Canadian author Sheree Fitch has fulfilled her long-time dream by creating an imaginative space for families to read to each other and let their imaginations soar.
Now living in the rural town of River John, N.S., Fitch has created Mable Murple’s Book Shoppe & Dreamery.
“On a dirt road in River John,” Fitch said. “I think people thought we were really crazy.”
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She opened the store’s doors last summer, never expecting that hundreds of people from across the country would find their way to her tiny little purple bookstore in middle of nowhere
Her dreamery is named in honour of one of the beloved characters in her children’s books
“I wanted it to be not just a bookshop, but a space for people to come relax and read to one another,” Fitch said.
According to Fitch, it’s place where families can set aside their screens and let their imaginations soar.
“I do think it is different reading on pages than it is on a screen,” she said.
Stepping through the door of Mable Murple’s house is like stepping into the pages of one of her books.
“The first Maple Murple poem went like this: ‘Mable Murple’s house was purple and so was Mable’s hair, Mable murple’s cat was purple, purple everywhere.'”
Thanks to the handy work of Fitch’s husband Gilles Plante, Mable Murple’s dreamery was brought to life.
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And the dream has taken on a life of its own.
“It was supposed to be a little hobby that Sheree would be reading a book in the shop and every now and then somebody would show up,” Plante said. “But by the end it ended up being a little bit more than that.”
The stores ignites the imagination and opens the door to a place of magic and wonder
“Children’s literature is a literature of optimism and hope, and that is what I see when I see these families come in,” said Fitch.