Dog Ears Bookstore & Cafe

Come enjoy this place my friends. We built it all for you from the once upon a time to the tales both bold and true. Take our words and travel to the sky that lets you soar and we will be here waiting with stories evermore. I always wanted to be a teacher. When I finished my masters at Canisius College, I didn'think that there was a position that I could go to where I could teach every age. Where I could read books to kids, where I could run a book club for adults, where I could help senior citizens with oral history and helping each other. I read books to kids every single day and there's no better thing to do with your life. I watch them learn to love books and to watch them grow with a book and love that book. I give that book to them to take home to build their libraries at their house and their parents read it to them and they come back and they talk to me about the book. I get to do that every day and I can't do that in a school because then at night I come back and I read a book with adults and we discuss novels and I can't do that either. So this was the place to make it go. So I built this because everybody, any age, can come in here and learn a book, talk about a book and love a book with me. I love to read my favorite books. My favorite book is Aphage Aurea. It's about an Indian girl. My favorite part about book doggules is coming to bedtime stories. I have three kids who read books and have a snack. The activities at the bookstore are puppy tales for the little kids and for the older kids there are bedtime stories and around Christmas time Santa comes and you can tell him what you want for Christmas. We have programming that reaches people of every age and the biggest thing we pride ourselves on is skill building, teaching kids the things they need to get through life. Multitasking and computers and technology, yes they're necessary but we're giving you the skills to succeed in school, in life, in your job, in your community and it starts here. It starts with reading. It gives you so many things that you can count on to get you through life. We have bedtime stories on Thursday nights where kids come in their pajamas. We have fourth Friday poetry which featured poets come and read their work and then we have ten slots for anyone who wants to come and read. We have book discussion group which is a once a month discussion group where it's One of our most prized programs is Enlightenment on Wheels where we've collaborated with meals on wheels of Western New York. We take in gently used books and we redistribute them every Friday with their meals. When I'm at dog years I can do different things that I can't do at school My favorite part about reading is finding the problem and the solution to the story. I love to read because it makes me smarter. The most rewarding part of my job is being able to invite schools, community centers and daycares into my upstairs where we do the reading and writing programs and have field trips and read to kids that come here and I dress up And I read to them and they love it and I love it and we make stuff, we make a craft, we have a snack, we sit together in a circle and sometimes we dance and sing all because they want to know about books and I want to teach them about books. One of my favorite books is skeleton hiccups because it'silly and my dad does it silly. My favorite part about growing up in a bookstore is getting books and reading them whenever I want. The bookstore includes our wonderful cafe that offers a menu that includes coffee, espresso, assorted teas, chai, homemade pastries, scones, build your own sandwich and a list of many other things that you can get to come and enjoy the full experience of Dog Ears bookstore and cafe. The best thing about books is reading and it makes school easier. People who run nonprofits, people who are involved in nonprofits frequently get asked if you could have a wish list, but that's the one thing that you could ask for and most of the time they say money. If you're giving them money, I can do what I want. That's not what I want. I want awareness. I want people to be aware of everything we're trying to accomplish here. I want the community to know that you come here and buy a book and you make a difference because the money goes upstairs to our programming. I want the people to know that, yes, you can get a discount in other places, but here it matters. I want the people to know that what we're doing upstairs gives kids a chance to help schools try and do their mission to be supportive of what happens after school, to give kids a place to go. It gives everybody a shot and I think that the people, I want to tell everybody, shop here, come here, enjoy here. I've worked in a ton of places where people met and talked and discussed. This is the place where people come and talk and discuss openly, passionately, I can't do any of this without the support from the community and my volunteers and it's just what I love to do and people have given me the opportunity to have a wonderful life. You should read books. It makes you smart. It really does.