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Wild Rumpus

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2720 W. 43rd St. Minneapolis, MN 55410

612-920-5005

http://www.wildrumpusbooks.com

1 User review Write A Review

Best Store Pet
Award Winner 2013

2720 W. 43rd St. Minneapolis MN 55410

Description

All kinds of toys, games, and books to make you think. Plus they also schedule edcational programs for both kids and adults.

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2013 | Best Store Pet

Many well-loved children's books feature animals as main characters. So it only follows that a well-loved children's bookstore should have some animal characters running around, too. The Wild Rumpus, the Linden Hills outpost of kidlike wonder for tots and grownups alike, boasts its own mini-menagerie of pets, which pop out at picture-book browsers from every corner. Some critters, like the llama who visited for the store's 20th anniversary, come and go, but the shop currently houses three... More »
2010 | BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE

If you take your bookstores the same way you take your lunch break--predictable and safe--then the cats and chickens wandering about at Wild Rumpus may not be your Shakespeare-in-waiting kid's cup of tea. On the other hand, if you're up for a surprise or two, give the youngsters a gentle shove through the little purple door to Wild Rumpus Books in Linden Hills, and plan on staying a while. Opened 18 years ago by Tom Braun and his former wife, Morgan, the store feels like a cozy... More »
2009 | Best Children's Bookstore

From the moment you walk through the front door of Wild Rumpus (the smaller front door if you're a wee one) you are transported into a children's dream world. The bookshelves lined with thousands of children's stories are only part of the magic. You might see a cluster of wide-eyed children running after Pimento, a chicken that always manages to strut one step ahead. Two cats without tails, Trini Lopez and Ida B., lounge behind the desk or perch high and out of customers' reach. More kids... More »
2008 | BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE

It might be best to try to explain the unmitigated glory of this place through the eyes of a child who is, say, two feet tall and relatively new to this world. And let's say this child has enough command of language to exclaim with reasonable articulation. This, then, is how that child would likely review his time at Wild Rumpus: "CHICKEN! KITTY! SPIDER! MOUSE!" And then, after exploring the place a bit: "LIZARD! BIRD!" Then, finally, that child would make mention of the books--nearly... More »
2007 | BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE

Inset into the front door of the Wild Rumpus is a miniature purple door--a special kid-sized portal that creates a sense of play and fantasy and lets little people know that the shop inside is specially designed for them. And what a magical place it is! Little girls dressed in sparkly Snow White costumes attend Monday-morning story time while their older brothers gape at check-out counter host Harry the Tarantula. There are acres of brightly hued picture books for pre-readers, vast... More »
2004 | BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE

A children's bookstore that names itself after Maurice Sendak's most famous hubbub is obligated to maintain a certain degree of rebellion. Maybe that's why this Linden Hills mainstay allows so many of its resident wild things to strut and scratch and tell their own stories. From the Manx cats who have loved the overstuffed armchairs to the point of no repair; to Elvis, the bantam that plays hide and seek with aggressive toddlers, the animals at Wild Rumpus offer more opportunities for... More »
2002 | BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE

In 1992 the Mall of America opened in Bloomington. That same year, in another Twin Cities corner, a different kind of retail revolution began when this Linden Hills shop welcomed children into an unusually stimulating environment filled not just with books, but with free-roaming animals. Though the Mall of America has offered to build a customized space if Wild Rumpus would open a branch there, the owners have long refused, opting to focus on a single operation. And thank goodness. It's... More »
2000 | BEST CHILDREN'S BOOKSTORE

How much fun can a child possibly have in a bookstore? We guarantee that a visit to this Linden Hills shop will result in a joyful noise. Kids enter Alice-in-Wonderland style through a child-size purple door, behind which awaits a wacky menagerie--including a dovecote, caged songbirds, napping cats, and one plucky chicken. There's a haunted house (go there to find scary stories and rats under the floor!) and lots of cozy chairs and nooks for storytelling time. But don't expect any... More »

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citypagesbestof | Minneapolis, MN | 145 Reviews

4
| Wed, May 6, 2009

It might be best to try to explain the unmitigated glory of this place through the eyes of a child who is, say, two feet tall and relatively new to this world. And let's say this child has enough command of language to exclaim with reasonable articulation. This, then, is how that child would likely review his time at Wild Rumpus: "CHICKEN! KITTY! SPIDER! MOUSE!" And then, after exploring the place a bit: "LIZARD! BIRD!" Then, finally, that child would make mention of the books—nearly 20,000 of them. Parents, if you do not know this place already, you will not believe it. A chicken roams free. Cats with no tails, too. Sometimes a chinchilla in a hamster ball pilots itself into your feet. Doves call from cages. Rats crawl beneath a small section of glass flooring. There is a weekly story time, of course, every Monday—always packed and with dancing breaks between stories. And there is a book to stimulate every corner of a tiny brain: picture books for the early childhood study of Arabic, books about pooping in small toilets, books about pirates, books by Spike Lee or John Lithgow. Books about Charlie Parker or the origins of city names. And when it's all over, there's a tiny door leading to the sidewalk. A small child, having seen and heard and maybe even read some new things about this world, is empowered to step out into it. For God's sake, watch the traffic.