Unusual book shops

Find old friends (like Mo Willems’s Monster) and make new ones at Takashimaya.

Photograph: Caroline Voagen Nelson

When it comes to stocking our home library’s shelves, my son and I marvel at the seemingly unlimited choices at shops like Books of Wonder. But sometimes, literary pleasure is intensified by the thrill of the hunt.

Manhattan
The select titles for children in the International Center of Photography’s store are image-centric and inspiring. Look at Me! My Own Photo Book: Animals by Lynn Chang ($7) is ideal for a baby; slip your child’s photo into a frame at the back of the board book, and she becomes the star of the rhyming story. In Swing! ($13), Rufus Butler Seder creates the illusion of motion using pictures he sketched from video stills of athletes. The find: Cats, Dogs and Other Rabbits: The Extraordinary World of Harry Whittier Frees by Sylvie Treille ($20). Frees’s charming photos, shot in the early 20th century, depict animals dressed in clothing his mother stitched. The furry models are posed as if to jump rope, attend school and bake bread. 1133 Sixth Ave at 43rd St (212-857-0000, icp.org)

Scattered among the high-end infant bodysuits and rocking horses in the children’s section at Takashimaya are a dozen choice books for little ones. Find a Face by François Robert and Jean Robert with Jane Gittings ($15) detects eyes, noses and mouths in photos of cheese graters, armchairs and paper clips; if you stare long enough you’ll see them, too. In The Elephant Book of Opposites by Francesco Pittau and Bernadette Gervais ($18), kids learn about antonyms (liquid vs. solid, subtraction vs. addition) with the help of nimble pachyderms. The find: 365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental and Joelle Jolivet ($18). The large-format title tackles the numerical issues involved in feeding, harboring and tidying up after a rookery that assembles uninvited at a family’s home, one penguin at a time. 693 Fifth Ave between 54th and 55th Sts (212-350-0100, takashimaya-ny.com)

Brooklyn
The adventure of getting to Floyd Bennett Field, NYC’s first municipal airport, begins with a winding, disconcerting drive down a former runway once used by Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes, among others. Visit on a Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday to view the 12 vintage aircraft under restoration in Hangar B, and then stop by the visitor center’s small shop, geared toward children ages four to ten. Paperbacks priced under $6 cover aircraft of all types—even the subject of Chen Jiang Hong’s The Legend of the Kite: A Story of China. The find: Don Brown’s
Ruth Law Thrills a Nation ($6). In 1916, this little-known role model to aviators such as Earhart tried to fly from Chicago to New York City in one day; her attempt made history. Flatbush Ave at the Belt Pkwy, Sheepshead Bay (718-338-3799, nps.gov/nr/travel/aviation/flo.htm)

In a pinch, the second-floor kids’ department above the 24-hour branch of Neergaard Pharmacy can be opened after its 7pm closing time. (Ask politely downstairs.) The book selection here is notable for its breadth of price and topic—not to mention its convenience for procuring a treat for a sick child at home. An ample selection of titles translated into Spanish, such as the popular dinosaurs series by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague, sits next to board books that sell for $3. Picture books include David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon, and Jon J. Muth’s Zen Shorts and Stone Soup ($15 each). The find: Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, with illustrations by Al Leiner. It’s a middle-school classic and, at $2.50, a real steal. 454 Fifth Ave between 9th and 10th Sts, Park Slope (718-768-0600, neergaardpharmacies.com)

Explore a treasure trove of books upstairs at Neergaard Pharmacy.

Photograph: Cinzia Reale-Castello

Queens
The two-story Louis Armstrong House Museum, a National Historic Landmark, offers books not just about Satchmo but about jazz in general. What a Wonderful World by George David Weiss and Bob Thiele, with illustrations by Ashley Bryan ($18), follows the lyrics of the song perhaps most identified with the iconic trumpet player. A Horn for Louis by Eric A. Kimmel, with illustrations by James Bernardin ($4), is a fictionalized retelling of Louis Armstrong’s boyhood in a New Orleans rooming house, where he was given his first horn. The find: Jazz by Walter Dean Myers ($19) is filled with syncopated poetry (“I got jump in my feet, and I’m turning up the heat”) and commanding drawings by his son Christopher Myers that evoke the atmosphere of jazz clubs. A glossary defines bebop, ragtime, boogie and more. 34-56 107th St between 37th Dr and 37th Rd, Corona (718-478-8274, louisarmstronghouse.org)

The Bronx
The books for sale in the shop at the Bronx Museum of the Arts reflect the character of the neighboring streets as well as the work of African-, Asian- and Latin American artists on exhibit at the institution. Cuenta con el Béisbol by Barbara Barbieri McGrath, with illustrations by Brian Shaw and translation by Yanitzia James Canetti ($8), is one of several Spanish-English books on offer. Faith Ringgold, whose artwork is in the museum’s collection, has a couple of stories here: In Tar Beach, Cassie is picnicking on the roof when the stars lift her up and carry her away. In Cassie’s Word Quilt, the heroine gives a vocabulary-building tour of her neighborhood ($7 each). The find: Alphabet City: Out on the Streets by Michael De Feo ($20). The board-book-for-big-kids opens vertically and uses the artist’s childlike graffiti to illustrate all 26 letters. 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th St (718-681-6000, bronxmuseum.org)

Staten Island
It’s not surprising that the Staten Island Children’s Museum carries kids’ books in its gift shop, but the well-edited, tiny selection is unusually inexpensive and educational. The most mainstream book we found was The Cake That Mack Ate by Rose Robart, with illustrations by Maryann Kovalski ($7). Throughout the oddly suspenseful story, my son kept asking, “Who’s Mack?” (The answer is somewhat unexpected.) Several books contain a bonus game or a puzzle, including Clue School titles Mystery at the Ballpark by Pam Calvert and The Case of the Missing Cat by Cathy Hapka, both illustrated by Richard Torrey ($7 each). The find: The Fix-It Crew by Kate Torpie, with illustrations by Stacy Curtis ($4). Three stories about the teamwork among a bird, a beaver and a bear are presented in an appealing comic-book-style layout; they’re great for beginning readers. Snug Harbor Cultural Center, 1000 Richmond Terr at Snug Harbor Rd (718-273-2060, statenislandkids.org)