K.L. Kranes

On our way to our weekly music lesson on Sunday, my daughter, Ella, sat in the back seat of the car lamenting that we never do anything interesting on Sundays and that she needed more steps. (She’s a bit hyper-focused on her new Fitbit. I can’t really complain about a kid that wants to get more exercise though, right?) Apparently, unbeknownst to me, Sundays in our family are “boring.”

Like any good mom, I told her to stop being ungrateful and deal with her boredom. (Just kidding. My kid is pretty grateful in general.)

Putting Fun in Sunday

Instead, after jamming at our guitar lessons, I suggested we check out a nearby bookstore. I’d been to the website of One More Page Books and am familiar with the store. They have a great NovaTeen day program for YA books. The store also not far from my house or where we take music lessons and yet I’d never been there.

At first my daughter seemed disinterested, which is unusual for her. She typically jumps at the chance to go to a bookstore. But, like me, she’s also amassed an obscene amount of books that are going to take her several months to read, even at a pretty fast reading clip. Like any good mom, I twisted her arm (figuratively, not literally). She reluctantly plodded down the street, sulking. As we reached the door of the bookstore, I saw her eyes perk up.

Not Just One More Bookstore

“This place looks so modern,” she said. Apparently, she’d been expecting some very old, very packed bookstore and wasn’t in the mood to sift through massive amounts of books. Good thing One More Page Books isn’t that kind of bookstore.

Ella made it about two steps before going “Awwww” and fawning over book about bunnies. Two more steps and there was another “Awwww” this over a dog-related book. I left Ella to her animal-related book devices and started checking out the rest of the store. A few minutes into my perusing and I heard “Mom! Mom! Mom!” I rushed over to see her pointing at a graphic novel about none other than her current female hero – Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We grabbed it and started our book pile.

A Place Just for Me

Eventually, we made it over to the YA section, which featured featuring a life-sized Hermonie next to Barack Obama. At that moment I said – this is my kind of place.

Then we started to noticed all the novel (pun intended) details that made this bookstore truly special, such as their….

…”Blind date with a book”

…Collection of Buffy-verse related material (including Buffy Mad Libs)

…Unique, literary coloring books

…Clear commitment to #resist

Outside the Book Box

The best part about One More Page Books (no, it’s not the fact that they also sell wine and chocolate, although that might be the second best part), is that they expand beyond the typical books of most bookstores. They do have the popular books from large publishers. But, they also have books that I might not have heard of if I didn’t walk into the bookstore.

That’s what makes this place special. It’s clear even after one quick stroll around the store that it’s a store run by people who love books, not some corporate overlords who just care about money not content. At One More Page Books – books are personal (like I said our kind of place).

Books and Shake Time

After kicking serious butt with my bookstore idea (and walking away with 2 books and a graphic novel), I doubled down on making the afternoon awesome and we skipped over to a juice and coffee and juice bar, where we read our books and shared a chocolate and banana smoothie (yum). Lovely end to a lovely afternoon.