The Book Thing

On one of our many trips into Baltimore, we stopped by a place called The Book Thing of Baltimore. 

Getting there is kind of tricky and parking is slim, but as soon as I step foot in this place, I knew that it was special. 

One man decided to open a FREE book warehouse. It is only open Saturdays and Sundays all day. It never closes for holidays or blizzards if they land on the weekend. People can donate books if they want and take as many books as needed. Literally, the website says you can take up to 150,000 books a day if you want and it's all for free! 

How amazing is this?! These people make no money doing this but did it as a way to give back to the community.If anyone has seen Baltimore and it's more run down areas, then they know that probably most of those people cannot afford to buy books for themselves or their children. This place will always be near and dear to my heart. Such an amazing thing for the community!

This is what the outside looks like. It's literally a warehouse. 

At night that red box becomes a donation drop box. During the day there are volunteers to take the donated books and organize them.

Sorry for the blur, but this is what it looks like as you walk in. They organize it the best they can with different sections like Children, Fiction, Politics, Economics, etc. There isn't a way to look online to see what books they have and don't have. It's just a free for all. The children's section seemed to go the fastest which made me smile. 

It's way bigger then it looks, but there are hallways and rooms that look like this! Books upon books upon books.  I overheard the owner say to someone that he has FIVE STORAGE UNITS FULL of books that have yet to sit on the shelves!!! After I heard that I knew I had to take some books. I wouldn't know if I would like them but I just had to take some.

Our (my) haul! We took 6 books home. It was a little overwhelming when I first stepped in the building and couldn't concentrate on the books themselves. But so far I've read 2 of 6 books and I've enjoyed them! So if you're ever in the Baltimore area, you NEED to check out this place. The link for the directions is here: http://bookthing.org/