Show your love for independent bookstores Saturday

In a world filled with obscure celebratory days – there are days set aside for everything from gum drops (Feb. 15) and potato chips (March 15) to going sockless (May 8) and eating a red apple (Dec. 1) – it seems odd that it took until 2014 to officially honor independent bookstores.

Two years later, the movement has grown to include more than 420 independent bookstores across the country, each of which will celebrate their day Saturday with readings, book signings and exclusive giveaways created especially for Independent Bookstores Day by major publishers and authors. The items won’t be available online or at chain bookstores and include a special story written by author Ann Patchett; Draw Me, which includes step-by-step instructions on how to draw characters like Curious George and Mo Willems’ Pigeon; a Neil Gaiman coloring book featuring Coraline; and lots more.

One event here in the Midlands can be celebrated at Books on Broad, an independent bookseller located at 944 Broad St. in Camden.

At Books on Broad, the day starts with storytime at 10 a.m. (Tad Hills’ “Duck and Goose” will be read for kids); from 1-3 pm, Warren Bingham will discuss and sign his newly released book “George Washington’s 1791 Southern Tour;” and from 3-4 p.m., Dr. Robert Kiger, a retired cardiologist and resident of Camden, will read and sign “Ponderings Along the Way,” a collection of poetry, several brief essays, and brief notations kept over a one-year period.

For more information, visit http://www.booksonbroad.comor call owners Laurie and Bill Funderburk at (803) 713 READ. They’d love to chat with you.

Katie McElveen, Special to The State

This story was originally published April 29, 2016 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Show your love for independent bookstores Saturday."