Shop Story Hours Bring Happy Endings

It had been a busy morning, so nearly 60 children were taking an ice cream break.

With arms circled above their heads, they were pretending to be melting ice cream cones that would end in a puddle that a little kitty would lick up later. Then they sat down and listened to another story.

This is hot stuff for this group of serious consumers whose weekly allowances, bolstered by mom and dad’s spending power, have sent adults in the publishing and bookselling industries in search of the child within themselves.

In a scene repeated regularly in bookstores all around the country, children gather to listen to the likes of “The Cat in the Hat,” “Curious George,” and “Berenstain Bears Forget Their Manners.”

The tried-and-true story hour is just one device that book retailers are using to get children and their parents into their stores. And from the looks of the storytelling one recent Saturday at Children’s Book & Music Center in Santa Monica, it works pretty well.

“You’re very lucky you’re here instead of home watching TV,” storyteller Connie Cazort told the assembled mass of wiggling children. “You know why? Because right now you’re learning, and you don’t even know it.”

Laurie Sale, co-owner of the store, said a big crowd always comes to the bimonthly storytelling, singing, stretching and just generally pretending sessions that are led by Cazort, who spends her off hours teaching and telling stories at children’s parties.

Retailers say story time has become as common as Mother Goose at children’s bookstores. The gatherings are so popular that some booksellers even charge a small admission fee and many set a minimum age of 2 or 3 to draw children whose sitting-still tolerance is slightly better than a nanosecond.

And as in the adult book world, book signings by authors and illustrators are frequent events.

Some other techniques:

- Children write reviews of their favorite books for the newsletter at Happily Ever After, located in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles. The store has an annual Halloween party complete with ghost stories, hot chocolate and a bonfire.

- Puppets have been featured at a storytelling and a concert this summer at Children’s Book World in West Los Angeles.

- Imagine That!, a children’s bookstore in Riverside, sponsors small concerts during the summer, owner Karen Rosenberg said. “They’re not big-time concerts, like Raffi”--the youngest generation’s Bruce Springsteen. “It’s sort of folksy and hometown,” said Rosenberg, who is president of the Southern California Children’s Booksellers Assn.

The local association has been promoting reading this year by distributing a bookmark with a $1 discount coupon that can be used at any of the group’s 35 member stores. For each coupon redeemed, 25 cents is donated to Southern California libraries. Among other services, the association maintains a list of children’s authors who are willing to visit schools.

Toad Hall, a children’s bookstore in Austin, Tex., was given a booksellers award in 1985 for its innovative weeklong writing workshop for children. The store now runs about 20 classes each summer.

Owners Anne Bustard and Barbara Thomas also have used costumed characters from books, which are supplied by publishers, for storytellings and other in-store appearances. The characters are a hit with the children, but filling the costumes with people can present problems.

“The Berenstain Bears have come and they’re real small, so we had to find someone under five feet,” Bustard said. “And Lyle Lyle the Crocodile is over six feet, so we had to find someone for that.”

With the phenomenal growth in the children’s book business, “most of us don’t seem to have too many problems getting people into the stores,” said Betty Takeuchi, owner of San Marino Toy & Book Shoppe and president of the national Assn. of Booksellers for Children. “Our main problem is keeping books on the shelf and staying ahead of the ordering.”

Back at Children’s Book & Music Center, 3-year-old Amber James said she liked the singing best at Saturday’s doings.

But the stories weren’t lost on her. “This one,” she directed her mother, Gwen, handing her a pint-sized version of “The Owl and the Pussycat” to buy.