I Love a Good Children’s Bookstore!
Who woulda thunk…a great little children's bookstore right here in Ocean City, MD! We happened on it after going to pick up guinea pig food at the pet store (did I mention we have 4 guinea pigs…and 2 cats?). There it was snuggled in next to the only organic food store in the area.
It is called the Children's Book Garden and just opened about 8 months ago (which is why I did not notice them last summer). My we had a fun time! The selection of kids books was just wonderful. And such a nice break from the tv-tie ins and other more commercial kids books that you typically find at the Barnes and Noble. I love supporting independent books stores (especially for kids!) even if it can be a bit painful to pay full price for a book (I get a little bit spoiled with half.com!) But every once in awhile it can be a good thing. And I will say that it was, oh so fun, to browse and pick up and flip through those wonderful pages…not to mention the immediate gratification of being able to read them when you get home!
Jason picked out The Dragonology Handbook: A Practical Course in Dragons by Dugald Steer and The Discovery of Dragons by Graeme Base and he has been pouring over these since we got them. Especially the Dragonology Handbook…man he really loves that book! The reading level is pretty high and he can not read all the words, but he is doing really great job with it! I have been helping him read parts of it and he has been studying it (has awesome illustrations) and pouring over it. I am amazed at what he has been able to read…just goes to show you that given the right incentive and he will stick at it and give it his best. Which is pretty danged good. He read it on the way home, when we got home, while I was making dinner and he came in and read it on my bed while I was reading to Kyle before bed. Not bad! I think that we may need to look into getting him Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons for Christmas if his interest is still there (which I think it will be…seeing as his favorite books are fantasy, many like Eragon and DragonRider dealing with dragons).
For Kyle I picked out chapter book called Martin's Mice by Dick King-Smith and he found a new Pigeon book! Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Williams. Kyle absolutely adores the Pigeon books and we have all the others. He was very excited to find another one.
For both boys I found an Anansi book (they love this mischievous spider!) called Anansi and the Talking Melon retold by Eric A. Kimmel. Really funny and nicely illustrated. He had some others that I may have to see if I can find on half.com. I also got the Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip about electricity. I think Jason will enjoy this as well…I have found that he is more comfortable reading books with smaller bits of information and lots of accompanying pictures. And we also got an interesting book called The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M. Branley.
The Children's Book Garden also had interesting games and some toys…I split the cost of a card game called Castle Keep which is actually a lot of fun! You draw cards and try to build your castle walls (following very specific rules) or destroy your opponents castle. It says for 8 and up, but Kyle (6 years old) was able to pick it up quickly (in fact he won the first game). I also split the cost with Kyle of a race car with a posable driver. He has been enjoying it quite a bit. Now Jason wants to save up for a cool spy game that he saw there.
We got back home and both boys decided that they would rather read our books and play with our new games then go to the beach. Which is what we did. I think that we needed a day at home…the weather has been so nice this past week we have been at the beach or the water park nearly every day (I know, I know…rough life!).
All in all it was a wonderfully fun day. And we have lots of new great books to enjoy! Who could ask for more than that!
