A new children’s bookstore has opened in downtown Kennewick, and it won’t solely be a place to find titles that the kids in your life will love.

Storytime Bookshop also is designed as a spot where literacy comes alive through puppets, crafts and more. The shop offers “play-based activities using books to guide the fun,” its website promises, and it has a range of classes and activities for pre-readers and young readers.

Lorelei Kennedy, the shop owner, has a long history of helping kids through storytelling and play. She’s a theater teaching artist with decades of experience going into classrooms, events and public spaces to use her theater skills and educational expertise to inspire learning.

It all started when she visited her younger brother’s school on a day when a theater professional who used puppets was visiting. 

“I was like, ‘That is a job someone can have?’” she recalled.

She was in her early 20s and already had been acting for years, but she was looking for more. “I had probably 10 years of theater experience under my belt, but I was floundering. I knew being an actor was not what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t not be a part of a theater community,” she said.

Being a teaching artist was a perfect fit.

The same goes for opening Storytime Bookshop, she said.

Kennedy has been a voracious reader for as long as she can remember.

“Growing up in rural Alaska, there wasn’t much to do, and it snows 10 months out of the year, so I was reading by the time I was 3,” she said. “As a kid, I read anything – a newspaper from 1974, a western my dad was reading, my older brother’s textbook. I’m somebody who has always consumed a lot of books.”

As an adult, she’s grown to love audiobooks and has a near constant stream going, she said. “What I love about listening to an audiobook is, these are folks who are not just narrating a story, they’re performing a story,” she said.

In the same vein, the classes and activities she offers provide another way for kids to experience books and gain literacy skills and a love of reading.

And she has an array of books, including in Spanish, plus handmade bookmarks, gifts and more. Her partner, Jason Keene, a photographer, also will be using the store as a home base for his photography business, KeenEye.

For Kennedy and Keene, the bookshop’s location at 309 W. Kennewick Ave. is ideal. It’s in an area that’s seeing more businesses and activity.

“The downtown area is a nice hub for foot traffic. It’s a destination that people already want to go to,” Kennedy said, noting that she admires the revitalization work of the Historic Downtown Kennewick Partnership.

She sees her bookshop as fitting in well. 

“The internet still talks about ‘third places,’” or spots outside of home and work where people can gather and make connections, Kennedy said. 

“My goal is really to become a ‘third place,’” she said. “I’d love people to buy things and sign up for classes. I’d also love to see people who want to come in and play. Parents need to stay and supervise their kids, but it’s a great place for families to interact and play and have some fun. My goal really is to become, you know, a community-family hub.”

A ribbon-cutting event was held Nov. 21.

Storytime Bookshop: 309 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick; 509-542-7786; storytimebookshop.com.