An Indie Bookstore Visit ...

Last month I drove 40 minutes away to check out a cool Indie bookstore. I've been getting their emailed newsletter for months but it's not exactly on my way anywhere, so I hadn't actually been to the store. On this particular night kiddo and I had nothing going on and we heard that there would be a guy playing Irish folk music at the bookstore so we decided to make the trek. Boy was it worth it!

When we got there kiddo and I went first to the children's book section. It was so lovely! Kiddo quickly made himself comfortable in the beanbag chair right next to a low bookshelf; he could reach out and snag a book from the shelf (and put it back again!) without getting up. I wandered through the rooms checking things out. The music was lovely and kiddo even requested a few songs (I posted about our love of Irish Music here).

I've mentioned before that I don't often buy books. But I will make exceptions! I told kiddo he could choose one book, and that together we'd pick out gifts for his cousins. (My sister has a 2 yr old boy and had just delivered her 2nd baby boy the night before; what other gifts would a read-a-holic aunt give those boys than books?!) I also wanted to buy a book for myself ... not because I needed to add to my TBR pile, but because I really wanted to support the store.

Kiddo decided rather quickly. I wanted him to get this book (because you know I really, really LOVE bats - they are just so cool!!!) but his choice was a good one too. Here's what he chose:He was so excited to tell me that it had my favorite character in it - Lowly the Worm! Oh, how I love Lowly. I remember reading about him and his friend the hippo, and I remember being SO SAD when the hippo sat on Lowly's chair and broke it. :( Kiddo showed me page near the back and said "Mom, can you find Lowly?" As soon as I looked at the page I knew - I had this same book when I was a kid!!! Lowly was accidentally baked into a giant roll of bread ... poor Lowly. But great book pick kiddo!

Together we picked out a book for kiddo's cousin, the new big brother:
(My sister was excited about this one - come to find out she had requested it from the library but it was taking forever to come in.)

And we picked out this one for the new baby:
(Kiddo had "That's Not My Lion" and it was one of his favorite books. It has texture on each page plus you get to find the little mouse on each page.)

Then I had to make a decision about which book I wanted to buy. There were SO MANY I wanted! I mean seriously, when you have a TBR list that's over 200 books long, it's easy to find lots of books that you already planned on reading. But with a bit of help from Loretta, the owner, I decided on this book:
Please note, if you will, that The Beekeeper's Apprentice was NOT on my TBR list. It's one I'd heard of but did not plan to read. Loretta's recommendation plus my love of Sherlock Holmes made the decision for me. (You'll get to hear what I think when I post my review in a few days.)

I left the store with my new customer loyalty card already 1/2 way full (a full card gets you $10 off), a happy kiddo, a happy self, and a strong desire to magically move this store closer to my house.