Inspired by a prepandemic trolley tour of independent bookstores that Porter Square Books participated in, its marketing director Josh Cook organized a monthlong bookstore crawl with 20 other bookstores leading up to the celebration of Independent Bookstore Day on April 26.
The Metro Boston Indie Bookstore Crawl includes nine Camberville stores – Porter Square Books, Narrative Bookshop, Lovestruck Books, Harvard Book Store, Pandemonium Books & Games, Side Quest Books & Game, All She Wrote Books, the MIT Press Bookstore and Wild Child – and 11 stores in Boston, Brookline, Dorchester and Roslindale.
Cook was inspired by bookstore crawls held around the country, including the North of Boston Book Trail.
“I reached out to a bunch of places, and everyone thought it was time to bring something like that back to metro Boston,” Cook said.
To participate, all you have to do is pick up a “passport” from any of the stores and get it stamped at as many of them as you can by April 26.
On Independent Bookstore Day, participants can bring their passports to stores to redeem prizes.
“Visiting bookstores is a fun thing to do, but sometimes you just need a little nudge and a little structure to get yourself out of the house on a Saturday morning, and I think the crawl does that,” Cook said.
So far, the response has been overwhelming, he said.
Porter Square Books has handed out almost all of the 250 passports they ordered – but more are on the way.
Prizes differ by location, but each requires bringing a passport with at least one stamp to the store on Independent Bookstore Day.
At Porter Square Books, participants will get 1 percent off their purchase for every stamp; at Narrative, a passport gets you a sticker, a passport with between five and nine stamps gets you 5 percent off your purchase, a passport with more than 10 stamps gets you 10 percent off and a fully completed passport earns one advance reader copy of a new or previously released book.
Pandemonium offers 5 percent off for five stamps and 25 percent off for all 21.
The MIT Press Bookstore will have a prize box with bookmarks, stickers, temporary tattoos, pens, postcards and more for anyone with a passport, and an MIT Press tote bag for completed passports.
Side Quest gives crawlers who visited between five and nine stores 5 percent off their purchase and 10 percent off for visiting 10 or more stores.
Next door in Bow Market, at Wild Child, 10 stamps gets you a pair of Rebel Rebel socks and a completed passport gets you a book of your choice under $25.
Over in Harvard Square, Harvard Book Store and Lovestruck are giving out stickers for five stamps, pens for 10, pouches for 15 and mugs for 20 or more.
Anyone who visits all 21 stores will be entered to win one of five gift baskets that contain bigger prizes selected by each store: two free tickets to an event of your choice and 20 percent off one purchase thanks to Harvard Book Store and Lovestruck, for instance, or a private shopping spree at Porter Square Books.
“Those baskets are pretty coveted,” Cook said, with 21 prizes each.
In addition to the crawl, Porter Square Books hosts two events on Independent Bookstore Day.
There’s a Stuffed Animal Portrait Fundraiser in support of the Porter Square Books Foundation, during which families can have a special stuffed animal commemorated in a portrait by professional children’s book illustrations.
The Porter Square Books Foundation is a nonprofit founded in 2014 that brings authors to schools with a mission of fostering a love for reading and books, particularly among children and families whose access to them may be limited.
The event, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., requires preregistration.
At 4 p.m., the Great Bookseller Bake-Off returns as part of the store’s annual Independent Bookstore Day celebrations, with PSB booksellers competing to be crowned the “undisputed baking champion of the year.”
Shoppers can sample booksellers’ bakes and cast their votes for the winner, announced at 6 p.m.
Cook’s goal, with the crawl leading up to Independent Bookstore Day and the events on the day of, is to share the connections between the Boston area’s local bookstores.
“We’re all independent from each other, but we share goals, we share a vocation, we share a material,” Cook said.
“The book crawl is an opportunity for the Metro Boston reading community to celebrate those connections that they have to their specific independent bookstores as well as the connections that stitch all of us together.”
The full list of stores, in addition to the Camberville participants, includes Beacon Hill Books & Cafe, Brookline Booksmith, East End Books Boston Seaport, Frugal Bookstore, I AM Books Boston, Just Book-ish, Papercuts Bookshop, Parkside Bookshop, PSB Boston, Rozzie Bound Co-op, A Sanctuary Cafe and Trident Booksellers & Cafe.
Full prize details are available online.
image source from：https://www.cambridgeday.com/2025/04/13/metro-boston-indie-bookstore-crawl-happening-now-through-end-of-april/
