Quote of the Day: I think this place has real book worms. Leah, a young patron of Wild Rumpus Bookstore in Minneapolis.
The moment you enter Wild Rumpus, you understand just how wild it is! We were greeted by a dog and cat. The cat was trying to escape, so a boy picked her up while the girls entered through the little door, and we grown-ups used the big one. The Wild Rumpus has animals in cages, and roaming free, throughout the store. We saw two or three cats, a ferret, a guinea pig, a tarantula, and a couple of Japanese Silky Chicks who
are fairly new to the store. They’re still getting used to the place, so they usually stay in their pen. Heather took them one of them out for a few minutes to introduce us. Her name is Iggy Peck and Heather let the girls pet her. She’ll be wandering around the store pretty soon.
Heather was very helpful in finding books for teenage boys. I was looking for The Maze Runner. My boys have read all of James Dashner’s books in that series, so I recommended it to Krista for her boys. They had some right on the counter where Heather happened to be working. It is coming out in a movie soon, so it has new popularity. I asked her what I could pick up for my boys who have read most of the best series, and some of the classics. She walked me around and filled my arms with some good suggestions from The Three Musketeers (We saw the play together last spring at The Guthrie.) to The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I also bought Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. I’ll probably be the first to read that one. The boys haven’t gotten into Gaiman, yet.
The Wild Rumpus is an exciting bookstore with kind and helpful staff. If you visit, go to the bathroom and turn off the light. They have a surprise in there. They had a special display of Richard Scarry books to go with the opening of Busy Town, the Musical, playing at The Children Theatre.
Support your local and independent bookstores whenever possible. Ordering online is fine for specific titles (you can also use your favorite bookstores to order), but nothing replaces the face to face contact with staff who also love to read!
Go. Create. Inspire!
Journaling Prompt: Where’s your favorite bookstore? Do you have one that is no longer around? If you could visit the ideal bookstore, what would it look like?
Another great children’s bookstore in St. Paul MN is The Red Balloon. My Canadian/blogger friend Beth Stilborn posted about it today on her blog.
We don’t have an independent store that I know of. Some wild animals roaming in that one!
There is perhaps one independent bookstore in my area. That’s it. And I love it. Nothing is in much of an order, aside perhaps from genre, but you find old books, new books, all well priced and the owners are beyond pleasant and friendly. This reminds me, I should go buy books from them. Your bookstore looks and sounds wonderful, Mary. Yes, help independent bookstores! All for it!