It’s Program Time!
This fall, our inspiring Buddies program will return to schools across Chicago, helping struggling students discover the joy of reading. We’ll host transformative Adventures in Creative Writing field trips in our space four days per week andReadThenWrite will morph middle and high school students in schools from West Town to Englewood into polished, published authors.
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Wordshops are Coming!
For the first time, the Publishing Academy magic is available year-round. Aspiring young novelists: join us for a series of special Wordshops this year that delve deeply into specific parts of the writing process to expand your imaginations and realize your literary dreams.
Our first wordshop will be
Scene-Building: If You Ruled the World
Tuesday, November 11th — 9 am - 3 pm
In Scene-Building, students from grades 7-12 will learn to create awe-inspiring settings and worlds for their stories. Through a series of engaging activities, students will brainstorm aspects of their imaginary worlds, (including geography, climate, political structure, origin stories, and more) and learn how to draw readers into their narratives through the power of place. For more information or to register, please contact Jessica Jones Lewis at jlewis@open-books.org
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Save the Date for Make the Case!
Creative and crafty teams will compete for big prizes as they decorate bookcases, which will then be stocked and donated in all their colorful glory to deserving classrooms around the city!
Think you have what it takes to decorate the best-looking bookcase in Chicago? Team registration is $500 for a team of five decorators, and includes food, drink, and access to an evening of creative fun and entertainment.
For those less crafty, spectator tickets will go on sale later this month, at a special early bird price of $35. Spectator tickets include food, drink, one raffle ticket, and one People’s Choice voting ballot. (Additional raffle tickets and voting ballots may be purchased online or at the event.)
For more information or to register a team, contact Cary Mele at cmele@open-books.org
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Fall Programming!
In the coming weeks, our volunteers will work with the Little Buddies in our Buddies program on reading skills, and with middle and high school students in ReadThenWrite on reading, writing and publishing. Our programs all over Chicago start as early as next week—and we need your help!
The literacy work we do would not be possible without all of the hard work of our passionate and talented programming volunteers. When volunteers commit to twice-weekly sessions of Buddies or ReadThenWrite, they create an incomparable learning and mentorship experience for their students, helping them find their unique voices and gain more confidence in their words.
We are seeking Buddies all over the city and ReadThenWrite coaches in Gage Park, West Town and Englewood. Specific days and times can be found on our website. We are especially seeking coaches to join us at Mitchell Elementary in West Town. While the training has passed, we can work to onboard you as soon as you can make it.
Already been oriented? Contact Nell to receive details about scheduling and specific program signups: volunteer@open-books.org / 312.475.1355 x 119.
Upcoming Orientations
9/12 – 1 pm
9/17 – 6 pm
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After her bestselling first book, MWF Seeking BFF, Rachel Bertsche set her sights on the glamorous lives of movie stars. In Jennifer, Gwenyth and Me, Bertsche embarks on a quest to emulate her Hollywood role models—while sticking to a budget—to see if they really hold the keys to happiness. In discussion with local writer Britt Julious, Rachel will explain the preparations behind the project, her own relationship to Hollywood, and her biggest takeaways from writing Jennifer, Gwenyth and Me.
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Open Book Club Reads The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
 Join us in October as we read Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon!Kavalier and Clay is a sweeping epic about World War Two, comics, escapism, family, fatherhood, and the nature and reality of the American Dream. It is one of our all-time favorites at Open Books, and we are thrilled to have it as a Book Club selection.
We’ll discuss Kavalier and Clay at 6 pm on Tuesday, October 14th. There is no RSVP or monthly commitment required to
attend Open Book Club. See you there!
Keep up to date with our selections
P.S. We'll see you on September 9th for Where the Moon Isn't!
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Book Banter
"Let’s talk about fan fiction," says Lizzy, Assistant Bookstore Manager at our River North store.
"I don't often bring it up; certainly not professionally and only occasionally with friends, but I am a long-time reader (and once-upon-a-time writer) of fan fiction. I discovered Harry Potter fan fiction on Yahoo Groups back in the day, and never looked back.
The reason that I haven't often talked about it is because it feels embarrassing and hard to understand if you aren't already in it. I’ve been questioning myself lately, though, and I’ve come to realize that not only is there no reason to be embarrassed as a reader of fan fiction, but there’s a lot of reasons to be proud to be a part of the community."
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A Change in Book Worm Angels
In the next few days, we will be temporarily disabling the Book Worm Angels application and replacing it with a waiting list. We've had an unprecedented number of requests in the last few weeks and we're going to take some time to catch up on our waiting list and implement changes that will make the program better than ever! We hope to have the full application back up by the end of November.
We are also assembling a Dream Team of volunteers as part of our plan to streamline BWA operations, and will share more information about that next month. For now, if there are any volunteers who are interested in working with kids' books, they are welcome at the warehouse!
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COMING UP
Every Thursday
10 am
September 4
6 pm
September 6
2 pm
Where the Moon Isn't
September 9
6 pm
September 12
12 pm
September 17
6 pm
September 13
10 am - 1 pm
October 9
6 pm
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
October 14
6 pm
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BRING YOUR COMPANY TO OPEN BOOKS
Does your office or corporation host service days for your team? Would you like to spend a day of service with us at an Open Books field trip?
Email Nell Klugman
(nklugman@open-books.org) for more information.
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SEPTEMBER
VOL-STAR
September Vol-Star is Open Books store fixture Margie Zolla!
Margie is a hardworking, passionate volunteer with strong literary opinions that she offers freely to customers, which have resulted in the kinds of valuable conversations that make a bookstore not only a pleasure to be in, but also a place where a diverse readership can find recommendations and discuss books they love. She can also hold her own in debates about genre literature with our inimitable store manager, Kevin—not something for the faint of heart.
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GROUP BOOK DRIVES
We couldn't distribute books in our programs or sell them to fulfill our mission without the support of generous individuals and groups who donate their unwanted books. Thank you to everyone, including the following companies, organizations, schools, and people that ran book drives for Open Books this past month: Drew Andersen, Transwestern, Albert Whitman Publishing, The Selfhelp Home, CDW, Car Max, The Clare, and 161 East Chicago Ave!
Would you like to organize a book drive? It's simple! Check out our comprehensive Book Drive Book!
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OPEN BOOKS BUZZ
@EJNeukirch: Found a bookmark w/note from my 1995 elementary in donation I'm taking to @ today.
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