a lifestyle blog for book lovers

Regular readers know I love sharing a monthly round-up of what I’ve been learning lately, ranging from the (occasionally) significant to the (mostly) shallow.

This season I passed up the monthly updates, and if you’re thinking I’m about to blame that on my book deadline, you’re right. But I learned some things that are too interesting not to share this spring, so today I’m bringing you my spring update.

1. In many cities, libraries are top tourist destinations.

I’ve spent a lot of time in St. Louis these past few years, but I didn’t make it to their downtown Central Public Library until this spring. I was surprised to see it’s the #9 top tourist attraction in the city. How did I, of all people, not know this?

This spring I also finally got to visit the Kansas City Central Library, which I’ve long wanted to visit thanks to photos my fellow readers have shared, like the above. Actually, I got to visit it twice, because the first time my family went we didn’t know about the chessboard on the roof! Thanks to Instagram, we realized our mistake and made a return trip.

2. Ebooks are expensive for libraries.

Should I have known this already? Probably. But did I? Nope. This spring I’ve done several events with librarians all over the country, who all echoed the same sentiment: the current model of lending ebooks to patrons is not sustainable, because the costs libraries pay to offer them are substantial. But patrons love ebooks.

When libraries put new paper books on their shelves, they simply buy the book. When libraries put ebooks into circulation, they don’t just buy the book. They buy ebooks at a significant markup, averaging $25 per copy in 2018, and they can only use them for a limited time before they are required to pay to renew the license. Some publishers don’t sell to libraries at all; they want every individual reader to purchase every book.

For more info, check out this breakdown of how much libraries pay for ebooks from publishers. It’s not the most current—and one top publisher just announced changes to their pricing model yesterday—but it’s thorough.

3. Kids love typewriters.

We happened to visit the St. Louis Central Public Library while they were hosting a special exhibit called Print to Pixels. My kids were absolutely transfixed by the vintage typewriters that were part of the exhibit. It was interesting to watch the other patrons approach the typewriters: the kids were universally fascinated, while older adults were nostalgic.

I tried to follow the exhibit’s prompt and use a 1939 typewriter to write myself a letter. It was HARD. I’d like to think I could get used to it, but I’m definitely accustomed to my soft-touch keyboard.

4. The second Tuesday in April is Fountain Day.

We visited Kansas City this spring, for family reasons, and thoroughly enjoyed our time in the city. We loved the parks, the food, and the coffee. (Sooo much good coffee!)

I’d been told in advance that Kansas City boasts an incredible number of fountains, and was looking forward to seeing them in person. Alas, we learned the city turns on their 48 public fountains all on the same day, the second Tuesday in April, and we just missed it.

I think this means I need to come back during fountain season, maybe for a book event this time. (If you have any KC connections, let me know?)

5. Kansas City barbecue is legit.

I almost tucked this important lesson into the previous nugget about Fountain Day, but Joe’s Kansas City BBQ deserves its own number. I’m still dreaming about the Rocket Pig sandwich. My kids are begging to go back one day. Copious thanks to Whitney for pointing me this direction. Book people are the best people, even when they’re talking barbecue.

6. Tulsa is home to a 1/4 – sized version of the World Trade Center.

I had the pleasure of visiting Magic City Books for Independent Bookstore Day in April, and thoroughly enjoyed my time in Tulsa. I love Art Deco architecture, and was happy to discover that Tulsa is full of it.

It’s also home to a replica of the World Trade Center, a quarter-footprint, half-height skyscraper completed in 1976, just a few years after the Twin Towers were built in New York. I’m so grateful my host (hi Jeff!) pointed it out.

7. I’m getting the hang of tulips, but need help with zinnias.

For years, I admired everyone’s tulips in the spring, but could never remember to plant my own in the fall. For the past five years, I’ve been nailing the tulips, and my yard is the happier for it. So why am I struggling to remember to plant simple zinnias, that require a much shorter time frame?

I’ve been planting zinnia seeds since my early twenties, but somehow these past few years I’ve completely fallen out of the habit. If you have any gardening tips/tricks that might help, please share them in comments.

8. Always set an alarm, just in case.

I never sleep particularly late, even if I want to—especially not in unfamiliar beds, like when I’m traveling. But when I was in Tulsa, I decided to set an alarm just in case, even though I had a late morning flight and the airport was eight minutes away. The only reason I did this was an author friend of mine once slept straight through an event, not realizing how well she’d be able to sleep in a pitch black hotel room!

It turns out sometimes I can sleep till 9:30 a.m. I wished I’d gotten up earlier to go for a run and get some work done, but at least I didn’t miss my flight.

9. This lovely plant is a horsehead fern.

A friend gave me this back in the fall, and I’ve never been able to identify it. But then I spotted it at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, in their lovely home gardening area.

10. Veronica Mars is coming back!

I was surprised and delighted to see this is happening, and soon: July 26! Get the details here. HULU, TAKE MY MONEY.

What did you learn this spring?

P.S. That beautiful plant up top is a citrus tree that we found in a breathtaking greenhouse in Kansas City, a visit that confirmed I want to grow my citrus collection. Pun intended.

76 comments

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  1. Colleen says:

    When you return to Kansas City, please check in advance with Vivian Jennings of Rainy Day Books in Fairway KS. If there isn’t a book event going on, I’ll bet she creates one!

    • Stephanie Towne says:

      I second this! I was going to comment and tell you this because they do AMAZING author events all over KC all year long. We would LOVE to have you in KC and would even make up a reason to get you here! 🙂

  2. Jana says:

    Hey Anne, I think your best KC connection would be Gretchen Rubin, who is from KC and whose parents still reside there. Maybe you could do a joint event, because I believe many of your followers overlap!

    • Jessica says:

      Ditto on Rainy Day books. You can even go about 40 more miles west to Lawrence, Kansas. We have an amazing library right next to a bustling downtown. It includes Raven Bookstore which supports tons of authors and events!

  3. Shannon says:

    Thank you for your kind words about Kansas City! Spring is a beautiful time to visit and I hope you enjoy the fountains on your next visit. Autumn is lovely here, too. 🙂

  4. Jeannine says:

    Anne, I love the information about eBooks and Libraries. I was wondering if in any of your conversations, librarians have mentioned anything patrons can do to help this area? I have talked with the digital librarian/purchaser at my local library to see if they would consider upping the the hold limit which sits at 10. There are times I’m maxed out for months because the waits are long for popular books. Anyway, we exchanged multiple emails and it evolved into a longer conversation about digital books and their prices for libraries. I offered to donate digital books once I was done with them if we could make that happen (cannot it seems) I also volunteered to donate in the form of buying digital copies but that too is problematic. I would love to see the library be successful but have no other ideas how to help… Jeannine

    • Anne says:

      I don’t know the answer but I’m listening. These pricing decisions are made by publishers, who do ultimately care about reader satisfaction. I will say that since I’ve learned this I’ve been even more careful to only request books I’m going to read, to proactively cancel ebook holds if I get the book in a different format from the library or purchase it myself, and to opt for the paper version when possible (which is my preference anyway). That’s super simple stuff but it does make a difference.

      • Kristin Fields says:

        I was a librarian for five years in a very small library. Overdrive and other big companies that provide ebooks to libraries set up contracts with the libraries in our state through our State Library. This means that libraries, in our state anyway, do not negotiate with publishers individually. Overdrive, along with our State Library, sets the rules for how long a patron can check out an e-book and how many they can have on loan at one time. We as librarians can have input through our state library about this system, which we are given the opportunity to provide regularly. I wish all e-books could be purchased by Overdrive and then kept in perpetuity as PRH does it. However, they do charge an arm and a leg for new release e-books. I wish they were more library friendly.

        The libraries in our state sign a contract with Overdrive and the State Library every year and pay fees to both of these entities. In our state the fees are accessed according to the size of the community the library system serves. We paid about $400 per year. Even though these fees are fairly reasonable, they have gone up by about 2% per year in the last few years. We knew this would happen, and the State Library did a good job of increasing the fees in small increments. One thing a patron could do is give a library a donation that is earmarked to go toward these fees.

        One thing Overdrive does, I think twice a year here, is provide The Big Library Read, where one e-book is available to all library e-book patrons in the state. This has provided some fun ways to interact with patrons all across the state about one book, like a giant book club!

        • Tara says:

          I have not heard of “The Big Library Read” before. Does that happen all over the states, or is it just in your state?

          • Alissa says:

            Chiming in as a librarian who has strong feelings about ebook pricing. First, the Big Library Read happens for any Overdrive library.
            Second, Jeannie I’m surprised your library would not accept money to purchase ebook titles. I happily take donations to use to purchase ebook titles. We belong to an overdrive consortium and have what is called an advantage account as well so we can purchase copies “just” for our patrons. Digital content is a black hole I pour money into. Don’t even get me started about e-audio titles. Those are even more unreasonable cost than digital ($95 for a Little Fires Everywhere digital audio copy in overdrive) and now we are seeing more demand for digital audio.

          • Heythere says:

            The Big Library Read is fun! I’ve done it and joined in the discussions online. You can go to biglibraryread dot com to learn more. And you can usually see the latest book come up on the Overdrive or Libby app if you have those for ebooks. And if not, I highly recommend getting them. They make managing ebooks from your library so much easier.

  5. Sheila says:

    I loved your comments about vintage typewriters. My 76 year old mother has one that she bought as a young woman and I would spend hours typing on it when she wasn’t using it. It lives at my house now and my 12 year old daughter has been enjoying it for years too. There is just something about them.

  6. Janean says:

    For some reason, I tend to misread words on occasion. I’d maybe consider this a ‘problem’ that I should fix, but then I wouldn’t have the fun experience of reading your post and thinking, even for a brief moment, that there was a cheeseboard on the top on a library ceiling somewhere! 🧀🤔 I mean, cheese and books – two of my favorite things! 🤣

  7. Taylor R says:

    So glad to hear you experienced the goodness of Joes’ KC BBQ. Yum! Now I’m wishing I could have a Z-Man sandwich and fries for lunch. 🙂

      • Tracie Haddock, Guest on Episode 128, WSIRN says:

        I second the Z-Man. It’s scrumptious! And I support all of the above suggestions regarding you doing an event in Kansas City alone, or with Gretchin Rubin, or whatever! I will definitely drive the 70 miles from Topeka to meet you!

  8. Patty says:

    This list is well worth the wait! I smiled all the way through your remembrances. You have inspired me to propose a sister getaway to KC. Thanks you!

  9. Margie says:

    I realized the difference between ebooks/audiobooks and paper books a little while ago. It required a change in habits but since then we’ve been reserving and picking up more paper books and it’s now part of the routine. I prefer ebooks which are easy to reserve and download -but it’s not *that* big a deal to put more paper in the mix. I also manage my ebook hold list to make sure I don’t get a hold when I don’t have time to read it. But I wonder if decreasing ebook borrowing has any unintended consequences for library negotiations with booksellers, local budget planning, etc. I wish local libraries would be more forthcoming about all of this and widely share the issues and any tips that would help us to make the best use of library resources.

  10. Cait says:

    Thank you for sharing the article about eBooks! As a librarian, it’s so difficult to get people to understand why electronic items are so much more complicated than physical books, especially because the landscape is always changing and it frequently feels like we’re 3 steps behind the publishers. It’s in their best interest to have everyone buy each ebook individually. It’s in our best interest to buy an ebook once and make it available to multiple people. These interests are in direct contradiction to each other, which makes it a difficult balance on both parts. The publishers need to make a profit, which means charging more and putting restrictions on ebooks. We want to give patrons access to books across multiple formats but with limited budgets, which means limiting things like ebook holds to stretch the items we do have. We also need to maintain positive relationships with the publishers so we can negotiate prices and packages.

    Someone above asked what library patrons can do to help with the ebook problem. Unfortunately, I don’t have any direct answers (ebooks purchased individually have a different kind of license and are typically hosted on different software, which is why it doesn’t work to donate them to the library), but I will advise that you continue to support and advocate for your public library. Keep using the library- ebooks and print books! Don’t feel bad about using the resources available for you! Make sure your friends and neighbors and everyone else you know are using the library and vocally supporting it. Learn about ballot measures and government initiatives that can impact library funding and advocate for library funding to your elected officials. Talk about how much the shift to electronic materials has impacted library budgets and why there need to be more funding as a result. The more people are made aware of a demonstrated demand for widely available, affordable, resources, the higher the likelihood that your library will get more funding and be able to buy more ebooks. And the more awareness there is about these issues, the more publishers will be willing to work with libraries on making ebooks more readily available.

  11. Charmaine says:

    Re: the typewriters. Did you know that the QWERTY keyboard was invented to actually slow down your typing speed; this was so that the letters wouldn’t hit each other as they hammer onto the paper when using an old typewriter. The DVORAK keyboard is actually faster, but we never switched over after typewriters became obsolete.
    Fascinating stuff.

    • Peggy says:

      Your comment made me smile Charmaine; I used to cause them to hit each other when I was picking up my speed! And Anne what you said about the difficulty of typing on a manual typewriter after using a keyboard – I learned to type on a manual typewriter in my first year of typing, went to electric in my second year of typing (this was the 70’s) and when I went back and typed on a manual it felt like I had to push extra hard and it was almost painful!

  12. Amy says:

    The Salt Lake City library is amazing – incredible mixture of retail and library. The views are amazing and it has plenty of parking. Also has a bee hive (for the honey) you can watch. Really children’s area – all of it was awesome

  13. Celeste says:

    For zinnias, put it on your calendar as an annual event. I started my seeds almost a month late this year, but I did & got them planted – hopefully, they’ll just bloom a little later!
    About manual typewriters & our current soft-touch keyboards – back in the mid 90’s, I taught Pilates & took a workshop with Irene Dowd, a brilliant anatomy & kinesiology teacher. The workshop was about the shoulder girdle & someone asked her about typing. She spoke about how the posture of generations would change from using physical energy out through our hands (manual typewriters) to the posture of “withholding” our energy to lightly touch a computer keyboard. Words of wisdom!

    • Heather says:

      I figured someone else did the calendar reminders, Celeste! I use my phone calendar app primarily for those odd once a year, once in 3 months things I always forget to do like planting certain seeds or fertilizing or ordering vitamins. I usually put two alerts on those events so I don’t accidentally dismiss one and forget it for another year!

  14. Candice Hope says:

    I was in Kansas City in April as well. I was born and raised there but when I go back in the spring I am in awe of its beauty. Specifically the Red Bud trees in bloom they seem to be everywhere and are just magnificent. Kansas City, in general, is an underrated city in my opinion. So much to see and do, truly a must visit town. And Jack’s Stack in Martin City is by far the best BBQ!

  15. Sherry says:

    Thanks for saying all the nice things about KC, my home town. Let us know when you are returning for an event, b/c I’d definitely drive down to see you!

  16. Suzanne says:

    Well, I just learned that, the next time I go visit my grandparents in Missouri, I need to go to the library in St. Louis and take a trip up to Kansas City!

  17. Fiona C says:

    I see you are a fan of Veronica Mars. I have been spending the winter in LA and it is filmed close to where I’m staying. My daughter and I were able to walk through the filming several times so we may appear in a crowd scene of a party on the beach. We haven’t seen any of the big stars yet, but we’re looking forward to seeing “our beach” on the show. If any of you are going to be in LA, go to Hermosa Beach. It’s about a fifteen minute drive from LAX. It’s a lovely beach with a street full of interesting shops.

  18. Lori says:

    This was fun to read because a. I grew up in Kansas City and it’s still “home” in many ways, b. I now live halfway between Kansas City and Tulsa (and just got back from a fun weekend in Tulsa exploring the Art Deco zone AND Magic City Books), and c. St. Louis is one of my “fun weekend away” trips. So, yeah, you just tied it all up for me in one post. 😉
    I had wondered what the deal was with ebooks and the library, so now feel much better informed.

  19. That is super interesting about the pricing of ebooks. It doesn’t seem to make sense because a library owning a physical book should be the same as a library owning an eBook since only one library user can check it out. 10 ebooks should be the same at 10 physical books. Obviously there isn’t wear and tear associated with ebooks but I wonder what % of physical books actually need to be replaced due to wear and tear. Granted there are also physical books that don’t get returned so those would need to be replaced. But overall, there shouldn’t be such a huge difference in pricing between ebooks and physical books! Now I understand why there is a limit on the # of ebooks you can put on hold! I manage my hold lists for physical and ebooks like I manage my checking account. Ha. I’m always using the pause feature to make sure I don’t get too many books at the same time. I wasn’t able to pause ebooks before but now I can which has been an awesome enhancement!

  20. Nancy says:

    That was so I interesting about libraries and ebooks. I’d like to borrow more, but it seems like they’re always checked out by someone else. How can that be? Can’t we use them simultaneously? My library has several platforms and I find it very confusing. (And I live in Silicon Valley and used to work in tech. It shouldn’t be this difficult!)

    • Heather says:

      Ebooks are still physical files on a server that you download or access. Hence, they are limited to one user at a time. It is also a way, obviously, to make everyone pay more, but also means you can read books offline by downloading the files. Most libraries do own multiple copies of popular ebooks, and it is usually easy to place holds for books. You can check what systems your library uses for ebooks on their website, but most use overdrive. Try getting the overdrive or related Libby app and using that to access ebooks and magazines now, too. They are very user friendly. The reference desk librarians are also there to answer your ebook questions! They should know all the tricks for their ebook systems and are their to help!

  21. Susan V says:

    As long as we’re talking about Kindles, I wanted to inform you all how many books will fit onto a Kindle Paperwhite! We bought our first Kindle when they very first came out (2007, I think), and we have over 2000 Kindle books (the vast majority being cheap – under $3.00). We share a Kindle account with our 3 daughters, and I manage it by putting books I know they’ll like on their Kindles. Obviously, they can also go and look and see what we have.

    But the fact you might be interested in is that when my Kindle gets close to 950 books on it, my new downloads say “Insufficient space”, then I have to delete a bunch. And I do delete them as I read them. Someone in the MMD Book Club told me that even my Netgalley books can be accessed by others on my Kindle account, which is great to know, and they’re recorded on my Amazon page of my Content. So those don’t need to ALL stay on my Kindle all the time. What a dream, being able to travel with just one little device and have a whole library at my fingertips!

  22. Cathy McMann says:

    Funny about kids being fascinated by typewriters. My mom (age 84) still has and uses one. Have you seen a kid with a rotary phone? They can’t understand the logic of them at all.

  23. I love all your observations about my hometown of Kansas City. As others have said, Vivien Jennings of Rainy Day Books would be the place to start for an author event. They do dozens and dozens each year. The Kansas City Library also does a fair number of events, sometimes in conjunction with Rainy Day Books. I don’t know what all is involved in getting a book event scheduled and carried out, but if I can help in any way, I’d love to do it!

  24. Whitney says:

    Anne, I believe you already offered yourself the best advice.

    “I’ve been planting zinnia seeds since my early twenties, but somehow these past few years I’ve completely fallen out of the habit. If you have any gardening tips/tricks that might help, please share them in comments.

    8. Always set an alarm, just in case.”

    I was going to suggest you put “plant zinnias” on the calendar, but see? You already wrote that, subliminally.

  25. I happen to be visiting KC and Tulsa this summer (two separate trips) Thank you so much for the tips!

    PS. I am also coming to Louisville in Sept! I will search MMD for tips and bookstores!

  26. Marilyn says:

    Thank You for these places of interest. We learned a few things we did not know. The tulips are lovely.
    Joan,Marion and Marilyn

  27. Margie says:

    In Texas, we plant zinnias in the middle of summer to bloom through the fall. It’s too hot for them to thrive in the high heat of summer so you get less vivid colors. In Chicago, you plant them early to get blooms in the peak of summer. If you don’t grow a large variety, you may not have missed your window to plant them. It’s a four dollar gamble on a seed packet to throw some in the ground now. And did you know that Japanese Beetles are most attracted to the white and lime green ones?

  28. Ellen W says:

    I prefer to check out physical books but ebooks are a space saver for trips. Plus I’m paranoid about leaving a library book in a hotel room. It does not make sense to me that ebooks cost libraries so much more.

  29. Sue says:

    Just to say I wish I could visit KC; my grandmother was born and raised in KC, MO, and she had a really nice childhood there. She likes to tell that KC had electric streetlights before Washington DC did. I’ve always lived on the east coast, but I’d like to see my maternal “roots”.

  30. Ellen says:

    I try to plant things on a certain date each year. Example, the old polish ladies I grew up with would plant their peas on st. Joseph’s day, March 19th. It depends on your growing zone but I’d imagine you could find a spring anniversary date that would become your seed starting day.

  31. That is fascinating (and upsetting) about the library e-book pricing. I read all e-books and get lots from my library…in fact, I would never use my library if it wasn’t for e-books and audiobooks…it would be just one more errand I have to fit in to pick up and return physical books. I think publishers are wonky with their e-book pricing in general as well…Jeff O’Neal at Book Riot is always talking about the discrepancies in e-book pricing. He loves to find cases where the print trade paperback is cheaper than the e-book. As a predominantly e-book reader, this upsets me because I know it’s much cheaper to produce an e-book than a paper copy. Kind of seems like a conspiracy to force readers towards hard copy books to me 🙂

  32. Barbara says:

    Thank you for all the KC love!! It is a great town. And PLEASE do come back for your book tour!!!! Would love to see you!

  33. Sue Schmitz says:

    I love libraries too. Sometimes small towns have wonderful ones. Ponca City, OK has a Carnegie library, common in many towns and cities, but they have the Matzene Art Collection inside. This collection was donated to the library in the 1950s and includes both Oriental and Western Art.

  34. Pat Hendrickson says:

    I love libraries, and we are blessed to have a wonderful one in Salisbury, Md. I loved getting audiobooks from their extensive collection to listen to in my car and I loved perusing the shelves. Alas, I bought a new car, and there is no CD player. I am stuck with ebooks; I hate it. To think that the library is forced to pay so much for these ebooks makes me even madder! I miss my audio books.

  35. Mary Jane McNeill says:

    Regarding #9: I have the app “Picture This” on my phone. It identifies plants by a photo you take with your phone camera. It has helped me MANY times identify a plant that I had no clue its name.

  36. Deborah G Ball says:

    As a grandmother in full time care of the littles while school is out, this ongoing blog and conversation is saving my life! A shout out to Anne for recommending the chance to hear Patti Callahan Henry (you called her liquid sunshine) at my local library this week! I am so enriched by these articulate ladies on this web site!

  37. Jennice says:

    I didn’t know it was so costly to offer e books at the library. All your talk about planting is making me want to start up a little garden of my own. My neighbor used to plant love morning glory flowers every year. She just moved a few weeks ago and I think maybe I’ll take over where she left off. Hmm…i think I just learned that I miss my neighbor. She was a quiet and kind woman with two supportive sons. She stopped planting a year ago after the death of her husband of 40 years. I think her moving away is a fresh start for her to find herself and a way for me to fill the void of missing her. Wow, this was very therapeutic. Thanks, Anne!

  38. Dawn says:

    So glad you enjoyed Kansas City. I have lived here since 1983 and a lot of people still think it’s like The Wizard of Oz.

  39. Yikes! I had NO IDEA about the issue with ebooks for libraries! Thank you for bringing it to my/our attention – maybe readers should collectively organise to put pressure on publishers to re-think the model? Librarians do so much to support us and our reading communities, surely we can do something to support them.

    And I’m so excited/nervous about the Veronica Mars return – I loved the original series, the movie was okay… here’s hoping the re-boot brings back the magic! 🤞

  40. Kristie says:

    I was somewhat aware of the ebook pricing issue; my county library system stopped offering Overdrive some time ago now, and others in my area also did or never had it. Fortunately for me, I’m able to register my card with other a couple of other systems in my area that allow me to use Overdrive. (I need to stop at one of them soon because apparently they require me to renew every two years and I can’t get my Overdrive loans right now. I’ll make sure to put it on my future calendar items to make sure it doesn’t lapse in 2021!)

    Veronica Mars! I loved that show so much I was a Kickstarter for the movie, which I haven’t actually seen yet. I really wanted to rewatch the series first, and just haven’t fit it into my schedule. I’m determined to get it done before it returns on Hulu!

  41. Kara says:

    I’m so glad you had a lovely time in KC! It’s grown up a lot in the time I’ve lived here, and all the places and experiences you mentioned are personal favorites, too. It would be great to have you for an author event with Rainy Day Books. Even better if Gretchen Rubin did it with you. The Plaza library also has a great event space for a speaking engagement. Our Daily Nada has a more intimate space for a meeting, too. Come back for the Plaza Art Fair!

  42. Melody Littlefield says:

    I grew up in KC and now live in Pittsburgh, PA so this was so great to read! If you want another fun bookstore that hasn’t been mentioned, visit the children’s bookstore Reading Reptile in Brookside. It is charming, and the area is so great! This is where my husband and I lived and we miss it so much. Just a few doors down is a local art store called Stuff. There are tons of cute shops to visit with kids, the dime store, etc. This is one of the original suburbs of KC. Loved walking to reading reptile with our son about 10 yrs ago. It’s a 15 min drive or so *max* from Rainy Day Books. Happy travels!

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