A trip to the bookstore with a young companion

Weekend before last, I had a serious craving to be in a bookstore. I remember mentioning it around my granddaughter - that I might go to the bookstore later that week.... She heard me and got all happy. Said 'granma! when you go, come and get me and I can get a book too!' (translated from granddaughter speak, this means I can buy her a book. *g*) So I told her sure - if I went I would stop and get her first...

Well, last week I did go to the bookstore, and when I was at the cash register I remembered I had promised to take her.

bad granma

Of course, I felt bad for not taking her. So this week, I had this mad impulse to go AGAIN to the bookstore - even though the gods and everyone else around me KNOWS I have plenty of books to last me sitting around here (not quite all getting read) and this time, I remembered to go get her. Sent a text to my daughter - have Liliana ready, I'm picking her up.

She was ready. She had dressed herself in a pair of gray leggings with small multicolored polkadots and paired this with a pink shirt with large brown polkadots. Gotta love a five year old's sense of style. To complete this outfit was her old bright pink cowgirl boots. (resembling the boots shown in this picture I lifted off the good ol' net) The girl has two very cool suede boots, one pair black, one pair brown complete with metal buckles and circles - wish I had boots like those - but her favorite pair are the old, used, pink cowgirl boots that her cousin's mommy bought her - when she got them, they were way too big for her, and she used them for play. Now they're still a wee bit big for her, but she seriously wears them the most.

girls and their shoes.

The cowgirl boots, the granddaughter, polkadots and I went to the bookstore. She was very patiently helping me look for books for me. She does this by looking for books with scary covers, or dramatically creepy covers...."granma, this will be a good book for you" she'll say. After we found my books, and looked for a book for her mom - which I didn't get because I could get a ppb version for way cheaper (Practical Magic) , we strolled to the kids section.

Let me say here, that as a granma, I do NOT like the way Barnes & Noble has their children's section laid out. It is almost like a maze, and if you have a five year old that is the size of a preschooler, and she's running ahead of you, you absolutely cannot see where she is between all the aisles - and the voices echo. At one point I had to loudly suggest that we meet at the entrance to the children's section. I know space needs to be filled, but how about two open squares, so you can SEE your kids/grandkids? (I live in fear that she's going to get stolen from me while we're shopping= which is why she has to accompany me while I'm looking for my creepy books *g*) We finally found each other and then we (or rather, SHE) found two books for her.

Liliana love Dr. Seuss books - both my grandchildren love them. And she's also recently discovered the joys of the Junie B Jones chapter books written by Barbara Park. She wanted me to read to her at the store (loves to be read to) so I promised to read one chapter of the chapter book. She worked it by waiting until I was a few pages in, then asking to switch to There's a Wocket in my Pocket. So we read that one, and then noticed a little girl who was there with her dad/grandpa (never know, nowadays, can't go by apparent age) who was listening in and getting all happy about the book. Turns out this is a book that gets read to her every single day and she knows all the words by heart. She looked like she was around two years old - very cute, social and spirited *wink, wink*
By the way - I haven't explored many children's publishing house sites - but I am impressed with the webpages that Random House has set up for Seussville and Junie B. Jones. Just click on the above author names for links - each page has activities, excerpts and fun things for kids to do. I'm saving these in a favorites folder for my grandchildren - who like to surf the internet, now that granma has started them off on it long ago. :) a few years ago, I would sit near Liliana and open pages for her, help her drag and click, and change sites for her. Now she can open the internet herself, and she has figured out which folder is the children's folder, and uses the icons to decide what site to go on. From there she just browses and plays. She's able to use my laptop and the desktop. My grandson's father (my son) now only has to set up the page for him, and Elliott can use the mouse, playing and navigating the games and videos. Pretty fun. I know many young children are exploring and learning computer skills - nowadays, but for me, someone who grew up before game systems - this is exciting stuff - to watch grandchildren learn computer skills beginning from age two on. next up - keyboard skills.

Oh - and the books I found for me?

Ann Aguirre's fourth Corinne Solomon novel, Devil's Punch - even though I still haven't finished reading Shady Lady. Started it. Got a third of the way into and kind of lost interest - hopefully temporarily. Her Sirantha Jax SciFi series is one of my favorite series. (new Jax universe series coming! woohoo! )
I also found Sarah Addison Allen's novel, The Girl Who Chased The Moon. Her novels remind me of the best of Alice Hoffman. lyrical, poetic, magical, surreal. Fun reading.
BEST OF ALL!?! The frosting on my bookstore cake, the apparent reason for my intense craving to GET TO THE BOOKSTORE TONIGHT, even though I still am feeling a bit sick.....

STACIA KANE'S fourth and long, eagerly awaited Downside novel

Sacrificial Magic. <---download 3 chapters

ooh man, I'm sure glad I went to the bookstore, and had the $$ to buy a few books.

Oh Yeah!

At the end of our bookstore event, we found the Godiva chocolate bars...my granddaughter very quietly says to me...whispers "granma, I was hoping we could get some chocolate...". Who can resist such a sweet way of asking? especially after she was so well behaved (this is not always the case, believe me, lol) and after she had worked so hard trying to help me find books for myself, not to mention the way she was sweetly waving at the little girl who was listening in on our story, and the way she sat so quietly during the story. I have to say that this was one of our best outings ever. It was short and sweet with no behavioral issues - anyone with children or grandchildren can witness to how much this is a rare and wonderful thing. Kids try, but they don't always have the greatest control. Tonight, Liliana was the best behaved child in the store, as well as being wonderful to spend time with.

So I bought her a $2.50 chocolate bar. When we got to her house, she asked her mom if she could eat it, then broke it in pieces to share with everyone in the house.

Amazing

I'm going to have to plan a trip with my grandson now - see if he would like to go to the bookstore with granma.