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Bookcrossing

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

While out shopping on my lunch break I noticed a little plastic bag left on a table outside a cafe. At first I thought it was one of those free colouring-in packs for children and was about to walk on by when I spotted ‘FREE BOOK’ written in big letters across the front.  It turned out I’d stumbled across someone’s contribution to Bookcrossing.

I’d never heard of them before, but they helpfully had a website address stamped on the inside cover. Each book is registered with a unique number and by entering that on their website you can trace a book’s journey across the world. It turned out my little book – a joke book on all things elephant related – had come all the way from Australia and started its journey four years ago. Back in 2006, someone decided to leave this book in a public place for someone else to find and enjoy, only asking that they in turn then leave it somewhere for the next person. Each step along the way, people can log on to the website to record the book’s progress, so the original owner can see how far their book has travelled and what people thought of it.

I love this idea! I’ve found books left on trains before but had no way of knowing where it started its journey or where it ended up. I was thinking of taking some of my old books to Oxfam but now I’m tempted to give this a try instead – it would be fascinating to log on in a year’s time and see how far my babies have travelled!

Louise Watson, Editor

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