The Coolest Bookstore

by: Scott Herhold

When I visited the Coolest Bookstore on its last day of operation this school year, I wasn't planning to buy a book. Then I got one at an unbeatable price — 25 cents — and marveled at how one teacher's passion has left its mark on young readers.

It's common for adults to bemoan the lack of literacy among the young, to demand more testing because we doubt lessons do enough.

Those adults haven't visited the compact Room D-1 at Franklin School, a stone's throw from the Santa Clara County fairgrounds.

The critics haven't met second-grade entrepreneurs like Theresa, who walked around with a sandwich board announcing bookstore hours; or Patrick, who ran the cash box with precise zeal; or Julian, who straightened the books.

More important, they don't know Nancy "Nan" Caldwell, the 63-year-old teacher who has kept the store running for 15 years by haunting garage sales and library discard desks.

After 38 years as a teacher — 30 of them in public school — the slim, strawberry-blond Caldwell is retiring. And while another teacher will take over responsibility for the bookstore, it's like Apple Computer losing Steve Jobs.

Caldwell's resourcefulness is legendary: How many teachers organize a public transit day or get grants to let their kids spend the night at the Monterey Bay Aquarium?

"I have a passion for getting books into the hands of kids," she told me in a voice marked by her native Tennessee. "And for second-graders, this is like their first job. I tell them that when they're 16, they can come back and see me for a reference."

Kids' roles

The kids already have demonstrated marketing savvy by inventing the bookstore's name. Caldwell has given each second-grader — they alternate by week — a precise task.

That it all works is more remarkable because Franklin School is in one of the poorer districts of San Jose, where a big percentage of the kids qualify for subsidized lunches and where English is often not the language spoken at home.

At noon last Friday, the Coolest Bookstore was organized bedlam: Class by class trooped in to browse the books, which were all going for a sale price of 25 cents. (Ordinarily, new books are $1, while everything else is a quarter.)

At the door, Perla and Arianna worked security. When the kids got a $5 or a $10 bill, they immediately brought it to Caldwell, who cycles all profits back to buying books.

At the table for books, two older girls discussed their selection. "That one's a dollar," said one girl, seeing the blue tag that meant a new book.

"All books are 25 cents," spoke up Julian, who was observing.

"All books?" the girl asked. "All books," Julian responded.

Popular selections

The popular selections were already gone for the summer: the "Goose Bumps" series or the "Magic Tree House" series.

An avid young reader named Toan, however, strolled in with the jackpot. His teacher, Donna Pirrello, had written a $10 check to the Coolest Bookstore, which entitled Toan to a haul of 40 books for the summer. "Forty books?" he asked.

About the same time, a girl came in with $3 and asked how many books she could buy. "Well, you can get four for $1, and eight for $2," Caldwell explained. "See a pattern there?"

"Twelve?" the girl asked. The lessons were being taught on many different levels in the Coolest Bookstore.

From: Mercury News