Type Away Cait

photo courtesy: Cavalier House Books @chbbookstore / Instagram DENHAM SPRINGS, La. — Michelle Cavalier describes her fifth grade year as the "greatest reading year" of her life, a time of "childhood civil disobedience." It was the year that she was first introduced to Lois Lowry's "The Giver," but after a parent complained of its content, it was removed from the classroom. When the teacher realized that the class was passing around the novel and reading it in secret, she offered them the choice to read the new book,  Sounder by William H. Armstrong , or continue reading "The Giver" and take a test.  "I can still feel how excited we were, really feeling as though we were doing something powerful and secret, and when I look back on it, it truly was a turning point for me as a reader and an individual," she said.   "'The Giver' is a novel about empathy and the power of memory and stories; about how when we allow fear and ...

photo courtesy: Broadway Books website PORTLAND, Ore. — Kim Bissell will never forget when she learned of an opportunity that any bibliophile couldn’t resist. In 2014, Roberta Dyer, co-founder of Broadway Books , located at 1714 N.E. Broadway, was looking for someone to fill in as co-owner with Sally McPherson. “When the opportunity arose in my neighborhood bookstore, I live about five blocks away from the store, I jumped,” Bissell said. Broadway Books, which was originally an old furniture store, first opened in 1992 by two best friends Dyer and Gloria Borg Olds. After Olds retired, McPherson became co-owner with Dyer in 2007, and seven years later Dyer was looking to do the same. An avid reader, active in author visits and book fairs and well-known in Portland’s book community, Bissell was the perfect person. Home to Powell’s City of Books , the largest bookstore in the world, Bissell describes Portland as a “literary city.” “It makes a nice stop for authors who are touring to g...

Donus Roberts, the owner of DDR Books, stands next to his wife Lovila Roberts, who is seated in a chair. photo courtesy: @DonusRoberts / Twitter WATERTOWN, S.D. — Donus Roberts is the owner of DDR Books , a bookstore in a city that sits along the   Big Sioux River. Named after the Roman form of the Greek god, "Adonis," Roberts collected books all his life. He estimates that he owns about 14,000.  In the early 80s, Roberts began collecting first edition authors and began selling books online. A retired high school English teacher of nearly 40 years, he decided to open up a bookstore of his own.  Originally called ABC Books, he changed the name to Books from Donus Roberts until finally settling on  DDR Books in 2007.  Afterall, everyone called him DDR during his teaching days at Watertown Public Schools , which began in 1960. In fact, a love for literature and teaching runs in the family. Not only is his wife, Lovila Roberts, a retired high school English tea...

Back row (left to right) Amelia Faulkner and Gary O’Dell;  Middle row (left to right) Bree Thuma and Tina Schmidt. Front row (left to right) Alyse Foley and Bob Wolfe  photo courtesy: Bob Wolfe JOPLIN, Mo. — In Webb City, 10-year-old Bob Wolfe would walk almost every day from his house to the public library. He couldn’t wait to devour the next set of "The Hardy Boys" books and lucky for him, he lived less than a mile away. “I didn't read 'The Hardy Boys,' I became the third brother. I lived them, I loved it,” he said. On the way home, he’d read one book while he carried the rest of the haul stuffed into his shirt. He was so absorbed in the story that he'd sometimes step off a curve, run into a tree or walk two blocks past his house without even realizing. Now, 74, he owns a bookstore of his own called Always Buying Books , in Joplin, the birthplace of Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes. BOB WOLFE'S FAVORITE BOOK: Wolfe grew up in a family of reader...