The Ongoing Adventures of the Cincinnati Book Bus

It was back in 2019 that Melanie Moore finally made her dreams come true. The retired teacher from Cincinnati, Ohio had always wanted to run her very own bookstore, but the high costs left her thinking twice. What if she couldn’t afford it? What if it was just all too much? Then she had a brainwave – inspired by the Christopher Morely novel Parnassus On Wheels, Melanie turned her husband’s VW Transporter van into a mobile bookstore.

The Cincinnati Book Bus rapidly became a hit. Barely a year later, Melanie and her inspiring business got themselves a write-up in Forbes. It seems the residents on Cincinnati were really loving the mobile bookstore, and Melanie and her business was adding real colour and vibrancy to the literary life of the Ohio city. But this was four years ago. So, what are Melanie and the Book Bus up to now?

Tilly the Literary Star

The Cincinnati Book Bus is certainly a descriptive name, but it’s a little impersonal. Melanie wanted to change that, making sure everyone knew about the real name, and real personality, of the vehicle at the heart of the whole thing. And so, back in February 2024, it was announced that Melanie’s Book Bus would be starring in a book of her own. Now known as Tilly the Book Bus, the 1962 VW Transporter has become a hit in its own right, thanks to a charmingly vintage look and an inspiring story.

Melanie wanted to give local kids some insight into Tilly’s story and how she became such a big hit among book lovers. Working with a local artist Mike Helm, and the children’s bookseller Brian Wray, Melanie created a fitting tribute to the vehicle that has taken on a life of its own. Melanie, Brian, Mike, and of course, Tilly herself, were present at the book’s launch in March 2024.

Fostering a Real Love of Reading

You don’t need to be a book lover to recognize the charm of Tilly. The classic VW van is a thing of beauty, with a paint job to match. But it seems as if Cincinnati’s young people are coming for Tilly, and staying for the books.

Maria Schappert is the program director at Notre Dame Urban Education Center in Covington. In August 2024, Melanie and Tilly paid a visit to Notre Dame, and it seems they made quite the impression.

“Did you see the boy who took three books? He hates to read”, Maria told the Grant Moxley of the Cincinnati Magazine. “He took the books to his desk and told his tutor ‘I want to read this one first!’”

This is the kind of impact that Melanie, Tilly, and the Cincy Book Bus, are having. The project is fostering a real love of reading in the young people of Ohio – a love that is going to stay with most of these young people for their entire lives.

Making a Big Difference in Cincinnati

In recent years, Melanie has been thinking of ways to funnel the profits from bookselling back into the local community. While she’d originally been anxious about not making any money at all, she eventually found herself with an opportunity to make a big difference across Cincinnati.

“I told [my sister] ‘if I sold just one book, I would be happy’”, Melanie said. She ended up selling rather a lot more than one. The start-up costs had all been paid back within only three months of running the business, and Melanie and Tilly quickly found that the operation was highly profitable.

Running the Cincy Book Bus helped Melanie engage with the world around her in a new way. When she met a third-grade teacher from the west side of Cincinnati, whose classroom was lacking a library, Melanie understood just what she could do. She donated $500 from the Book Bus to help begin the new classroom library project at the school. This turned out to be a springboard – now Melanie donates collections of books worth thousands of dollars to local schools and institutions, people who really need them – institutions like the Notre Dame Urban Education Center.

What’s Next for the Book Bus?

“My main goal at this point is just to get the kids excited about reading,” Melanie says. What began as a lifelong dream that might never have gotten off the ground, has evolved into something truly remarkable here in Cincinnati. Whether kids are receiving one of the Book Bus’ donations, or reading about Tilly in her very own book, they can’t help but be spellbound by this exciting project.

While Tilly is still mobile, the bookstore itself has put down roots. These days, Melanie runs the Book Depot – basically, the home of Tilly, and also a space for way more books.

The Book Depot plays host to a range of different events for book lovers across the region and has become a real center of Cincy’s literary community.

And that doesn’t look likely to change any time soon!