Retired Teacher Creates Mobile Bookstore to Improve Literacy

Retired Teacher Creates Mobile Bookstore to Improve Literacy

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CINCINNATI — For 25 years, Cincinnati resident Melanie Moore worked as a public school teacher. After retiring in 2017, she decided she wanted to start a new chapter.


What You Need To Know

  • Melanie Moore, a retired teacher, created Cincy Book Bus
  • Cincy Book Bus is a mobile bookstore
  • Since 2018, Moore has been selling books out of the 1962 Volkswagen Transporter in Cincinnati
  • She uses her profits to donate books to local school districts

“I’ve always had a love of literature and always grew up with books at home,” said Moore. “And in the back of my mind, I always had a dream of opening my own bookstore.”

And that’s when the real journey began.

“I started looking at brick and mortars,” she said. “I took a class on opening a bookstore, did a lot of research and I just realized that maybe a brick and mortar wasn’t the thing for me.”

So she created the Cincy Book Bus — a mobile book store that she built out of her husband’s 1962 Volkswagen Transporter. She loads up the books and then sells them across the Cincinnati area.

“This would be a good way to fuel children’s literacy because I can take my profits and buy children’s books and also work with teachers, because I’m a teacher so I know how much money teachers spend of their own money,” she said.

Recently, she’s been off to donate books at yet another school — South Elementary in Mount Healthy.

These books will be benefiting ESL teacher Jennifer Simowitz and her students.

“When Melanie offered me this $1,000 grant, it was just super exciting and I’m excited to get the multicultural element into our classrooms and just share with the kiddos in that way, because I think everyone is special and I think our differences should be celebrated,” said Simowitz.

For more information about the Cincy Book Bus visit The Book Bus Instagram page.

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