Open Books

The opening of a new independent bookstore is always cause for celebration, but even more so with Chicago's Open Books, which combines its store with a great social mission: promoting literacy.

What, exactly, is Open Books? “It’s a social venture,” Ratner says. “We’re nonprofit, so we’re dependent on charitable ways of giving. The second thing is that it’s a public space to make illiteracy an issue. It’s a big, colorful, creative, collaborative space for all levels."

A very welcomed development indeed.