Combine a bookmobile with a food truck
and what do you get? The Penguin Book Truck — and for good measure, the Penguin Book Pushcart.
and what do you get? The Penguin Book Truck — and for good measure, the Penguin Book Pushcart.
By combining the concepts of bookmobile and food truck, book-publisher Penguin Group (USA) recently introduced its first mobile bookstore. And just like a good book, there’s a bonus inside: the Penguin Book Pushcart, which rolls out of the truck and down a ramp to make books even more accessible.
“The Penguin Classics people had a (promotional) car, a Mini Cooper, they launched a couple of years ago,” said Penguin Group (USA) publicist Erica Glass, who explained that the Mini Cooper’s tour helped bring attention to the book-publishing brand.
“Thinking back to the popularity of bookmobiles, and the popularity now of food trucks, it sort of all came together,” she added.
, it sort of all came together,” she added.
Bookmobiles were (and in some places still are) rolling libraries.
The first bookmobiles were horse-drawn wagons.
Later, buses and delivery vans were converted into mobile libraries. Food trucks have a long history in some communities, and recently have enjoyed more widespread popularity.
were converted into mobile libraries. Food trucks have a long history in some communities, and recently have enjoyed more widespread popularity.
“We’re always looking for new ways to bring writers to readers, and this is one of those ways,” Glass said.
Penguin’s book truck came off an assembly line as a GMC Savana cargo van. It was outfitted with a large cargo box that not only carries books and the pushcart, but that has sides that open to display the bookshelves inside. The truck is 27 feet long and contains 96 linear feet of display shelving.
Awnings, LED lighting, cafe tables and chairs provide sheltered browsing day or night.
The pushcart was inspired by the classic New York hotdog cart. It also carries and displays books, and is covered with a pop-up umbrella.
The truck and pushcart made their debut at the recent Book Expo America, the annual convention of publishers, book store owners, authors and libraries in New York City. Their next stop was “Tom Sawyer Day” at the Mark Twain House in Hartford, Conn., and then the American Library Association conference in Chicago.
The pushcart also will be at the Delecort Theater in New York’s Central Park for the 2013 season of Shakespeare in the Park.
In October, the truck and cart will help celebrate the 75th anniversary of the publication of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” by traveling old Route 66 from Sallisaw, Okla., to Bakersfield, Calif., with several stops along the way.
“It’s had a couple of great events already, and its trip to the West Coast on Route 66 will be cool,” Glass said.
She also explained that the truck and cart are not intended as competition for local bookstores.
“We very strongly believe in bookstores and want to continue to see them succeed,” she said.
Although Penguin can sell the books in the truck and on the cart itself, it prefers to partner with local bookstores on those sales. Glass said Penguin is open for requests from bookstores and book festivals interested in scheduling visits by the truck or cart.
For information, visit www.penguinbooktruck.com.
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