Green Team Gazette: Got Books? No? Go Green & Get Thee to The Old Book Barn!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Got Books? No? Go Green & Get Thee to The Old Book Barn!

One of my favorite places in the world is an excellent example of "going green." And, it's a definite stop for every trip to Central Illinois! If you're in that neck of the woods, you need to make sure "The Old Book Barn" in Forsyth, Illinois is on your agenda!

With over 200,000 books (mainly used, but some new) and covering 14,000 square feet of space, it can proudly claim being one of the Midwest's largest book stores. It's completely unique in its layout, in that the store is decoratively divided up by genre, with props galore to set the scene. You name the genre, it is there!! You can easily spend hours there--in fact, this afternoon, I think we did!

200,000 books could have taken up some major real estate in a landfill, but instead, booklovers can rejoice as it's nirvana. An affordable nirvana, at that! A bulk of these books were once on someone else's shelves. It's the classic example of "One man's trash is another one's treasure." And boy oh boy, it certainly is like finding hidden treasures. As a teacher,a mother, and a booklover, time stood still (or so it seemed, yet the clock clearly betrayed us as we departed hours later). My children and I combed the store, loading up our basket. By the time it was finished, we had four stacks on the floor we had to sort through to decide what was truly going home without terribly breaking the bank. (A lot of books x $2, though a great deal, can add up like you wouldn't believe!!) We narrowed it down to a mere 2 dozen or so. My classroom library just got some new lifeblood, we took pride in our "green-ness," and my night owl reader child just got a motherload! I just wish there was an Old Book Barn in Maryland--or that teleportation was a viable option!!