Casa Camino Real plans Oct. 24 book bag giveaway

Casa Camino Real Bookstore will host a drive-by book event Saturday, Oct. 24 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Local and neighborhood children and their families are invited to pick up books in age-designated book bags.

Featured books will be in English and Spanish, as well as bilingual. Books will be pre-selected according to age and language, and participating children will be allowed one book bag each.

Book tables will be set up outside the bookstore at 314 South Tornillo St.

Owner and bookseller Denise Chávez said she has wanted to share books with neighbors and families “for a while.”

Participating children also can take donated school supplies, including rulers, paper, erasers, notebooks and journals.

Casa Camino Real also will launch a “Little Free Library” during the event, and each week will feature a different genre or theme or age groups.

Volunteers will be masked and gloved during the event, and participants are asked to do the same.

The bookstore is open by appointment only, limit of two people at a time. 

“We have been active with online orders, and we look forward to returning to full service in future,” Chavez said.

Casa Camino Real is a member of the American Booksellers Association, Pen America, the Author’s Guild, and is working to create Museo de La Gente/Museum of the People, an archival resource center.

“Museo de La Gente will serve the Borderland communities in southern New Mexico, west Texas and northern México by cultivating and celebrating the art, literature, culture, music and food of this unique and rich part of the world,” Chavez said.

Donations of new or gently used books, coloring books and school supplies in advance of the Oct. 24 event are welcomed.

To donate or for more information, call 575-649-9173 or email comezon09@comcast.net.