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.
