or to stock up on good reading material for rainy days and vacations. The 90%-off prices enable shoppers to buy a whole bagful of books at Books Café for what it would cost to buy just a couple of books at a bookstore.
A mainstay of the sale is the huge selection of current and classic fiction in hardback and paperback, all sorted alphabetically by author. These larger alphabetical sections are supplemented by a special display of outstanding historical fiction.
For children, there is a Children’s Room overflowing with everything from board books and picture books through easy readers, Newbery winners, popular series, and young people’s classics. The adjacent science fiction and fantasy areas are popular with teen readers and adults.
Cooking and gardening will be especially strong categories this year, as the result of a new partnership with Books for International Goodwill (“B.I.G.”) in Annapolis. This project of the Parole Rotary Club of Annapolis ships donated books to schools and libraries in developing communities around the world, making B.I.G a natural outlet for the textbooks, encyclopedias, and reference works that typically remain unsold at Books Café. In return, B.I.G. has begun supplying Books Café with books that its constituency has little or no demand for, such as cookbooks and gardening books.
Other major Books Café displays are history, including military history; biography; arts and music; religion; nature and animals; local and regional interest; nautical and maritime (more than fully replenished after last year’s exceptional offering); travel; crafts, hobbies, and home improvement; “Old & Rare” (including this year a major collection of The Magazine Antiques); and more.
Books Café operates under the auspices of the Vestry of Wye Parish. The addition of the tent is being made possible by Ebb Tide Tent & Party Rentals of Queenstown.
Call the Parish Office in Wye Mills at 410-827-8484 for further information. Contact: Mary Campbell 410.758.3071
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