A big h/t to dedicated TBTP follower Bonnie B. for these fantastic bookshelf dioramas. The handcrafted wooden bookend inserts are created by Tokyo-based artist Monde with intricate details down to led lighting and shop fronts. Hopefully, they will be available soon outside of Japan, but for now we can just enjoy they artwork.
Over the years I’ve seen photos of the quaint Book-Cycle shop in Exeter, UK, but never thought to explore what it was all about until TBTP reader Evan S. suggested a post on the project. Since 2007, Book-Cycle has been quietly collecting book donations and offering them up through a clever model where customers can choose three books and pay what they want. Since Book-Cycle is entirely staffed by volunteers, all of the profits from book sales go to building libraries in schools and orphanages around the world.
Book-Cycle has three bookstores and a book bus in the UK and another store in Rome, Italy. They also do pop-up bookstores and sales throughout the year to solicit donations and to raise awareness about the project.
Along with library development work, Book-Cycle has three other important goals. They aim to improve literacy and increase the love of learning, they provide information and tech support on sustainability principles and practices, and they work to reforest Britain through tree planting and seed distribution.
The ninth annual Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, a project developed to “instill a love of bookstores in children so that they will value and support this most precious of resources as they go on to enter and create communities of their own,” will be held today, Saturday, December 1 around the world
Created by author Jenny Milchman, the first TYCTB was celebrated by 80 U.S. bookstores and has now grown to include more than 800 stores in every U.S. state, seven Canadian provinces, and countries on five continents.
For the 2018 edition, Milchman has teamed up with children’s poetry author Brett Fleishman, who wrote a special poem titled “Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day”:
They entered the store
At 11:04
Both the Mom and her teenager Quinn
Right behind were two more
Hand in hand through the door
Came a Dad and his younger son Flynn
With their books on the floor
They looked happy for sure
As more kids and their parents came in
When they left the group swore
They’d return, but what for?
For more books since those books made them grin
So grab a kid— anyone’s will do —and head to your nearest indie bookshop.
Whenever I am in Paris, I always make some time to visit the grand Centre Pompidou. After four decades, the modern art museum with its inside-out construction is looking less cutting-edge, but it still boasts one of Europe’s best contemporary and modern art collections. However, it seems that I am not the typical Paris tourist. The Centre Pompidou has been experiencing an identity crisis since it can’t manage to compete with the city’s wildly popular and over-touristed sites, such as the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. To counteract the drop in attendance, the museum has embarked on a novel PR campaign that just might boost its standing with visitors.
For the past few years, here in the States we have had the opportunity to get to know the work of the popular French street artist known as JR. Now Parisians can catch-up with their hometown guy’s artwork at his exhibition currently on view at Maison Européenne de la Photographie and while riding the Metro and RER trains. Installations featuring JR’s giant eyes series can be found at eleven stations, including Saint-Michel, Hôtel de Ville, Gare de Lyon, Luxembourg, and Pyramides.
H/t to Cécile C. for the photo of this wonderful little free library in the town of Relecq in Brittany, France.
November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. These illustrations are from the Model First Reader by Stephen Return Riggs published in 1875. The rare volume is a primer for lessons in English and the Santee Dadota dialect.
You can see an entire digital copy of the book online here.
It’s been quite a few years since a large indie bookstore has opened in Paris. The new ICI Librairie et Café looks like it would not be out of place in Stockholm or Copenhagen. The multi-floor bookshop offers a wide ranging collection, a welcoming hang-out space, a large children’s section, and exhibition space, and a café to while away those chilly winter days. Open daily, ICI is centrally located on Boulevard Poissonniére in the 2nd arrondissment.
Travel Between The Pages 