More small animals-a ferret, cockatiel, doves, chinchillas-dwell inside enclosures set against the back and side walls, as well as along the exterior of the “Haunted Shed,” a small shed in the back area housing the store’s inventory of children’s mysteries and thrillers and a couple of caged rats. ![]() A tarantula lives in an enclosure near the cash register. Three cats and a chicken roam about freely. “The idea is that books open up the world,” says Collette Morgan, the store’s cofounder and head buyer.Ī menagerie of more than a dozen animals plus fish in an aquarium live in the store. Plants creep up the brick back wall and along the large windows. ![]() After one passes the sales counter in the solar-powered space, however, the plaster on the 18-foot ceiling splits open to reveal a mural that resembles a body of water (or, some say, the sky), complete with a birchbark canoe. As one enters the 2,000-square-foot retail space-either through the standard-sized door or a child-sized purple door-there are shelves of books and table displays, much like any other bookstore. It’s not surprising that visitors would compare Wild Rumpus to a storybook come to life: its layout was inspired by Anne Mazer’s Salamander Room, a tale about a boy whose bedroom gradually transforms into the outdoors. Kate DiCamillo describes a visit to Wild Rumpus as “like walking into a story” and entering “a world of animals and books and possibilities.” Soman Chainani calls Wild Rumpus his favorite bookstore, declaring, “It’s an entire universe: once you go in, you feel like you are walking through a portal into Narnia.” Authors are even more effusive in praising Wild Rumpus. PW’s 2015 Rep of the Year, Jenny Sheridan of HarperCollins, nominated Wild Rumpus, describing it as a “unique, charming, and magical place that specializes in children’s books” and is “one of the best in the nation,” a destination in its community and a favorite stop for authors on tour. It is also the first bookstore of the year to have a municipal pet store license, undergo animal control inspections, and have an employee dedicated to animal care. ![]() It is the first children’s bookstore to win the award since PW launched the program almost a quarter-century ago. Wild Rumpus, which is marking its 25th anniversary in September, has yet another cause for celebration: the Minneapolis bookstore is PW’s Bookstore of the Year.
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