What If We Had a Book-Loving President…

We’ve just seen a new US President take over the White House, and whether you like him or not, inaugurations tend to make us think a lot about ‘what ifs’. Like ‘what if’ I was president? What if nobody was president? Or…

What if a book lover was president? What might that look like for the US?

Everyone Would Get Subsidies to Take Time Off to Write a Novel

What does a book lover want, more than anything? More books to read. So why would we continue to make it so hard to craft new books? Writers need time to let their ideas flow, time to plan, and, most of all, to write.

So a big reader as president, surely, would do everything they could to make that easier. Which could look like giving writing subsidies to help people take time away from work to finalize their art.

Books Would Be Tax Deductible

When we’re doing our taxes and finances, there are a number of important, essential purchases that we can not include in our taxes — tax deductibles.

In our opinion, books are just as important as student loan interest or putting money in an IRA. So they should absolutely be tax deductible.

There’d Be a Story Hour at Every Boring Office

There’s nothing worse than a truly mind-numbing job, and there’s truly no better way to escape that reality than through a brilliant story. We think it’d be great for company and team morale to offer a story hour or reading hour at every office, especially those with very dull, tedious, and repetitive responsibilities.

Reading to the Elderly and the Young Would Be a Well-Paid Gig

Looking after the vulnerable should always be a well-paid job. Whether that’s our youngest members of the community or the oldest, it should be suitably reimbursed.

But to take that a step further, it should also include looking after their minds. Reading has been linked in all sorts of studies to creativity, learning, and mental improvement, so why not read to and with our oldest and youngest?

Everyone in the Country Would Get a Book Subsidy

There are lots of charities set up across the country to help ensure that every family can access books for their kids and themselves. This shouldn’t have to be the case, and we think a bookish president would know that.

We reckon they’d be able to give families a subsidy to spend on books to further educate our citizens across the country. Since this money would be going back into the economy, it would be even more beneficial there, too! Keeping bookstores going and people reading!

National Reading Day Would Be a Federal Holiday

National Reading Day takes place on March 2nd, Dr Seuss’s birthday. It is celebrated by readers and book lovers alike up and down the country. But, if we were to have a bookish president, we might just be able to promote the celebration to the federal level!

Imagine, a federal holiday, all about books and reading. A day off work to cozy up with a book? Perfect!

There Would Be a National Story Hour Broadcast Across The Country

In the UK, there’s a children’s show called Cbeebies Bedtime Stories, and they get celebrities to go on and read a bedtime story. With the number of big names in the states, surely we could get our own version of this up and running?

Just picture it: Morgan Freeman is reading you a story for an hour after work, and the whole family is snuggled up on the couch for it.

There’d Be More Parks, Cozy Spaces and Quiet Places to Read

Sure, we have National Parks, but with a bookish President, more effort could be made to prioritize these spaces. Promoting the use of National Parks and allowing for more quiet, cozy spaces to be created in cities across the country would provide ample chances for people to sit down somewhere new with a good book.

A National Literary Museum Would Be Established

We’ve got hundreds of museums. And we’ve had hundreds, if not more, writers and best-selling books. So why don’t we have a national literary museum?

It could have displayed on the great American writers, manuscripts from early texts as and when we can find them. Readers meetings, writers workshops, book launches — it’d be a brilliant space for the bookish community.

We’d like to think this would be on the list of announcements of a bookish president.

Every Beach Would Have a Boardwalk Bookstore

There’s something special about sitting at the beach with a book. But sometimes, you finish the book you’ve got with you, or you forget to take one altogether. In those moments, what do you do?

Well, if there were a bookstore on every beach boardwalk, the problem would be solved. A cute little bookstore, perfect for meet-cutes, with a great range of titles… We can only dream!

Ending Illiteracy and Education Would Be a National Priority

If you ask us, this should be a priority regardless of whether the president is a book lover or not. Our country’s literacy levels should always be something we’re looking to increase, both at a community level and on a much larger scale.

Education and literacy are vital. They help us to communicate, they help us to succeed in the world. The more we work on that, the better.

Bookstores and Libraries Would Be Open 24/7

We’ve all finished a book at 2 or 3 am, laying in bed, adrenaline coursing through our veins. But what next? What if you’ve not got hundreds of books waiting on your tbr?

If bookstores and libraries were open 24/7, you’d simply take a late-night stroll to your nearest late-night bookstore, and voila! Your next fix, right there.