Bookshop of the Month - The Children's Bookshop (Lindley, Huddersfield)

 

Bookshop of the Month (January)

The Children's Bookshop (Lindley, Huddersfield)

Interviewee: Nicola Lee (Owner)

Can you tell us more about The Children's Bookshop?

The Children’s Bookshop recently moved property (just down the road) so we have a lovely bright colourful space full of books for children of all ages. We also sell some games and toys.

Our aim is to provide the best quality books for children and young people in a safe and fun environment, and encourage children to read for pleasure. We consider ourselves a welcoming space for all people and wish to be a friendly presence in Lindley. 

We organise author events in schools, and in-house events and activities; we host pre-schools for story sessions and school children who have earned a reward or are choosing books for their school; we do half-termly book bonanzas for schools; we supply books to schools for libraries and reading corners; we do bookstalls at reading/teaching conferences. If we can encourage children to read for pleasure, we will.

What, for you, is so special about children's books? 

Children’s books open up the world of possibility; they entertain and inspire; they teach children about the world they live in and how to live in it; they nurture and nourish our children and help them to be themselves. They are blooming brilliant.

What does a typical work day look like for you, and what is the most rewarding part of your job? 

The most rewarding part of my job is matching books with children. I love it when children come in not knowing what they want to read (if anything) and go out with a book they are excited about. Even better when they return wanting the sequel. Talking to children and engaging them with books makes me very happy. I also love ordering brand-new books (although not going too overboard is tricky) and reading newly published books. I love taking authors into schools, leading reading assemblies, and anything that involves dressing up.

Things I like less are all the admin jobs associated with running a bookshop – paying invoices, reading through emails; cleaning; days when we get hardly any customers; books that no one seems to want to buy and sit on the shelf for ages; parents who tell children what they should be reading.

Owner Nicola Lee insider the Children's Bookshop in Lindley

Do you have any recommendations for books created by Northern children's authors and illustrators?

The first Northern writers who spring to mind are Phil Earle, Tom Palmer and Liz Flanagan. All these authors have been very supportive of the Children’s Bookshop over many years and their writing is excellent. My favourites from these are When the Sky Falls (Phil), Resist (Tom); and Dragon’s Daughter (Liz). I also love Frank Cottrell Boyce’s writing. I read his books with my own children, and whilst they enjoyed Millions, I loved Framed. His gentle sense of humour and wit flows through his books. (Check out "The Island of Brilliant!” podcast if you want to see what I mean). The latest book I have read is poet Matt Goodfellow’s The Final Year, a very moving book set on a Northern council estate. I also want to give a shout out to illustrator Chris Mould whose illustrated version of The Iron Man is hugely popular in our bookshop, but has also illustrated a wide variety of excellent books by many different authors. Finally, M.G Leonard’s excellent Twitch series is set in Yorkshire, not far from us. I immediately connected with it once I knew where the story was based.

At the Children’s Bookshop we have good working relationships with local authors; they help to promote us, as we do them. Beyond that, we stock good quality literature from authors everywhere. In fact, I was trying to think of who else might be “northern” and didn‘t actually know where many come from, I’m not sure it really matters. What does matter is that we have books written and set in many different places. “The North” is a big place, so books set in Yorkshire may not necessarily resonate with a child in Teeside or Lancaster. We need books that incorporate local dialects and specific customs. All children need a “way in” to reading and for some that needs to be something they can relate to because they are familiar with it, whether that be place, language, family situation, or culture. We don’t need to worry whether everyone can understand all the language or cultural references; we can all get overall meaning from a book even when we don’t understand specific words; we can all use pictures to infer meaning; most have Google to look up references we don’t understand!

What would you like to see from creative industries in the North?   

We need to actively support authors and illustrators from underrepresented places to tell their stories.

In the meantime, I will do my best to promote and stock books that have as wide a representation as is possible.

The Children's Bookshop's Book of the Month:

Phil Earle's Northern Soul

Published by Barrington Stoke, January 2024

Phil Earle is a big favourite of ours in the Children’s Bookshop. He is a lovely bloke who writes great stories and supports us, and he's happy with a bag of Frazzles for payment! 

His new book with Barrington Stoke is Northern Soul.  A daft, funny and heart warming story about first “luuuurve”, with agony aunt advice provided by the King of Soul, Otis Redding. 

This is a short, entertaining read and published with reluctant readers in mind. It would be excellent for any 12+.

You can find The Children's Bookshop (Lindley, Huddersfield) on:

Website: https://www.childrensbookshuddersfield.co.uk/

Facebook: ChildrensBookshopHuddersfield

Twitter: @Lindley_Books

Instagram: @Lindley_Books