![]() The rats join a wide range of animals, including chinchillas that occasionally run around in exercise balls, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, a hairy-looking black chicken called a Bantam Japanese Silky. ![]() They built a “haunted shed” to shelve the scary books, making a home for rats visible underfoot. As customers move through the store, the ceiling appears to crack apart to reveal the sky. previously operated as a yarn shop and Tony’s Super Hair.ĭesign inspiration came from the book “The Salamander Room” by Ann Mazer, in which a boy’s bedroom gradually transforms into the outdoors. “That’s the kind of mind we want to be working with,” Morgan said. Instead they hired the creator of a backyard tree house they adored - the kids could climb to the tree house from their bedroom window. They thought hard about the bookstore design, even interviewing the architect behind the Lake Harriet Bandshell. “We’d make it something superstores can’t really emulate. At the time, she figured she’d either open a store or “have the world’s largest garage sale of books.”Īs major bookstores flourished, Morgan remembers people questioning why they wanted to open another one. Morgan bought inventory from her employer Odegard Books, which folded during the boom in large bookstores like Barnes & Noble. The bookstore didn’t necessarily feel like a sure bet when it opened in 1992. “From the onset of this whole adventure, it’s just been a breathtaking, amazing experience for all of us,” Braun said. The booksellers traveled to Chicago May 9 to accept the Women’s National Book Association award for best children’s bookstore. Collette Morgan and Tom Braun, founders of Wild Rumpus Books. “Just to feel those good vibrations and hear the happiness,” he said. ![]() ![]() (He lives upstairs.) Braun chats with customers and hands out his business card, each of which includes a 10 percent discount. ![]() Whenever Braun is feeling dark about the challenges, he said he heads down to the shop. He’s learning to live with symptoms he watched his father endure. It’s likely no surprise to locals that Wild Rumpus has received a national award for best children’s bookstore, with its child-size doorway, wandering chickens, bathroom aquarium and friendly cats.īut staff put extra work into the nomination this year, and co-founder Collette Morgan said the award couldn’t come at a better time.Ĭo-founder Tom Braun was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s two years ago. ![]()
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