dailygaelley

I am someone who loves books. I adore their smell, regardless of their age. I love the feeling of both hardbound and softbound books. I grew up believing that books are adventures I could have while sitting in a corner at home. Each book I finished left a part of their story with me and it’s something I’ve enjoyed knowing.

When the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale went to Manila in February, I was devastated and incredibly envious. I had just been to Manila and I couldn’t really just leave my work to go to a book sale.

Naturally, being the millennial that I am, I resorted to the power of social media:

Granted, they just left me on seen. But I would like to think that this, and many other attempts of fellow Davaoeños helped bring Big Bad Wolf to Davao. 

It was in October that they finally hinted that they were going to Davao. The internet went wild and everyday, more people got excited. People started talking about the books they wished were available and it was nice to see that people still care about the written word. In this digital age, most people focus with images and videos. 

Last November 5, 2018, I was lucky enough to be invited to Big Bad Wolf’s press launch. I spent the next days preparing for it. I spent endless hours scrolling to Big Bad Wolf’s Facebook page and with each scroll my curiosity and excitement grew a hundred-fold. Big Bad Wolf Book Sale will be held in The Tent at the Azuela Cove in Lanang. It’s going to be open 24 hours and they will bring 20,000 titles and 1,000,000 books. 1,000,000 books.

The bookworm inside me clapped and roared, rejoicing at the mere thought of it. I’ve always wondered how 1,000,000 books looked like and I’m finally about to witness it. One of the best things about this sale is how discounted the books are. Don’t get me wrong— books are always worth the price but the written word is often pricey. This price actually makes other people opt for something else like e-books.

I met one of the founders, Ms. Jacqueline Ng. She told us about the story behind Big Bad Wolf Book Sale and how their mission is to simply let books be accessible to as much people as possible. They value reading and it’s fascinating to see how many people they’ve converted.

The numbers don’t lie— this is the biggest book sale in the world. The prices are discounted from 50-90%. It is insane. Meeting Ms. Jacqueline Ng gave me hope for people in the world. Having explored its main branch, BookXcess in Malaysia, I am incredibly excited for it.

Ms. Ng talked about her current favorite book, The Wisdom of Sundays, written by Oprah Winfrey. One of the things that they asked us to do during the launch was to go in front and browse the books they offered. They also asked us to choose one book that interested us and go back to our seats to show it to our seatmate. Minutes later, Mr. Miguel Mercado, Big Bad Wolf Philippines’ Marketing Head, announces that he wishes that whatever book we had in our hands were books we liked because it was ours. THEY GAVE US BOOKS.  The joy the media felt after the announcement was contagious, in less than 5 minutes, everybody was talking about the books they had. 

In my hand rested a copy of The Wisdom of Sundays by Oprah Winfrey. I was curious about the journal and grabbed a copy for myself. I even talked to Ms. Ng to show her I followed her recommendation. So far, I’m half done with the book and I love it. It was my first self-help book and I’m glad I chose it. 

Overall, I think the BBWBS is going to be epic. It’s open 24 hours for 10 days. My suggestion is bring big bags, wear comfy clothes, and prep your wallets!  

See you there, bookworms!