It’s been said that reading is fundamental and sure not to leave hospital patients out of the loop, the “Pink Lady” Auxiliary at the Bryan W. Whitfield Memorial Hospital held its first book sale of the year.

“We’ve been having them for a while,” auxiliary president Brenda Parr said. “We try to have two or three of them a year.”

But this year, the ladies chose to go with a fairly new company, and by new, it has been in existence a mere six months.

“It seems they have a better selection,” Parr said as she looked around the hospital lobby. “There are a variety of books here. It looks real good.”

Mark Gregory, a franchise owner of Imagine Nation, said the company chooses the selection of books according to what the people ask for.

“Every hospital is different,” Gregory said. “Here, they requested a lot of scrapbooking and cookbooks. They also stressed ‘fix-it’ books.”

But the selection was not limited to the aforementioned.

Friday afternoon, hospital visitors also had their choice of many children’s books, books from African-American authors and

novelties such as picture frames, singing stuffed animals,

and flameless candles.

“We do have some exclusive gift items like our lanterns. But one of my personal favorites is our selection of Uncle John’s Bathroom Readers,” he said as he flipped through one of the books. “They have short stories about a lot of stuff, and little facts like ‘on average

Elizabeth Taylor remarries every five years and four months.'”

Although Gregory said he didn’t see many customers at the one-day event, he said the shoppers that did make a purchase, reached deep into their pockets.

“I’ve seen less people than I usually do,” he said. “But per person our sales are up so we are still getting our average income.”

Proceeds from the book sale go directly toward the hospital and its needs. And because of that, the Pink Ladies plan to bring Imagine Nation back to the BWWMH lobby in August.

“It’s just a great fundraiser,” Parr said. “The employees and visitors

seem to like it. I’m excited to have them coming back.”