Pour one out for the oldest children’s bookstore in Boston.

Literature
Dan Sheehan

April 18, 2022, 12:28pm

Some sad news coming out of the Boston area today: the Children’s Book Shop in Brookline Village, Mass., will close its doors after 45 years.

As reported by Publishers Weekly earlier this morning:

Despite a successful GoFundMe campaign that raised more than $30,000 at the start of the pandemic, the lack of foot traffic and the inability to switch to online bookselling in a meaningful way forced the closure of the 900 sq. ft. store, the area’s oldest independent children’s bookstore.

The tiny neighborhood bookstore was founded in 1977 by Elizabeth “Rusty” True Browder and purchased by former librarian Terri Schmitz in 1985. Under Schmitz’s tenure, the Children’s Book Shop received the Women’s National Book Association Pannell Award in 2000 for best children’s bookstore, as well as a Best of Boston Award from Boston Magazine in 2002 for Best Children’s Bookstore. For 25 years Schmitz also ran an annual spring poetry contest for children in grades K–8.

Schmitz will be holding an inventory sale this week and has asked that anyone who would like to share messages or memories of the Children’s Book Shop contact her via email.

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