It’s always such a delight to learn of yet another new children’s bookstore! Today we’re talking with Christine Brenner, the owner of Read With Me, a Children’s Book and Art Shop, in Raleigh, North Carolina.
MUF: Congratulations on opening your new children’s bookshop. What have been some of the rewards and challenges so far?
Christine: Thank you! I am amazed at the warm welcome that Read with Me has gotten from the downtown community and visitors to Raleigh. I carefully curate the children’s books we carry to be high quality stories with contemporary 
authors and engaging art. I seek out titles that have meaningful depictions of diverse characters. The best reward is when our customers express their appreciation for being able to find books at Read with Me that they haven’t seen anywhere else. It is easy to just order the books that are bestsellers, but we feel it is important to do better than that. It is challenging to stay well-read and informed with the thousands of children’s titles published each year, but finding unique stories that reflect our world is well worth it.
MUF: Anyone walking into Read With Me will notice that you arrange things a bit differently from other bookshops. Yes?
Christine: Yes, on our main wall the books are arranged by age with the earliest readers at the bottom growing up to young adult books at the top shelf. There are 5 shelf levels- ages 0-3, 3-6, 6-10, 10-14, 14+. My background is in teaching and school library so arranging the books by age seemed like a helpful starting place for children to find a good book.
MUF: Tell us about the role art plays in your shop?
Christine: Children’s books are incredible works of art, between the illustrations, the cover art and the stories. The books we carry have exceptionally good visual art but I also wanted the store to be a well-rounded place for families. So we also offer local art for sale, classes that incorporate literacy and the arts as well as an art activity with our storytime.
MUF:And art also influences what titles you choose to carry? What other factors do you consider?
Christine: I look for books that will hook new readers and keep avid readers engaged. I rely on recommendations from knowledgeable booksellers, readers and book reps to help me find titles that reflect the diverse world in which we live and the varied interests we have.
|MUF: As a former teacher and school librarian, you must have good ideas about what books kids and 
families will enjoy. We middle-
grade authors are curious to know what books, new or old, fiction or nonfiction, you find yourself recommending to readers ages eight to twelve. 
Christine: Middle grade readers have more amazing choices than ever before. I love to be able to ask about a reader’s favorite books and try to match them with a new one from our store. Some favorite authors I have here, old and new, are Roald Dahl and Raina Telgmeier, Ben Hatke and Kwame Alexander.
MUF: You have a lot of readers’ “camps” scheduled this summer. Which upcoming ones are planned for middle-graders? 
Christine: It’s a busy summer in our store’s Creativity Corner! We are working on book clubs for July for middle-grade readers. 
I’m most excited about our upcoming cartooning workshop for ages 11-14. A local artist, Gabe Dunston, will teach an intro to cartooning class over six weeks where students will explore how to draw with their imaginations and learn how images can represent ideas within a reader’s mind.
MUF: Your shop seems to be located near many sites and activities of interest to this age group, which they could combine with a visit to your store. What are some of your favorites? Also please recommend family-friendly places nearby where visitors could get a meal or snack. 
Christine: Downtown Raleigh is a very walkable city full of great family destinations, like the State Capitol, NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and Marbles Kids Museum, all within ½ to 4 blocks of our store. Moore Square park renovations will start this fall and this Historic District part of the city has beautifully preserved and restored buildings. And food! Dee’s $1 Hot Dog cart is stationed across the street for something truly fast and cheap and is my son’s favorite. Some of his other favorites are Raleigh TImes for their hamburgers and fries, Sitti for their hummus and pita, Morning Times for their scones and Trophy Tap & Table for their chicken.
Thanks, Christine for taking the time to tell us about your shop. Readers, have you visited this shop yet? Sounds like a good summer trip destination!
nderer. The narrative is divided between two first-person storytellers, Sophie and Cody. On first meeting Sophie, the reader finds her to be a vivacious, lighthearted dreamer, immediately likable in her innocence and intent to sail the Atlantic with family members. But when Cody picks up the story and shares his thoughts about Sophie’s behavior, the reader realizes that Sophie is a much more complex character than first assumed—that, in fact, she’s a girl not ready to face a past tragedy. Because Sophie cannot let her internal conflict rise to the surface of her own mind for most of the book, a second point of view character is used to give the reader the clues and information they need to see all true sides of Sophie, even before she’s ready to see them herself.
Holly Goldberg Sloan’s Counting by 7s. This book is a great study in tense as well as point of view. The book opens in main character Willow’s first person point of view, in present tense; consequently, we are already close to this very likable character on the afternoon she learns her parents have been killed. The author then uses past tense first-person to relay Willow’s backstory in the following chapters, but returns to present tense at the moment in the narrative that has led back to the accident, signified by a chapter appropriately titled “Back in the Now.” The really interesting thing, though, is that each of the other point-of-view characters who “chime” in to help tell parts of the story do so in third-person, and consistently in past tense. So even though each additional voice is clearly characterized and has a need to insert his or her part of the narrative at the given time, the reader remains closest to Willow and her first person immediacy. Each of those secondary voices confesses at various points the extent to which they care about Willow, in a slow build of compounded concern that ultimately parallels our own.
Rebecca Stead’s First Light. In this example of multiple viewpoints, two characters alternate the telling of two seemingly distinct stories – they are in separate physical locations and don’t know each other. Peter and Thea each have their own concerns and conflicts, each trying to solve a set of mysterious circumstances. When finally the two meet—and their narratives align—about 2/3 of the way through the book, it’s a fulfilling thrill for the reader. The story ratchets up in intensity as the two begin a changed journey together.
R.J. Palacio’s Wonder. I think a lot of the genius of Wonder stands on its use of point of view. If we as readers had heard from no one but Auggie throughout the entire story, it would have been a beautiful and well-crafted book. But with the inclusion of other viewpoints – his sister Via and her new friend Justin, Auggie’s schoolmates Summer and Jack, Via’s friend Miranda—the story is helped along by those around Auggie, some of whom have known him his whole life, others who meet him only once he takes the brave leap to attend school at Beecher Prep. The first time I read Wonder, I was so taken with Auggie’s voice that when it switched to Via in Part 2 I had a moment of “What? Wait! Go back to Auggie!” But as R.J. Palacio indicates on her website, we need to see inside those other viewpoints to truly understand the extent to which Auggie has left an impact on each of those characters.
AHIMSA
THE SECRET DESTINY OF PIXIE PIPER
