A book.

This was inspired by our Literary Exploration of Birch Bark Book Store in Minneapolis (as a part of our course of Creative Writing). 

Ok, finally, we found a reader, grabbed his arm and made him follow our steps to the world of books. And here we are, in the gloomy maze of mysterious universe of words and phrases. One may see only paper and inks around, but a book is much more than just rustling pages. A book is a whole world with its pictures, its music, its smells, its flavors, its feelings, its emotions. That’s why a true bookstore looks like a magician’s home, like a wonderland that you enter with awe.

Already at the entrance you feel that this place is very different from all other places in world. Relaxing music envelops you with its soft charm and peace; it makes you immerse into your feeling and thoughts. A nice smell of herbs and nature makes you to forget about your life outside these walls, so that you look for your book with your mind cleared, your heart opened and your senses intense. There are trees everywhere around and every tree keeps a lot of secrets and hidden treasures. So does a book. 

You have a lot of choices how to explore this wonderland: you can start from just looking and absorb the colors of dozens of covers on the shelves; you can continue with reading poems on the walls; you can take a small bag of Wild Rice to feel how little but strong these seeds are or you can smile at kind and cheerful pictures everywhere around; you could even trust your secrets to a “confessional” with a white bird on it.

A world of books is opened to everyone who wants to discover it, who comes with wide-open eyes. There is a cozy corner for kids with kind animals and vividly illustrated books. Little ladies and gentlemen can have their own little house where they are creating their own art – pictures, sculptures, pyramids etc. while their grandparents are sitting outside enjoying the nice fall sun and reading short detective stories.   

It’s your home now; it’s safe and calm here. Your home is full of your friends, there are messages from them everywhere on the shelves – little notes that help you to find your author, brief description and recommendations that lead you to your book, feelings and thoughts of your friends that they wanted to share with you. 

You would probably end up with sitting in a comfortable grandfather’s chair, reading a book, stroking your nice old dog and feeling how the walls of the bookstore are falling apart to open a new beautiful world, a world of a dream, a world of a book…