Writer Jenny Milchman used to take her children to bookstores every week and loved how her kids were drawn into the magical world of reading. She also saw how bookstores served communities. She valued the experience so much she began to wonder if other children had that opportunity, and decided to do something to bring awareness to bookstores so that young readers in the future would still get to have that magical experience that meant so much to Jenny and her own children.

So she set up a website and started getting the word out. Now people all over the world are participating in Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day. Grab your kids and head on out to, let’s face it, one of the best places on earth you can take your family: a cozy, inviting shop full of worlds and wonders. There is more life, knowledge, adventure, richness, and entertainment contained per square inch in a bookstore than there is in any other kind of retail establishment. Well, that’s our belief, at any rate. And it’s Jenny Milchman’s, too.

“Bookstores hold a place in the hearts and times of our community. They are places to discover an author, a story, a life. Nothing affords the conversation and interaction among books and book lovers that a bookstore does. In the future, whether you download your story or pluck a volume off a shelf, a bookstore will be able to accommodate. But in order for bookstores to flourish and thrive, we must expose future generations to the unique pleasures they offer. On December 1st, 2012, take the child in your life to a bookstore. Watch his face light up as you give him free access, not just to a new book, but to tomorrow.” —Jenny Milchman

Visit the Take Your Child to a Bookstore website, share their buttons and banners on Facebook or your website, and encourage friends and family who may not be as familiar with the joys of bookstores to get out there with the kids!

P.S. If you’ve got a child who doesn’t like reading and looks at a trip to the bookstore like you’re handing him a bucket and a mop to clean the bathroom, make sure you head to a shop where the staffers understand that even so-called reluctant readers just need help finding the right book at the right time.

P.P.S. If you can’t make it on December 1, we won’t kick you out on December 2. Any day can be Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day! But how delightful that Ms. Milchman has dedicated a special day to us. We thank her — and her children.