Friday Night Story Time : Bookstar’s Pajamarama Club is for kids from ages 2 to 8. It offers families an alternative to ritual of takeout and videos.

An evening car ride in flannel pajamas, a walk across a parking lot in magic slippers and a good book with lots of pictures. These are the things memories are made of for children from 2 to 8 who attend Friday night story readings at Bookstar.

Begun in January, the Pajamarama Club offers San Fernando Valley families an alternative to the Friday night ritual of takeout and renting videos. The club brings some small-town warmth and familiarity that’s often hard to find in the suburban jungle.

On a recent Friday, West Hills author Illana Katz, who writes books about children with special challenges, read “Joey and Sam” (Real Life Storybooks, 1993), a book she wrote about autism with Dr. Edward Ritvo for 4- to 8-year-olds. It was somewhat more serious than the usual fare, so a few of the Pajamaramers fidgeted, scratched or applied Barbie lipstick before settling down. A short question-and-answer session followed the reading.

Some evenings, the theme centers around a holiday or an observance such as Black History Month, while others are more loosely structured.

“With the younger ones, talking about things like Women’s History Month has to be very subtle or they might not fully understand,” said Robyn Longmire, Bookstar’s community relations director. “But I try and reinforce what’s going on in the schools and what’s being taught at home, too. We did a segment once on exercise, and another time I explained to them how the voice works while reading a book about the subject. I had them doing voice exercises with their fingers on their throats. The parents were doing it too.”

The idea for the club popped up during a brainstorming session among store employees, Longmire says. A onetime pajama party at a Bookstar in another state inspired her to make it a weekly get-together.

Local children’s authors who have gotten wind of the meetings eye them as an opportunity to share and promote their books.

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Elizabeth King of Van Nuys, a film editor who segued into children’s books when she needed a story to go along with her pumpkin photographs, says the exposure to reading and storytelling is essential. She will read “The Pumpkin Patch” (Dutton Children’s Books, 1990), which features photos taken at pumpkin farms in the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, at tonight’s gathering.

“You get a feel for what works and what doesn’t, and you definitely don’t want to lose touch with your audience,” King said. “As my own kids have gotten older, they’re 10 and 8, it really helps, since my books are for ages 4 to 8.”

Friendships have formed among children and parents, too. You can’t see someone in their troll or gold Aladdin slippers each week without forming some kind of kinship.

“I’ve seen some of the parents gathering together and exchanging names and numbers and talk about baby-sitters, where to get kids’ clothes or what they’re reading in school,” Longmire said.

West Hills residents Chris and Terry Hawley and their daughter, Nikki, 5, have been attending the Pajamarama Club nearly every Friday since summer and encouraged Agoura Hills friends Hal and Robin Hellerman and daughter Jamie, also 5, to show up. The parents talk quietly, browse among the books and occasionally take a turn reading to the children.

“Afterward, we go out for coffee and hot chocolate and, by then, the kids have had a full evening and are asleep by the time we get home,” Chris Hawley said.

And what is the Pajamarama Club keeping them from? “Eating pizza and passing out,” Robin Hellerman said. “Reading to our kids helps cut down on TV watching,” added her husband, who does voice-overs as a hobby and sometimes entertains the Pajamarama Club by reading in various character voices.

Longmire also has holiday activities planned for the families, including recipe exchanges and caroling. After the recent fires, she held a canned food drive for victims and discussed it with the children. Longmire also welcomes suggestions.

“The kids let me know if a story I’ve selected is too long. I love that. It’s so useful to me because I forget how long your attention span is at that age. They also say the meetings are too short.”

Where and When What: Author Elizabeth King will read “The Pumpkin Patch” at the Pajamarama Club’s pre-Thanksgiving celebration. Location: Bookstar, 21440 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills. Hours: 7 tonight. Price: Free. Call: (818) 702-9515.