A toddler in a red jacket and yellow boots holds the book “What Are Feelings?” up so high it is practically above his (or possibly her) head. Another, also in a stroller, clutches a colorful volume on learning to count via “touchable ladybugs.” Elsewhere in kaleidoscopic crowd images from last year’s Free-For-All Book Fair, children make bookmarks with paper and glue, or are read to, while adults nearby peruse titles by the boxload.
At the annual Free-For-All Book Fair, the third of which will be held Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Glenwood Springs Community Center from noon to 5pm, attendees range in age from infants in arms to the elderly. People leave with bags full of books. No money changes hands.
Caitlin Causey, one of the volunteer organizers, said of this pre-holiday happening, “A lot of kids say, ‘I’m going to give this to my brother’ or ‘to my mom.’”
Last year, according to a press release from the Free-For-All-Book Fair (motto: “Reading is for everyone”), approximately 1,500 attendees took home 7,000-plus books, most new or nearly new, in English and Spanish. The organization is soliciting book donations through October (see drop-off sites below).
The story started two years ago in a pediatrician’s office at the Castle Valley Children’s Clinic, when Shelby Williams, a second-grade teacher at Elk Creek Elementary School, brought her then 12-year-old daughter, Becca, for a well-child check with Dr. Rebecca Percy.
“Becca is an avid reader, as am I, and so is Dr. Becca, and the two Beccas always talk books when we go in.” The conversation, she recalls, “kept spiraling on book fairs. ‘Weren’t they fun?’ ‘What books were your favorite?’” Schools host annual book fairs, partially as benefits.
“And [we were] talking about how inequitable it is that some kids can go buy 10 books and maybe some don’t get to buy any,” Williams said. ”Some have no books at home.” She personally buys books for all her students every year.
She and Dr. Percy then met at the New Castle library, asking themselves, What could we do to get books to kids in the community who don’t have them?
“We really wanted a book fair for all, all kids and all people. We started brainstorming, and reached out to others.”
Friends — all of them moms with jobs and busy lives — came onboard, collecting books and storing them in their garages. The New Castle Recreation Center hosted the premiere, with the Glenwood Springs Community Center stepping in for 2024.
The first year, Causey estimates, 2,000-plus books came in and all but about 100 books went out; hundreds of people poured in the door. Williams said, “We were so excited that it even got off the ground. … We had donations from all types of people. We hope for donations in English and Spanish. We want everybody to get books.”
Causey said the fair is held to reduce barriers to reading and encourage lifelong reading. Monetary donations are welcome and used to buy books to give away, and the event has received some business sponsorships, including use of a storage unit from Gould Construction.
Most books are donated by the community, as people clean out their shelves and jettison books they or their children no longer read. The organizers request only books in good condition, not those that are ripped or water-damaged.
They seek books in Spanish, “primarily for children but also adults,” Causey said. “We purchased a couple hundred books in Spanish [for adults], and they were all gone by the end of the day. … We want everybody in the community reading.” Another need is books for teens.
The core group of consistent volunteers is four to six, with about a hundred volunteers joining in over time. Those have included employees from Alpine Bank, a sponsor; a young employee at White River Books, a Carbondale pickup site; and high schoolers who last year broke down the event.
After learning about the free book fair, I visited White River Books with a small armload of books. Izzy Stringham, the owner, stood behind the counter, looking up a sequel for a mustachioed young customer in overalls.
Some of my books looked new, but I ask if a battered paperback, “The Right Stuff,” passes muster.
Stringham laughed and nodded. “I think it’s just if they smell or are fuzzy.”
She estimates that last year she took in 1,000 to 1,500 donated books. “My little store room” — which is also the bathroom — ”was up to the ceiling. Caitlin would come by and pick books up. I kept filling it up and calling her.”
While it might seem a conundrum for a bookseller to support a giveaway, Stringham said, “I want people to buy books, so I can stay in business, but I mostly want people to read books. A bookstore in a small town is part of the community. I’m all for this.”
Books can be dropped off through October at White River Books or the Castle Valley Children’s Clinic, Carbondale; Brynne Gordon Dental, Urnise Dentistry and Alpenglow Books, Glenwood Springs; New Castle Dental, New Castle; and Mountain Family Health Center, Rifle. For more information, email FreeForAllBookFair@gmail.com