My experience selling Christian books in Radiator Springs

     

What was my experience selling Christian books at Radiator Springs?? Well, I actually didn't do either one. But I have pretended to do that in my house. Five years ago, the unfortunate event of the Family Christian Bookstore's demise took place. There hasn't been another Christian bookstore in my local area since and the closest one currently to my house is 30 miles away. I have been sad over this and I have wanted to fill the void with opening my own Christian bookstore. I was only 15 years old when the Family Christian Store closed, so I wasn't old enough to have a job (which I still haven't applied for, but I would like to soon) and any income to support myself, much less a store in a struggling, but crucial industry. What does that to do with Radiator Springs and Disney Cars though, because Christian bookstores are the retail stores you get the farthest away from Disney Cars franchise. VeggieTales, 321 Penguins!!, and the Adventures of Odyssey reign supreme in these stores and the online presence of these stores. So, how does Disney Cars relate to all of us??

    Well, this is where Tow Mater comes to help me. The weeks prior to the Family Christian selling books for the last time, I was involved in a barbershop chorus where I was singing famous songs in a fun and lighthearted way. I had a very fun time with the chorus singing all these songs and in fact, most of my best singing performances were, and still are, not on stage or practicing but singing songs during day to day life, in the house, on walks, working outside, or in the car. As I was imitating different songs using the voices of artists from my favorite bands, I thought it would be fun to imitate the unpolished Southern voice of Tow Mater or Larry the Cable Guy in the real world. I know my Barbershop chorus or any chorus of that matter would not approve of that voice, but singing like Mater does give me a light hearted and cheerful spirit. 

How was Mater involved with my attempt to fill this void in our community??  Well, in 2017, on Memorial day weekend when my mom and dad went on a getaway trip, my grandparents came to sit my brother and I at our house. I know my mother and father weren't in the house to watch my activity, so this was the perfect opportunity to be sneaky by starting a fictional store, Jesus n Mater, combining the themes of Christianity with the Cars world in the same building. I thought this would make sense because the heyday of Christian bookstores seemed to coincide with VeggieTales's success and I wanted to replicate this with the Cars to bring a resurgence of Christian TV program and possibly Christian society. After I set this store up, at the annoyance of my parents, I continued to pretend to run this store off and on for a whole year, until my mother raised my rent to $5 for having my signs in the window. 

   Even though none of these ideas have really
happened and don't seem like they will for a while, you may be wondering, where can I still buy Christian books at a bookstore locally?? Well, there is a Christian bookstore in Sacramento called Family Books and Gifts. It is actually in a suburb called North Highlands, where the Former McClellan Air Force Base and the current Sacramento Aviation Museum also reside. If you don't want to go that far, there are Barnes and Noble bookstores in Folsom, Citrus Heights, and Roseville, Half Price Books in Citrus Heights, and the mom and pop bookstores such as the Book House in Cameron Park. If you are fine with borrowing books from a library, there are church libraries in the local area to find Christian books and media. 

         If another Christian bookstore is viable for the Sacramento region along with Family Books and Gifts, where do you think it would do the best at??  In the northeast quadrant: 1. Folsom, 2. Rancho Cordova, 3. Citrus Heights, 4. Roseville, 5. Rocklin, 6. El Dorado Hills, or 7. Placerville or Cameron Park, or do you think the void is in the southwest quadrant of South Sacramento and Elk Grove??

Thank you for reading my blogpost and God bless.