Made in the Shade and Taking the Wheel

We trust that all had a safe and happy 4th of July celebration.  For many of us, summer promises or holds fond memories of road trips full of fun and adventure, which inspired last week's promotions and Saturday's story time fare.

We're making sure all our customers have it made in the shade by offering FREE sunglasses with any purchase between now and then end of July (or at least until supplies last!).  We're also currently running a promotion on our super fun MELISSA & DOUG puppets, purchase one puppet and receive a second MELISSA & DOUG item at 50% off!  We have some really great boredom buster MELISSA & DOUG items that promise to subdue the incessant "are we there yet" inquiries.  Perfect for travel, free of little pieces that tend to get lost in the backseat sea of juice boxes and pretzels, we have stocked Hangman, Magnetic Games,  Picture Makers, and Play Sets as well as some packing friendly and fun classic card games.

Saturday's story time featured the always funny Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems, poor pigeon dreams of driving the bus but the bus driver has asked that we please don't let the pigeon take the wheel, no matter what.  We also shared a super fun picture book by Leo Timmers, Who is Driving?.  The kids loved the super bright and fun illustrations of various animals dressed in ways that suggested what vehicle they might be driving and guessing who would be revealed on the next page behind the wheel.  We also read about the silly misadventures of Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw and finished up with a rousing rendition of Wheels on the Bus by Raffi.  Special thanks to Gabby (and to the parents for not fleeing the store) for once again drowning out my less than impressive yodeling with her magnificent guitar playing and to Puck for his awesome sound effects and leading the children to use their hands to swish swish swish the wipers and beep beep beep the horn.  Haven't visited our story time yet?  Please join us on Saturdays at 11am!

As always, special thanks to our customers who keep our shelves stocked with all the great books they bring in to trade for credit.  We offer 20% of the original list price of the book for store credit and consider most books with the exception of romance, textbooks, self-help and parenting.  Need a quick pick me up after returning to the salt mines following this long holiday weekend?  We've still got hundreds of FREE titles that are keeping our sidewalk bins replenished, a cart full of .25 paperbacks and .50 hardcovers, and Tuesday and Thursday promises a freshly baked and complimentary treat!