KIDS AREA

Changing Hands is committed to a helping young readers to grow at home and in school. We've made our Kids' area a fun and exciting place. A wall mural of elephants on the Serenghetti Plain creates a magical atmosphere as do totem poles with symbols from many cultures, giant leaves, original art from favorite picture book artists and stools and a rocking chair for kids to sit back for a cozy reading experience.

The books we have are hand-selected titles representing authors and illustrators who our experienced children's book buyer, Brandi Stewart, knows to be the cream of the crop. Her current recommendations for the younger reader are Bears on Chairs by Shirley Parenteau, We Are In a Book! by Mo Willems, and Pink Me Up by Charise Mericle Harper -- a great gift for a daughter to give Dad on Father's Day. For the middle grade readers she suggests Beyonders: A World Without Heroes by Brandon Mull, The Search for WondLa by Tony DiTerlizzi and The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson. For teens: The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen, Eona by Alison Goodman and Invasion by Jon S. Lewis. Brandi spends lots of time in the children's & teen sectios and can help you with your selections.

BRANDI'S PICKS FOR TOTS TO TEENS

We also have some wonderful programs for children. Every Saturday we have different themed story events just for kids: Costume Story Time (including Curious George, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Winnie the Pooh and more), and Animal Tails with the Phoenix Zoo. For tweens we have Club Read — a book club award program designed just for them. Kids will read great books, meet authors and earn chances to win fabulous prizes. In the summer we have great writing and art workshops taught by local authors, illustrators and other crafty pros.

Schools can take advantage of our Books For Schools Program which allows parents and teachers to purchase books throughout the year and credit 15% of the purchases to their school. Read more about this program in our "Educators" section. We also offer an educators' discount because we know they buy books for their students out of pocket. Each year we have a Teachers Appreciation Celebration in the fall. This is our opportunity to share new books, ideas and "freebies" from our publishers and send the teachers home with great ideas.

If you wish to sign up for our free newsletter, you'll receive our monthly Kids event calendar, a schedule of author visits and fun activites for families with kids of all ages.