Mutchmor Book Sale is back

Save the date April 27–30

By Sarah LeBouthillier

COVID-19 cancelled the Mutchmor Book Sale in 2020, 2021 and 2022, but it is back this year, and it’s celebrating a huge milestone – 40 years!

My elementary school in Ottawa had a book sale every year. Our class took book collection seriously. We would made giant book-collection tracking posters, knock on neighbours’ doors, try to convince our parents to donate books that they surely didn’t need any more and call extended family to get donations. The competition was fierce for the grand prize – a pizza lunch for the whole class and the right to be the first class to shop the books and games on sale day. Nothing made me feel like a grown-up quite like shopping for books, picking out exactly what I wanted to read and paying with my own allowance money.

Imagine my excitement when we moved to the Glebe in 2018 with two young kids and learned that Mutchmor had an annual book sale! In 2019, we went over on opening night, leaving with arms full of books to add to our family library. My daughter loved picking out board books for her brother, and we found picture books, both classics like Curious George and Robert Munsch stories as well as newer releases. I found a Miriam Toews book that I had been wanting to read and went back the next day, kid free, to browse aisle after aisle of cookbooks and travel guides.

This year’s massive Mutchmor Book Sale – I’m talking 20,000 books – is the Mutchmor School Council’s biggest fundraiser of the year and it takes a huge amount of community effort to make a success. Proceeds from the sale go to supporting local schools in need and local charities as well as to purchasing classroom and library supplies, sports equipment, cultural presentations and other school needs. The focus of this year’s fundraising is on the replacement of the play structure in the junior yard. The book sale is also a great opportunity to build school and community spirit, see your neighbours after a long winter and chat with parents you cross paths with at drop off and pick up. Partnerships with local community partners also allow unsold books to get a new life somewhere else after the sale has ended.

The steering committee has been hard at work behind the scenes, dusting off the website and Facebook page and working with the parent council and school to get everything rolling. The heavy lifting (literally!) starts in April during the collection weeks. From April 11 to 14, collection will happen from 8:45 to 9:15 a.m. at the Fifth Avenue entrance to Mutchmor. From April 17 to 21, you can come by from 8:45 to 9:15 a.m. or from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Books will be sorted, priced and shelved by volunteers to be ready for the sale from April 27 to 30.

April is just around the corner so visit www.mutchmorbooksale.com for more information. We can’t wait to see you at Mutchmor to celebrate 40 years of the book sale.

Sarah LeBouthillier has been living in the Glebe since 2018 with her husband and three kids. Currently, two attend Mutchmor and one is a future Mutchmor student.