A children's floor with a window seat, storytime for under-fives every Thursday at half past ten, free, and school visits
Children and storytime
Upstairs is for children: picture books, first readers, middle-grade, a window seat with cushions that is the best spot in the building, and a wall of young adult. Storytime for under-fives is every Thursday at half past ten, free, with a book and a song; we host school visits, run a summer reading challenge, and know which book will get a reluctant nine-year-old reading.
The best thing we sell is the first book a child chooses for themselves, and the children's floor is laid out for that: low shelves, face-out covers, a rug, a window seat, and a bookseller who will ask what they liked last and find the next one. Storytime fills the floor with under-fives every Thursday morning and has done for nine years.
Thursday storytime is half past ten, free, no booking: Ceridwen or Ffion reads two picture books, there is a song that parents pretend not to know, and the children choose a book to take home if they like, with no pressure to buy. School classes visit on weekday mornings, free, for a tour, a reading and a browse with a budget from the school or the PTA, and we take authors into Penarth and Vale schools from £120 a visit, which the author's book sales usually cover.
The summer reading challenge runs from the start of the holidays: read six books, tell us about them (a sentence each, or a drawing), and choose a free book from the prize shelf. The young adult wall is curated by Rhodri with the teen book club, and the picture-book shelf by Ffion, who taught Year 1 for a decade and knows what a five-year-old will sit still for.
What is included
- A children's floor with a window seat and a rug
- Storytime for under-fives every Thursday at 10:30, free
- School visits free; authors into schools from £120
- The summer reading challenge with a free book at six
- Young adult chosen with the teen club
- Booksellers who ask what they liked last
What it costs
Storytime free, no booking, Thursday 10:30. School visits free for Penarth and Vale schools; author visits to schools from £120. The summer reading challenge free with a prize for six books. The staff picks shelf says what we are reading this month; the order page gets you any book in print by the next working day.
Questions about children
Is storytime for babies too?
Yes, from whenever they will sit on a lap. The under-fives rule is about the books, not a ticket.
My ten-year-old says reading is boring.
Bring them in and let Rhodri have ten minutes. It usually ends with a graphic novel and a changed mind.
Any book in print, by tomorrow. Tell us the title.
Title, author or ISBN on the order page, at the counter, by phone or by email: we order it this afternoon, text you when it is in and hold it a fortnight. Nothing to pay until you collect; posted anywhere in Britain for £2.95, free over £25.