Books of Wonder is renowned in New York City for its children’s and YA books, and now the Upper West Side is getting a branch.
The store is currently located at 18 W 18th Street, and scarcely a week goes by that they don’t have events with authors meeting fans and signing books. One can always find signed books there, from the latest YA debuts to heavyweights like Rick Riordan and Cassandra Clare.
The store was founded 36 years ago, and with a focus on books set in the Land of Oz, carved out a niche for itself selling children’s books. It even had a publishing imprint at one point that reissued L. Frank Baum’s classic Oz books. As the years went by, the store kept expanding to bigger locations, and inspired the bookstore in You’ve Got Mail. It became the go-to place for YA once YA became a thing.
Incredibly, the bookstore weathered both the invasion of Barnes & Noble and the ascendancy of Amazon, and remains a bastion of everything we celebrate about indie bookstores. Now, the store announced a second branch at 217 West 84th Street, of comparable size to the current store, set to open in about two months.
In an era where independent bookstores are shuttering everywhere, it’s really refreshing to hear good news from one for a change. We can’t recommend this place enough, it’s this writer’s go-to for buying books. Definitely check out either the old location or the new one if you’re ever in New York City.
For more info and a calendar of their events, click here.
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