We are pleased to present a regular monthly series highlighting the work, expertise and enthusiasm of some of the greatest children's booksellers of New Zealand. Here's the multi-award-winning Time Out Bookstore in Mt Eden Village, Auckland.
'It's not hoarding if it's books!' The Time Out shop front
Situated in the heart of Mt Eden Village, Time Out is a bookshop that is a community hub and haven for bibliophiles. It's a tiny shop, but has a wonderful kid’s room curated to the ceiling with classics, new releases and a selection of titles you won’t find anywhere else.
Time Out was opened in 1988 and since then has been run by three smart, independent women. It is currently owned by Wendy Tighe-Umbers and managed by Jenna Todd. Wendy bought the store 15 years ago, and Sapling editor Jane Arthur was the first person she hired. Time Out is famous for its late night hours: it's open seven days a week from 9am to 9pm, along with their online store where you can shop all day, every day.
What are you recommending this month?
Our largest growth area right now, continuing a long trend, is our Confident Readers section: challenging stories, but with appropriate content for age six and up smartypants!
Early Reader: Our go-to favourites include Shannon Hale's The Princess in Black series (Candlewick); Julian Gough's Rabbit and Bear series (Hachette); Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman (Bloomsbury); as well as the Marge in Charge series by Isla Fisher (Piccadilly).
Chapter Books: Max and the Millions by Ross Montgomery (Faber); and The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone by Jaclyn Moriarty (Allen & Unwin).
Confident/Middle-grade: How to Bee by Bren MacDibble (Allen & Unwin); York: The Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby (HarperCollins); and Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend (Hachette).
Young Adult: Munmun by Jesse Andrews (Allen & Unwin); Scythe and Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman (Walker). Good dystopia is still going strong!
Picture Books: Can I Build Another Me? by Shinsuke Yoshitake (Thames & Hudson); The Old Man by Sarah V. DuBois (Gecko).
What new releases are you looking forward to over the next few months?
New YA series Jane Doe and the Cradle of Worlds by Jeremy Lachlan (Hardie Grant); The Anger of Angels by Sherryl Jordan (Walker); and the next Nevermoor book, Wundersmith: Morrigan Crow #2.
Share a nice story you have about matching a book to a customer/reader!
We have a few! Like the wee five-year-old we recommended the Mo WIllems Elephant and Piggie books to, who has taken off running with his reading. And the group of ten-year-olds who come in every holidays, waiting anxiously for the second Nevermoor book. (The author is signing books in the shop in the photo below.)
What do you wish publishers would publish?
Our greatest wish is for a publisher who can work in conjunction with other publishers to take their bestselling books in each children’s age range and make them dyslexia-friendly. Most dyslexia-friendly books are fabulous, but children want to be reading the same things as their friends, and to have access to the most popular titles. It could even be e-books, really.
Time Out Bookstore
432 Mt Eden Road
Mt Eden Village
Auckland
Tel: (09) 630 3331