Just in time for the holidays, the Friends of the Malibu Library held one of its popular book sales. The one-day event Saturday was held with a holiday focus on specialty books and other items that could be gifted for Hanukkah or Christmas.
“We have a lot of books that are beautiful of really good quality,” according to Kathy Sullivan, president of the Friends of the Malibu Library (FOML) organization that hosts the sale. Saturday’s sale focused on gift-quality books with categories that might be used for seasonal giving, such as cooking, decorating, art, fiction and music. The book sale has been quite popular in years past, with people lined up outside the door before the opening because most of the books sell for only a dollar each. On the patio outside the library community room some items for sale were just a few dollars more. They included specialty books, CDs, DVDs, books on tape, and even a few box sets and other treasures.
This year, the event was a little more laid back, with locals leisurely leafing through the large selection.
“I don’t speak French, but I love deco,” Malibuite Elise Sandler said as she flipped through books on the patio.
“I want to see the amazing variety of books. You never know what you’ll find,” she added.
Sandler walked around the patio with her partner of 38 years, Marcia Loots-Serna (who serves on the board for FOML).
The two then flipped through “Two in the Kitchen: A Cookbook for Newlyweds.” To Loots-Serna, Sandler joked: “We count, right?”
Last year’s holiday book sale netted $700 with all the proceeds going back into the community. All of the items have been donated and have come in since the last book sale in March when just about all the books available were sold.
Volunteers work all year round collecting and storing material, but a lot of sweat hours go into the Friday before the sale to set up. The Malibu Times found a small group of dedicated volunteers lifting, sorting and unloading volumes and volumes of heavy art publications and other tomes to get ready for sale Saturday.
Forty-year Malibu resident Susan Kelly is a regular volunteer with Malibu United Methodist Church, but also makes time for Friends of the Library. She was busy all day Friday preparing for the book sale because she said she “doesn’t want reading to be a lost art.”
“I think it’s part of keeping children reading, perpetuating all that with them and their parents and bringing the community together for an event you get to see your neighbors at,” Kelly said. “The more you get children to read, the more it becomes part of their lives. All the money raised goes back into the community.”
FOML board member Bambi Young spoke of community values.
Three generations of her family—her mother, her son and herself—have worked with FOML’s book sales.
“What we like is seeing the books keep circulating in the community,” she said.
FOML donates roughly $15,000 each year to the Malibu Library to supplement what the county buys. All the money raised from the sale goes to providing children’s and adult programs at the Malibu Library.
Shivani Patel contributed to this article.
