Product Description
Part lullaby, part love song, this perfectly pitched bedtime book gives a nod to its classic predecessors as it champions the vibrant independent spirit of local bookstores.
Join the Little Bookstore’s friendly staff as they draw the curtain on another busy day of browsing and matchmaking. Choose a bedtime story, say your good nights, and pet the shop’s feline mascot on your way out. Snuggle up to a loved one for a read-aloud, then drift off to sweet dreams of adventure and enchantment to come. Drawing on the best tradition of classic bedtime books, Amy Cherrix’s lilting text brims with sound play, soothing patterns, and repetition, while E. B. Goodale’s bright, inclusive artwork offers people-watching at its best, conjuring the bustling, ineffable mood of a homespun hall of treasures. Penned by a bookseller and illustrated with warmth and zeal, this cozy homage to the neighborhood bookshop ends with a gallery of bookstores around the world, encouraging local engagement and offering a gentle reminder that books are gifts that keep giving, the most comforting treasure of all.
From School Library Journal
K-Gr 3—Book lovers of all ages and nationalities are highlighted in this tribute to reading, books, bookstore clerks, and our favorite local literature retailers. Written in an alternating rhyme pattern, the text has a songlike quality for readers to chant aloud while simultaneously surveying the activities shown in the vibrantly illustrated spreads. Readers are plunked down in a variety of locations across the world, invited to imagine the stories of the customers and their reading habits, and "find themselves on the shelves" of their local bookshop. Humans and furry friends alike find literal and figurative comfort on the shelves as the bookstore cat snoozes and a dog receives a treat while humans arrive to find theirs. The multitude of book genres and subjects that can be found inside are underscored as well as evidence of shelf-browsing through forgotten items (hat, glasses, coffee cup, etc.). The work of bookstore clerks (unpacking new materials, cleaning the store, reshelving, greeting customers, and more) is lovingly spotlighted for their role in delivering "bookjoy" to all who enter. VERDICT A beautifully illustrated ode to bookstores and the people who work there and frequent them. Recommended for school and public libraries.—Tamela Chambers
Review
The artwork has beautifully established details. From the titles of the many, many books showcased on shelves, in boxes, and the hands of readers to the textured hair of the diverse characters throughout the story, there are little bits of nuanced representation that show that bookstores are for every person and every interest.
—Kirkus Reviews
With engaging simplicity, the creators combine the intimate world of an independent bookstore with the rhythmic verse of a bedtime read. . . . Restrained images both evoke the sensibility of and hint at picture books past, employing warm, layered textures, sure black lines, and saturated colors. . . an inclusive volume that celebrates the bookstore as a cozy, comfortable—and crucial—corner of community.
—Publishers Weekly
About the Author
Amy Cherrix is a writer, freelance children’s book editor, and children’s book buyer at a fiercely independent bookstore. She is the author of In the Shadow of the Moon; Animal Architects, illustrated by Chris Sasaki; and two acclaimed Scientists in the Field titles, Backyard Bears and Eye of the Storm, among others. She lives in North Carolina.
E. B. Goodale is an author, illustrator, and designer whose debut picture book, Windows by Julia Denos, received an Ezra Jack Keats New Illustrator Honor. She also illustrated Here and Now by Julia Denos, The House of Grass and Sky by Mary Lyn Ray, and other books, and is the author-illustrator of Under the Lilacs. Once upon a time, E. B. Goodale worked in a bookstore. She lives in Massachusetts.
