A huge fan of Blue Manatee Children's Bookstore in Cincinnati, I returned last week to enjoy the ambience of this independent gem where authors and illustrators have signed the walls . . . literally!
For all the boys out there under age 12--my buddies from our No Girls Allowed workshops-- I promise you that on the wall is a huge pair of white underpants signed by Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey himself! Yep, that's Captain Underpants on a pair of underpants with the Blue Manatee!
For all the boys out there under age 12--my buddies from our No Girls Allowed workshops-- I promise you that on the wall is a huge pair of white underpants signed by Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey himself! Yep, that's Captain Underpants on a pair of underpants with the Blue Manatee!
In this bookstore, kids curl up in cozy chairs and tents to read, surrounded by vibrant, interesting décor. There's a train in the preschool section that little ones can actually enter and exit. And they did, squealing, with books in hand!
I gushed about this bookstore last year on this blog while featuring some of my favorite independent bookstores.
You can't miss the Blue Manatee Decafe right next door, where the shadowbox tables invite families to play I-Spy while sipping delicious handmade coffee, cocoa, or smoothies. No electronics!
Blue Manatee Books is one of the only places I've been where I enjoy seeing the bathroom walls! They are filled with posters from book launches over the past years and are almost a destination in and of themselves.
While enjoying the downtown Duke Energy Children's Museum later in the week, I was delighted to see a Shel Silverstein poem on the wall of a treehouse in The Woods exhibit:
Later, at Panera Bread near Fountain Square, I noticed that there were quotes by Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau on the walls.
Who knew there was so much literature in Cincinnati?
