A children's bookstore called Turtle Books will open next month in Brookline, Mass., Brookline News reported. Owners Bruce and Cathy Jacobs, Brookline residents who are both recently retired, have found a space at 44 Washington St. and plan to host a soft opening in October. The shop will carry books for children and teens and will host book clubs and storytime sessions.
The store will reside in Brookline Village, a neighborhood that was home to a children's bookstore called the Children's Bookshop for nearly 40 years. Bruce and Cathy Jacobs told Brookline News that they hope to foster a love of reading in local children and families and to fill the hole left in the community by the closure of the Children's Bookshop in 2022.
The Jacobses have backgrounds in engineering and social work, respectively, and are new to bookselling. They've created two advisory boards to help guide them: one made up of children between the ages of 8 and 14, and the other made up of local librarians, teachers, and other residents. On that board is Terri Schmitz, the former owner of the Children's Bookshop.
"I really think the community needs this," Schmitz told Brookline News. "I was sorry I wasn't able to continue doing it, but I think the time is right for them to try it again."