Take Your Child To A Bookstore

The ninth annual Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, a project developed to “instill a love of bookstores in children so that they will value and support this most precious of resources as they go on to enter and create communities of their own,” will be held today, Saturday, December 1 around the world

Created by author Jenny Milchman, the first TYCTB was celebrated by 80 U.S. bookstores and has now grown to include more than 800 stores in every U.S. state, seven Canadian provinces, and countries on five continents.

For the 2018 edition, Milchman has teamed up with children’s poetry author Brett Fleishman, who wrote a special  poem titled “Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day”:

They entered the store
At 11:04
Both the Mom and her teenager Quinn
Right behind were two more
Hand in hand through the door
Came a Dad and his younger son Flynn
With their books on the floor
They looked happy for sure
As more kids and their parents came in
When they left the group swore
They’d return, but what for?
For more books since those books made them grin

So grab a kid— anyone’s will do —and head to your nearest indie bookshop.

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Centre Pompidou has an identity crisis

Whenever I am in Paris, I always make some time to visit the grand Centre Pompidou. After four decades, the modern art museum with its inside-out construction is looking less cutting-edge, but it still boasts one of Europe’s best contemporary and modern art collections. However, it seems that I am not the typical Paris tourist. The Centre Pompidou has been experiencing an identity crisis since it can’t manage to compete with the city’s wildly popular and over-touristed sites, such as the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. To counteract the drop in attendance, the museum has embarked on a novel PR campaign that just might boost its standing with visitors.

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NYC: Word on (under) the street

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Eyes on Paris

For the past few years, here in the States we have had the opportunity to get to know the work of the popular French street artist known as JR. Now Parisians can catch-up with their hometown guy’s artwork at his exhibition currently on view at Maison Européenne de la Photographie and while riding the Metro and RER trains. Installations featuring JR’s giant eyes series can be found at eleven stations, including Saint-Michel, Hôtel de Ville, Gare de Lyon, Luxembourg, and Pyramides.

 

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Or Is It ?

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Ou est la petite bibliotheque gratuite ?

H/t to Cécile C. for the photo of this wonderful little free library in the town of  Relecq in Brittany, France.

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Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. These illustrations are from the Model First Reader by Stephen Return Riggs published in 1875. The rare volume is a primer for lessons in English and the Santee Dadota dialect.

You can see an entire digital copy of the book online here.

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Bookstore Tourism : Paris

It’s been quite a few years since a large indie bookstore has opened in Paris. The new  ICI Librairie et Café looks like it would not be out of place in Stockholm or Copenhagen. The multi-floor bookshop offers a wide ranging collection, a welcoming hang-out space, a large children’s section, and exhibition space, and a café to while away those chilly winter days. Open daily, ICI is centrally located on Boulevard Poissonniére in the 2nd arrondissment.

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Is It Just Me

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The First Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving Warrington Colescott 1973

 

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