Cincinnati’s Book Bus Has Its Own Book 

By Robin Gee

You may have seen the Book Bus tooling around town and wondered, what is this? An aqua-colored 1962 Volkswagen Transporter (a pick up truck with a canvas-covered bed and genuine microbus vibes) is a really cool vintage vehicle, but what’s underneath the truck’s canvas is no less wonderful.

The Book Bus is the brainchild of Melanie Moore, a retired teacher who lives in Amberly. Upon her retirement after 25 years of teaching, her dream was to open a bookstore. When she did the research and found how expensive that could be, she decided on another route. In an interview with Forbes magazine, she said she was inspired by a book by Christopher Morley titled Parnassus on Wheels, about a mobile bookstore, and, in 2019, decided to turn her husband’s old VW into a bookstore on wheels. 

This spring welcomed the publication of a new picture book, The Book Bus, published by Schiffer Kids, that tells a story inspired by the bus. Moore had the idea for the book and contacted former Cincinnatian and author Brian Wray to help write it and artist Mike Helm, a Hyde Park resident, to illustrate it. 

Helm gave some background on Moore, the bus and the journey to publication of the book. 

“I’ve known Melanie for many years. I’ve played music with her with her husband, Tony, for 30 years now off and on. She taught school for many years, and when she stopped, she wanted to do something to continue with promoting literacy. So Tony had a 1962 Volkswagen pickup truck that he’d been restoring. She kind of commandeered it and turned it into the book bus. She sells books and takes all the profits from that project and donates books to schools that have no libraries or schools in our area that are underserved,” he explained. 

He said Moore got the idea to tell a story about the bus while she was on the road around town sharing her love of reading, selling books and promoting literacy.  

“She got the idea for this story, which is kind of a metaphor of her project, and wanted to turn that into a children’s picture book,” Helm said. “She met Brian Ray, who is an author and has done several children’s picture books of his own and, therefore, had a name with a publisher. And they started to work together on text for the book.”

When Moore asked Helm to come on board to illustrate the project, he said he jumped at the chance. 

“I’ve always wanted to do a picture book. And so we first started having conversations about that almost three years ago,” he said.

The wheels of publishing move slow, and things took particularly long post-COVID, he said.

“It took a long time for the project to get underway…So it was a gradual process, but super fun. It is one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever worked on,” he said.

Helm has had a varied career as a graphic designer, but had not done a picture book before.

“I’ve been drawing pictures since I was a kid. And I’ve made my living as a designer. I worked in publishing, too…I’ve done videography, illustration and design, mostly working freelance for the past couple of decades. Illustration is one arrow in the quiver, as they say.”

Helm has shared his journey illustrating the book in a unique way. He’s filmed a series of time-lapse videos for his Youtube channel, thumpitypop, showing his process illustrating the book step by step. In each video he takes a spread from the book and takes it from the blank page to completed illustration, explaining his research and thinking along the way.

He had this advice for budding illustrators: “I would just start. I would make all the art you can. And I believe that. If you do that, it will find a way. Keep poking your nose into how other people are doing it, have a lot of conversations and just do the best work you can.”

The process of illustrating the book gave Helm an incentive to do more.

“I’m brewing up a new picture book right now. I’ve been working on the story and starting to do some studies for it. And I will submit that to the publisher soon and see if it’s something they’re into.”

The Book Bus has been a successful effort, and now Moore has a brick-and-mortar store, The Book Bus Depot, recently opened in Sharonville (10936 Reading Road). She also sells books online on her website (the-book-bus.square.site) and continues to travel the area in the Book Bus. 

Helm, Moore and Ray have been visiting bookstores and other venues to promote the book. The best place to get information on book events and the Book Bus, is to visit Moore’s instagram account, cincybookbus.