The Calico Cat Book & Gift Shoppe

If you only look at the merchandise just inside the store at this shop, you might conclude it’s a generic and cheesy gift store, like any Hallmark gift store around. But if you wade past the kitschy Christmas tree ornaments and decorative mugs, you’ll find a fantastic selection of books for children and adolescents in the back.
I had heard that they had a good selection of books for kids, and since I have three nieces who have birthdays coming up soon, I had to check it out. They have a really nice selection for everything from babies to junior high level reading.
They had some classics that sent me back to my own childhood, like the «Little Bear» books (by Else Holmelund Minarik with adorable illustrations by Maurice Sendak). They also had cool and unusual sticker books and coloring books, and a variety of artsy-​crafty kits and science kits.