Baltimore organization makes reading fun, accessible

By Meredith Matz
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

The Book Thing of Baltimore, founded by Russell Wattenberg about 20 years ago, has survived a lot and continues to bring joy to others.

Although open only on Saturdays and Sundays, the establishment at 3001 Vineyard Lane distributes at least 1,000 books to customers each week “absolutely free.” Why? The mission of The Book Thing is: “To put unwanted books into the hands of those who want them.”

“My favorite thing is being able to put a book in somebody’s hands,” said the new Executive Director Bonnie Hoppa. “It’s made me really aware of that whole concept of ‘one person’s reject casts off as another person’s treasure.’”

“I’ve had people donate hundreds of books that I’m like ‘These books look brand new and never read’ and I can only imagine what they cost brand new because it’s all like popular hardback fiction, but it’s stuff that some people can’t afford,” said Hoppa, noting that each gifted book is stamped with “not for resale.” 

The most popular genre of book that people go for are the hardback fiction and books for children, people of color and LGBTQ. Horror and sci fi fantasy books also are favored.

The Board of Directors recently selected Hoppa to take charge because of the health challenges now faced by Wattenberg. Before the appointment, she worked the last year maintaining the social media presence of the organization and at the book drop window.

The idea for The Book Thing began at a local bar where Wattenberg worked.

Wattenberg was “a local bartender [who] had a group of teachers come in to one of the Happy Hours,” said Hoppa, nicknamed Bunny, “and they were complaining about not being able to afford or access the books that they needed for their classrooms to teach their classes.”

“He said ‘Oh, well I have a bunch of books!’ and he let them go through what he had. He found out that this was a systemic issue… Books are expensive and there are a lot of people here who have barriers, a lot of them financial, so it is hard to be able to access the invaluable knowledge that you can find in books,” Hoppa said.

From there, Wattenberg teamed up with like-minded people “and started this place,” she said.

Employees and countless volunteers perform all the work at The Book Thing.

“I love coming here to help out,” said volunteer Ella Williamson. “My favorite part is probably coming in everyday and there’s always something to do. There’s never a standstill moment where you’re not doing anything.”

Meeting Wattenberg was a decisive moment for Williamson. “He was the guy who opened up the entire thing, and he just put it all together and wanted to open a free place to give out books, which I think is pretty amazing.” 

Towson University student Imogen Wright agreed.

“I loved The Book Thing,” said Wright. “I could figure out which genres were where and where the magazines were quite easily. I love their mission as well.” 

The Book Thing suffered a setback in 2016. Fire destroyed a good portion of the building and its precious contents. Although authorities could not establish the cause of the blaze, supporters and customers suspect electrical problems. 

“2016 was a rough year, but we were able to rebound and now we are kind of moving on into the future,” said Hoppa. “It was a very very catastrophic fire. This whole building had to be gutted. We got through with donations, good insurance, and community support.” 

She added, “We were not able to just rebuild the building, but to make it more handicap accessible, upgrade the bathroom, like we made it better when we relaunched.” 

Another hardship came when Wattenberg’s health began to decline this year. He stepped down as executive director. In June, Hoppa was asked to step in as the new leader.

“I started out as a volunteer after I was retired from the military,” said Hoppa, a disabled veteran who retired from the Navy in 2014 and now lives on a small farm outside the city with her child.  “I had a friend who had been trying to get me to come here and I fell in love and kept coming back.”

“When Russell’s health was declining, I was here a lot,” she continued. “I had skills and experience with having been a leader in the military. I offered to help, and they ended up asking me to step in as the active executive director. When it was determined that Russell wasn’t coming back, they asked me to stay and it’s been an adventure ever since,” said Hoppa, who years ago survived being homeless while battling the Department of Veterans’ Affairs for benefits. 

Books have been a passion for Hoppa, who is quick to talk about how she lived within walking distance from a local library when she was young and would “request so many books that I needed a wagon to cart them home.” She also remembers “feverishly writing letters to her congressman to help save the neighborhood’s branch from closing.

“I even returned from a deployment to Iraq with an entire trunk full of books,” Hoppa tells visitors to The Book Thing website. “Suffice it to say I will never finish my “to read” list, especially because I can’t stop adding to it!”

Hoppa, staff and volunteers said they love seeing people walk out of the building with a few of the thousands of books on the shelves.

“It makes me realize that there are a lot of people that don’t get free things like this,” said Hoppa. “People have to pay for books usually, so it makes me realize ‘wow, this was a great idea because you can educate a kid for free by just picking up a textbook that we have.’ ” 

Williamson added, “We have pretty much every category of every single book here, which is pretty amazing too.”