Second Star to the Right – A Place for Reading and Dreaming

Children’s books are our passion,” says Second Star to the Right owner Dea Lavoie. Dea and her husband Marc opened their independent children’s bookstore as a way to get books into the hands of children, and their charming bookstore does that and much more.

A customer explores the reading selection

Second Star to the Right is located in a cozy, historic home at 4353 Tennyson Street in the Berkeley neighborhood. The couple has created a delightfully colorful and whimsical space that will appeal to children (and to the child in all of us!). The many small rooms in this house are all filled with books, cute pillows and rugs on the floors, stuffed animals for reading to, and tucked away alcoves with flashlights for reading in the dark.

Dea and Marc hold daily story times, provide tutoring services, and feature author and illustrator visits. The store carries a good selection of Spanish books, as well as parenting books. They even invite local police officers and firefighters to be guest readers to help children become comfortable with people in uniform. I knew Dea and Mark understood and loved children when I realized that children were even allowed to draw with chalk on the exterior brick walls of the bookstore.

Co-Owner, Dea Lavoie

When I spoke with Dea, she told me that she had always wanted to open a children’s bookstore. She and Marc are former elementary teachers and continue to be very family and education oriented. Their passion is to make a difference in the lives of children in northwest Denver, and a visit to Second Star to the Right makes it clear that they have.