A world tour of children’s bookshops: Part 3

Doing a virtual tour of children’s specialist bookshops of the world has been so much fun… Part 1 of our adventure can be found here and Part 2 here. All the bookshops are listed together here on our Google Map. I really do feel like I have travelled the world in some way visiting all these beautiful stores. Today we flit from Germany to the States again…

9) Nimmersatt Kinderbuchladen, Berlin

Nimmersatt gets my vote on the best bookshop name. Nimmersatt is the name in German of Eric Carle’s ‘Very Hungry Caterpillar’, from ‘nimmer’ = never, ‘satt’ = satisfied. And Nimmersatt is just how we hope every child’s appetite for literature to be… Lisa nominated this bookshop, and she loves the coffee and cake, as well as the exhibitons by children’s illustrators, puppet theater presentations, and readings. The neighborhood sounds lovely too – and I like the sound of the nearby licorice shop! I couldn’t find any photos on the net, and as luck would have it, my mum and dad have just visited my sister in Berlin – they took these lovely pics!

10) Mundo Azul, Berlin

Berlin has the honour of a second nomination for a children’s bookshop: Mundo Azul. Located in Prenzlauer Berg, a neighbourhood that is cited as having the highest birthrate of any place in Germany, it is also multilingual, and has books in English, German, French, Spanish and also a smaller range in Portuguese and Turkish. About 12 days a month there is some sort of special book-related ‘cultural’ activity, including puppet shows related to stories, and craft activities related to a book or storyline. We’ve spotted some of OUR favourite books in the photo above so we do like their taste…

11) Wild Rumpus Books, Minneapolis

I have ALWAYS dreamed of creating a door inside a door – a special child-sized door set within a standard door. And Wild Rumpus has done it!

Kristin nominated this bookstore and told us about the real element of wild rumpus to this store: “the shop is home to a variety of animals including cats, chickens, fish (behind the bathroom mirror), a ferret and more!” Wow, sounds so much fun – how much would kids love the taboo of animals inside a bookstore!

12) Bookbug Kids

A bookshop recommended by Elizabeth Bird from the very astute kids book blog, Fuse#8 for School Library Journal is worth going out of your way for. This shop has storytime every day, a homely looking decor and a fabulous mission: “we try our hardest to ensure that Kalamazoo’s young readers—even the most reluctant ones—leave the store with adventures and happy memories”. We love to know there is a place on this earth called Kalamazoo – and given that it sounds like something from Dr Seuss, we are so glad it is home to such a lovely kid-centred bookstore.

Please continue to nominate more stores!