It felt pretty luxurious to spend a few days in New York City without my kids. I only had to get myself out the door (Keith was with me, but he doesn’t need my help), I could spend as long as I wanted in front of a single painting at an art museum or bookshelf in a bookstore, and we could start each evening watching the sunset from a roof top bar. I didn’t think I would visit any kid’s bookstores, this was adult time. But, it was raining and I had an extra half hour before Idlewild Books opened so I headed north a block and found refuge in the Books of Wonder.
People Were Reading Everywhere
It was a wonderland of reading! A Mom was sitting with her kids reading to them. A young couple cuddled on a bench, she had her head in his lap and was reading a picture book to him. A kid was on the floor in the aisle flipping through a book. Two teens were hogging the YA aisle passing books back and forth. I loved the vibe. I especially enjoyed how the picture books were divided along two sides of the aisle, contemporary picture books on one side and classic picture books on the other, all on shelves allowing most of the covers to face out. What I would have given to have been there after Kyle was born and I was constantly trying to remember a classic picture book to share with him and I could only conjure up a partial name or a vague cover. This would have been my Mecca.
I wasn’t struggling around the teens in YA long before a bookseller came up and asked if I needed help. I described Kelsey, that she reads everything, and she handed me gimme a call by Sarah Mlynowski, a story of a senior getting a phone connection to her freshman self. Kelsey had just told me that she wanted to write a story that is a series of letters to her older self, what a perfect book for her!
SUZANNE COLLINS IS LAUNCHING MOCKINGJAY AT MIDNIGHT ON AUGUST 24TH AT THE BOOKS OF WONDER
The bookseller asked me if Kelsey had read Hunger Games, I laughed and said “Pssh! Before anyone in her school, she is famous for her love of that book!” Then she told me that at midnight on August 24th, the first moment that anyone will be able to purchase Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins will be at Books of Wonder. I squealed. I asked how many copies they ordered and she said “more books than any independent bookstore has any business buying.” We laughed and acknowledged that they won’t have any problems selling signed first editions of Mockingjay. I told her that we timed when we were flying home from vacation to be back from the airport long enough to get in the car and drive to the bookstore to buy Mockingjay at midnight. If only I had known Collins would be Books of Wonder, I would have been tempted to stop over in NYC, race over, and then dash back for the rest of the flight home. Now that would have made me mother of the century!
Wizard of Oz
The store is famous for its Wizard of Oz collection, but in the excitement over Mockingjay, I forgot to ask about it and look at it. My purchases qualified me to earn two Books of Wonder dollars, guess I’ll have to go back and use them next time I’m in NYC and I’ll make sure I spend time with the Wizard of Oz.
18 West 18th St.
New York, NY 10011
Tel: 212.989.3270
Tags: New York, New York bookstore, new york city, New York City bookstore
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