The Experience: Visiting Powell’s City of Books, the downtown flagship store of the Portland-based company, is pure magic for any book lover. I find the smell of both the old and new volumes intoxicating; and I feel an immediate kinship with the hundreds of other bibliophiles present in the store on any given day. If you start bringing your kids when they’re young, they too may come to count Powell’s as one of their favorite destinations in Portland.

Parents with kids in tow should head straight for the children’s section (located in the Rose Room on the ground floor, closer to the Couch Street entrance than the Burnside entrance), where youngsters of all ages will find a treasure trove of fine literature. The carpeted area with tables and chairs is the perfect place to sit and read with toddlers and preschoolers. As kids get older, they’ll want to peruse the shelves on their own. Just make sure they follow proper etiquette – put books they don’t intend to buy back on the shelves where they found them, treat the books gently – and set up a place to meet, because the children’s section alone can be overwhelming.

From Brown Bear, Brown Bear to Richard Scarry, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Wind in the Willows, Charlotte’s Web and all of the other required authors and stories of childhood, you and your kids will discover it here – often in used editions, so you can build your home library that much more quickly.

When my kids were younger, I sometimes found it frustrating to go to my favorite bookstore and not be able to look at books for myself. But, as with so many other duties of parenthood, I am finally able to reap the rewards of my investment. At least once a month, my 12-year-old daughter begs me to take her and her best friend to Powell’s. I leave them in the Rose Room and wander the fiction aisles for a while, then settle in the cafe with a book and a cup of coffee for an hour or so. Ah, motherhood.

Insider information: You can sell the books your kids have outgrown back to Powell’s, choosing to receive either cash or store credit for the amount the book buyer determines they are worth. My daughter has taken to trading in books on a regular basis – always opting for store credit so she can keep feeding her reading habit. (Of course we love the public library as well, but that’s a different story…)

The 411
Ages: All ages.
Hours: Open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day.
Cost: Free to browse. As always with kids, make it clear before you enter the store whether you’ll be buying anything.
Location: 1005 West Burnside, with a second entrance on the corner of 11th and Couch. Powell’s has four other locations throughout the metro area.
Contact information: 503-228-4651, www.powells.com.

August 31st, 2010 | Category: Family Fun Home, Family Fun Reviews