Toad Hall Bookstore is a nonprofit organization and gives 100% of its net profits to environmental projects. 

This morning I stopped by Toad Hall Bookstore and was reminded of the many happy hours spent there with our children. Both kids are wonderful readers and I was able to deposit them down the enchanting spiral stairwell leading to the cozy children’s reading room while I perused books on the main floor. The proprietor’s son Reeve is a few years older than our son, and Amy always knew just the right adventure book to recommend for Alex. I’ll never forget the midnight Alex and I drove to Toad Hall to pick up a reserved copy of the eagerly anticipated latest edition of Harry Potter. Nancy was dressed head to toe in witches garb and “spooky” refreshments were served.  Alex stayed up all night reading, finishing the 400-plus-page book the following day, and has read and reread all the Harry Potter books countless times. He was fortunate to be exposed to Harry Potter at a very young age; before he could read them himself, his sister Liv was reading Harry Potter books to him. Liv’s current reading list (copied from her blog): A Spy in the House of Love – Anais Nin, Letters to a Young Poet – Rilke, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter – Carson McCullers, Howard’s End – E.M. Forster, Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy. Fostering in your child a love for reading and for books is a gift that will keep giving throughout their entire lives. My mother did that for me and for my siblings by reading to us constantly, taking us to the library, supplying us with plenty of batteries for reading-by-flashlight-under-the-covers, and always very well-chosen books under the Christmas tree and for birthdays. I will never forget the several times my mom let me stay home from school to read a book that I could not put down. I don’t recall the name of the books, but will always remember that she thought reading was worth skipping an occasional day of school!

Visit Toad Hall’s Facebook page — you’ll find a 10% OFF coupon there that you can use between now & Christmas.

More about Toad Hall as well as a story about moles, voles, and holes found on my blog Kim Smith Designs