Bound Words

If you're a 'girlsowner', there's nothing quite like the feeling of walking into a new-to-you second-hand bookshop and discovering it has an extensive collection of vintage kidlit.

It's always a bit like time-travel finding shelves full of titles by authors like Elinor M. Brent-Dyer, Angela Brazil, Enid Blyton etc. Especially when there are plenty of hardbacks!

So I was delighted to discover Bound Words in Hampton over the weekend. It contains the best selection of vintage kidlit I've seen for a while. There was even a Girls Gone By title in there - The Mystery at the Chalet School with the short story, Robin Heeds the Call. It is water damaged, but still a perfectly good reading copy, and only $7 should anyone reading this be interested in buying it.

The children's books are in the very back room of the three-room bookshop. Non-fiction (including art, music, history and education, as well as - somewhat incongruously - plays) is in the first room, with general fiction in the second.

There are lots of eateries and shops in Hampton, and Bound Words isn't far from the beach. I'll definitely be heading back there over the next few months.

A bookshop not just for a rainy day

Former school librarian Meryll Williams named her bookshop Rainy Day Books after a friend remarked on how much she liked reading on a rainy day.

Well, Rainy Day Books, in The Basin at the foot of Mount Dandenong, is worth a visit whatever the weather.

Meryll's speciality is children's books, particularly 'girlsown' books like the Chalet School, etc. But the bookshop also has a well-stocked crime section, including a bookcase devoted to cosy crime, along with romance, sci fi and general fiction. There's a very good history section too, including books and brochures on local history.

Rainy Day Books has been open since 2006 and is one of only two bookshops (the other one is Kallista Books) that still survive from the old Dandenong Ranges and Yarra Valley Book Trail that Meryll helped set up in around 2007.

Meryll also helped establish the annual Mountains of Books Book Fair that takes place in Ferny Creek over Melbourne Cup weekend.

There are a couple of local cafes and a playground across the road should you want coffee or lunch or somewhere to let the kids burn off energy. We always have coffee at the Chocolate Dragonfly, but the other local cafe always seems busy so it must be good too.