Barnes & Noble bha-baa

From our place in San Ramon it is nearly half-hour drive to B & N Story time, which doesn’t last half this time. But it is a bba-baa (outing) Nikhil & Siddarth wouldn’t miss. In fact, any outing is fun for them. And the Thursday Story Time at the Dublin Barnes & Noble has come to be a fixture in their calendar.
It is not as if our young friends find the stories engaging, though the story-teller does her narrative best, in a bid to bring alive the animals in the book by making appropriate noises – vvooo, wow-wow, wachk-wachk or whatever noises the ducks and dogs in story-books make.

Our story-teller sounded more excited than her toddler-audience. Nikhil (nearly nine months)in stroller couldn’t get the hang of the story, which had to do with a couple birdies building their nest over the head of an elephant. Siddarth didn’t care. If he hung on to his bench without stirring for the full 15 minutes of the story-time, it was, presumably, because the grandma by his side had a firm hold on Siddarth’s hand.

The best thing about the proceedings was the cookies handed out to the kids that marked the end of story-time. Following which the kids make a beeline to the play area to fool around with the toy-train.
When it gets a bit crowded around the toy train we persuade our young friends to have a dekho at the pictures in a book. After all, we were at a book-store.


Siddarth, with a mind of his own, picks up from the shelf any book he fancies, and asks you to read it out for him. Some play music at the press of a tab on the book.


Next stop before exit is the Starbucks corner of the store for cookie. And we usually end up buying a book or two. With such kids-friendly trappings Barnes & Noble could make you feel guilty, if you leave the store without buying a book.

This photo is from an earlier post - Story time at Barnes & Noble