Need a last-minute gift? Stop by the Booky Joint
If you’re a parent looking for a last-minute Christmas gift for your child and you want to absolutely hit the target this year, Booky Joint Proprietor Dave Leonard has two words for you this season: Lego and Hobbit.
Better yet, you can combine the words and acquire the ultimate: a Lego Hobbit set.
The Booky Joint, located in the Minaret Mall near the entrance to the Minaret Cinemas, has again expanded its toy selection, particuarly now that Minky Monkey Toys closed its doors this summer.
Leonard has also expanded into art supplies now that Access Art and Business Center has closed.
But back to the toys, and then we’ll end with some book choices for the adults.
In addition to Lego Hobbit, there’s also a new craze called Lego Ninjago, where there are so many different characters that Lego actually publishes a character encyclopedia (oh yeah, they know how to milk it!). Every character has a backstory and there’s even a television show tie-in.
There’s also Lego Friends. This is Lego’s first successful attempt at having crossover appeal to the girls.
For the girls, Leonard also likes “The Box Girls,” which are trivia games for girls, good for parties and sleepovers and perhaps even sparking some conversation with your daughter if they’ve reached the point where they don’t talk to you anymore.
Leonard’s also a big fan of the arts and crafts stuff from Melissa and Doug.
As a general observation, Leonard says “Pillow Pets are more than a one-year wonder.” For young adults, he says the Wimpy Kid series and Rick Riordan’s “The Mark of Athena, based on Greek mythology, are popular for the 8-12 year old crowd.
For adults, Leonard says his top sellers are “No Easy Day” by Mark Owen about the killing of Osama bin Laden. And if you liked his book on Lincoln, Bill O’Reilly’s new book, “Killing Kennedy,” is also selling well.
On the fiction side, Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” and J.K. Rowling’s wizard-less “The Casual Vacancy” are the top draws.
The Booky Joint also sells the “Kobo,” which is the Independent bookstore version of a Nook and Kindle if you want to stick it to the Amazons of the world. The Kobo sells for about the same price as its competitors.
As Leonard acknowledges, the Booky Joint has continued to evolve from books into more of a one-stop shop for a variety of items. “And that’s what we’re putting on our advertising, that we’re a one-stop shop,” he says. Rest assured, however, books are still #1. “Most of our sales are still books,” he says.
