The service continues at the annual book sale at the Heights library.
Story
By Jim Towers, M.J.A., J.D.
On [day, date], the lawn in front of the Heights Library looked like a bookstore had been turned out of doors. Folding tables ran from the mosaic sign at 1302 Heights Boulevard to the carved stone archway under the words HOUSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY HEIGHTS. Every table was stacked with spines facing up, and more cardboard boxes waited underneath.
This is the annual book sale put on by the Heights Rotary Club. The club holds it once a year, and the proceeds go to the library.
The prices were simple. Any size hardback cost $3, and a large paperback cost $2. Small paperbacks, CDs and DVDs went for less. A hand-lettered price sheet at the checkout tent said so, and it also said cash and credit cards were both welcome.
Green placards sorted the stock into sections: Literature, Foreign Language, Adult Nonfiction, and Spirituality, Health & Wellness. Shoppers worked the tables at their own pace. Some carried a single paperback. Others walked away cradling stacks against their chests. One table held nothing but CDs and DVDs propped between metal bookends, and the browsers there flipped through cases the way people used to in record stores.
The work kept going behind the browsing. Volunteers wheeled fresh boxes in on hand trucks and restocked the tables as they thinned out. Young volunteers moved cartons from the dolly to the tables. Under a navy pop-up tent beside the entrance, Rotary members ran the register with a cash box, rolls of packing tape and a short stack of books they had apparently set aside for themselves.
There were no speeches and no ribbon. People came, found something worth a couple of dollars and carried it home, and every dollar stayed with the library down the walk.
President of the Heights Rotary club who was supervising and running the whole show good job!!!
Houston Heights Independent • houstonheightsindependent.com • Operating on the Murrow Standard
ATTENTION ASSIGNMENT DESKS & MEDIA PRODUCERS:
All text, video, and original photography covering this incident are the exclusive property of the Houston Heights Independent. Broadcast, digital replication, or social scraping of these assets without an active license is strictly prohibited. To license clean, high-density, unwatermarked frames for TV broadcast or regional news print, contact our newsroom immediately, at houstonheightsindependent@gmail.com. or 210-288-3034. Standard licensing fees apply.
© 2026 Houston Heights Independent. All rights reserved. Registered under Jim Towers, MJA.JD. No part of this publication, including text, layout, and original photography, may be reproduced, distributed, broadcast, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief. For media licensing inquiries or syndication requests, contact at houstonheightsindependent@gmail.com. Standard licensing fees apply.
