Language Lessons for Little Ones

I love San Francisco. I can't wait until my son is old enough to really enjoy visiting new places and experiencing the city. There's so much to see and do there but for families who live in, or near the city, there is a wonderful opportunity to have your children learn a foreign language at a very early age. Language at Play offers courses in Mandarin, Chinese, Spanish or French.

For those of us who live outside of this beautiful Northern California city, there's always the Lingolook Flashcards.

Oh, and in case you haven't already been to the site, I highly recommend that you visit the San Francisco Musem of Modern Art online to get a glimpse of what the museum has to offer. Their gift shop (and print catalog) are filled with amazingly beautiful products (and books) designed by fantabulous artists. I can't wait to get my hands on the next catalog when it comes in the mail.

The Three Cs

I'm not all that old, nor all that worldly, I admit, but I can honestly say that in my travel experience, I've found Northern California to be the place to be when it comes to culture, class and community. That's right, the Three Cs can all be found in such cities such as Santa Cruz and San Francisco.

Hut Landon, director of the NCIBA, writes a lovely commentary in this week's Publishers Weekly Soapbox (In It Together, December 3, 2007: page 76). He boasts about the wonderful independent bookstore community in Northern California which includes Bookshop Santa Cruz, Green Apple Books, Book Passage, City Lights, Cover to Cover, Stacey's, A Great Good Place for Books, Cody's, Hicklebee's, and Kepler's (to name a few).

Landon points out that in this part of the state, "there are more than 150 independent bookstores within a 100-mile radius." Wow, do I wish I lived in the center of that circle. Another interesting fact, also pointed out in this week's Publishers Weekly by Oscar Villalon (The Book Reigns in Northern California, December 3, 2007: page 27) is that Northern Californians "spend more money per capita on books out here than anywhere in the U.S."

I have not visited all of the bookstores that I mentioned above, but from those that I have seen the interiors of first-hand I can say this: no two are exactly alike. Isn't that what being independent is all about?

These business owners and outside-the-box booksellers know what it takes to survive, and thrive, to keep the new generation of online, superstore-shoppers coming back again and again.

And, in case you're wondering what wonderful books all of these stores will be carrying this holiday season, their 2007 Holiday Catalog is available on line.