posted by M.L. Sanico

McKinley High School Cafeteria

SATURDAY, JUNE 28th thru SUNDAY, JULY 6

(see here for hours of operation and official schedule)

This is the mother of all used book sales, and if you’ve never been to one of these hosted by the ‘Friends of the Library’ then you’re in for a treat. For one whole week they fill (and refill) the entire cafeteria with used and out of circulation books! All the books are priced at a steal, some of them rare and out of print, some of them brand new– either way it’s a deal.

Book lovers can come out of there with oodles of bound treasures. I hurt my back one year carrying a box that was clearly not meant to hold 75 pounds of books. So bring your backpacks and your canvas totes and get ready to hunt for some literary treasure. The cafeteria is laid out by genre, with a very generous children’s section, and a Hawaiiana section as well!

The only setback is that the cafeteria can get very hot. With all the people and books, it can be positively sweltering. A tanktop and shorts is the usual dress code, or you can opt to visit the book sale at night when it’s cooler. The ‘Friends of the Library’ also sell water and refreshments so you can take a break before heading in for round two. All proceeds from the sale go to the Hawaii Public Library system. Books and charity, you can’t go wrong!