Will books fall completely victim to digitization? What is the future of print books? Happily, no one I interviewed, from a pre-school director, to teachers, a children’s book publisher, an inventor of toys, a bookstore curator, and the head of a Montessori school, foresees print books ceding to online, audio, or any other technology. Indeed, statistics continue to favor print over e-books by a wide margin and a recent survey shows a preference for print books among 18-29 year olds.
Though difficult to verbalize, we all understand the nostalgia, the coziness, the smell, the feel, the pure hygge of a print book and I believe we want to pass that on to our children. In the interest of encouraging hygge and, moreover, fostering community and advancing literacy, I have created a bookshop that is centered on place, space and programming.
Place: A store should reflect its local culture and traditions, as this provides meaning to its patrons, contributes to a sense of belonging, and fosters collaboration and community building. I think of my own town south of Boston and its famous stories, one of a shipwreck on its shore and one about two sisters who saved the town by deceiving the British. A store in our town should reflect those stories in some way. For the Fairoaks Children’s Bookshop, I will run a series of co-creation workshops that include parents, teachers and children, who will be invited to share their ideas for building out the space and curating the contents.
Space: So many sources have influenced how I imagine the space of the Fairoaks Bookshop, from visits to bookstores, schools, libraries and museums to multiple articles and books. The Third Teacher (2010. Cannon Design et al.) and Thornburg’s 5 Learning Spaces (2007) were some favorites. I would apply the 5 learning spaces in this way: a cozy and quiet alone space (Cave), interactive features (Field), educational posters and programming promoting literacy (Campfire), collaborative workshops (Watering hole) and tracking children’s reading successes (Mountain top).
Programming: I will build knowledge and skills and extend/reinforce community by bringing kids, peers, parents, and families together. A unique feature of the Fairoaks Children’s Bookshop will be programming, such as early cognitive development for parents and book sharing, creative writing workshops for kids.
Did I mention that profits will be donated to literacy initiatives?
