Reviewed by Ali

Because I work on Tuesdays, Grady and I haven’t been able to make it over to Green Bean Books for their weekly story time. So when I found out that the store was having a special holiday story time today, Grady and I were all over it.

Green Bean Books, set in the Alberta Arts District, is a lovely, quirky, colorful place. Most of the color is contributed from the thousands and thousands of books arranged on tall bookshelves throughout the store. Although there is a small section of best sellers for adults, the majority of the space is dedicated to books for babies, children and teens.

There are sweet touches throughout, like mustache vending machines (not a typo) and Scrabble tiles glued on the bookshelves so you can easily find books by authors’ last names. There are also little handwritten notes below some of the books explaining why this title is a Green Bean Books favorite. The store has that magical feel to it that only the best of book stores have – you can’t quite shake the feeling that there might be a hidden world behind one of those bookcases.

Here’s Grady exploring some of those many books.

Story time takes place in a separate room (also filled with books) to the left of the main room. It is set up with a comfy green couch with stuffed animals on it, some folding chairs, and a rug for kids to sit or crawl on.

Here’s Grady modeling the couch (and his Santa hat).

Story time is led by store owner Jennifer, who also just happens to be a great storyteller.

We began by singing the 12 Days of Christmas while looking at a book by the same name. Jennifer then picked some of her favorite Christmas and winter stories – none of which I had read before and all of which were delightful. (I especially enjoyed the story about what Snowmen do after everyone goes to bed. Hint: It involves snowball fights and baseball.) Jennifer stops often to ask questions of the kids, and managed to keep a room full of toddlers highly engaged – no small feat as I’m sure you all can appreciate!

It was a real treat for me and Grady to discovery this wonderful store and get to hear some new holiday stories. I’m only sorry we won’t be able to be regulars at the Tuesday story times!