Allison Staton from Soccer Mom in Denial is back with another terrific independent bookstore review – this time Busboys and Poets in Washington DC. This is her second review for the Independent Bookstore Reader’s Challenge. We’d love for you to join us also. After reading Allison’s review, I can’t wait to visit Busboys and Poets, wine and good books, what better combination:
As a working mom, one of my favorite parts of work travel is getting a full 
night of uninterrupted sleep. My next favorite part is, if I’m lucky to have a friend in the city I am in, I get to have an evening of uninterrupted conversation with a grown-up I adore. Washington DC is full of friends that I miss terribly.
So when one of those friends suggested I meet her at Busboys and Poets on the corner of 14th and V (as in Victor she wrote in the text message) I thought I was going to a bar. I mentioned to someone at the conference I was attending where I was going after the final session and he told me to be sure to buy a book.
Apparently I was going to a bar and restaurant, with a bookstore. A bookstore that sells books to benefit a non-profit dedicated to “transforming school into centers of justice where children learn to read, write and change the world.”
Ummmm…. All that and a glass of wine too?
So I found Busboys and Poets, named in honor of Langston Hughes who worked as a busboy before finding success as a poet in a vibrant downtown block in Washington DC. There were young and old, black and white, coming together. The space is big and airy. Chalk boards are all over – on the floor announcing a soup and on the wall detailing upcoming up coming poetry nights. People share couches and large tables in the bar area. I overheard folks who clearly didn’t know each other make suggestions for meals or beverages. It was a place that brought the neighborhood together.
In spite of all the sound there were still people lounging and reading in the bookstore. It did seem quieter there. I’m not sure how they pulled that off design wise but the bar did not distract from the book. While a seemingly small space it was packed with progressive politics books, children’s books and multicultural items. The shelves go up and up. A bit too high for me to read all the titles but the effect was thrilling. Surrounded by books that want to change the world.
I couldn’t resist, because I had to support schools that encourage children to change the world, so I bought my children Grace for President written by Kelly Dipucchio and illustrated by Leuyen Pham. Since returning home my children and I have read it over and over. I love that this terrific book, which stealthily explains the electoral college system so simply that even I now understand it, came from a bookstore with a soul.
And a bar.
2021 14th St
NW DC, 20009
T: 202.387.7638
Claire
Kim
