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Words have many different meanings, but at High Five Books, each word has a purpose.
While the independent bookstore is best known for its graphic novels, it also carries middle grade and young adult novels, picture books, and more.
At any given time, the shelves stock between 3,000 to 5,000 new books.
“High Five Books specializes in reading material that is joyful and affirming and inclusive for young kids and supports their sense of identity, and those kinds of books have just become much more readily available then they were when we originally opened,” said Lexi Walters Wright, owner of High Five Books.
Wright opened High Five Books in October 2019 in a “very, very small” 500-square-foot space in the center of Florence.
Prior to that, she had been working as a magazine and web editor for about 20 years. For the last 10 years of that career, she was commuting to New York City and started to feel burnt out. “I had a young child, and I loved living in this very sweet village of Florence and really wanted a creative, inclusive, third space for families, and especially the families in my own neighborhood,” Wright shared.
Describing the Pioneer Valley as a “hot bed of kid lit” and being well-known for it, Wright said, “It seemed like a super interesting, creative challenge, to figure out how to celebrate those authors and how to bring them closer into the lives of the families who live here in town.”
Since opening, the bookstore has changed locations and has doubled in size. Now at 141 N. Main St., High Five Books stands between downtown Florence and Look Park — a spot where families are “very naturally traveling” to get to their favorite places, Wright said.
When visitors stop in, they will find collections lining the walls and on display throughout the colorful space.
Wright noted that the store has one full shelf of adult books, but primarily stocks books for children ages birth to 18.
Its overall collection focuses on social justice and LGBTQIA+ themes. “We very explicitly try to support our LGBTQIA+ families here in Florence and in the greater Pioneer Valley, and it’s a real privilege to hand books to young kids, featuring families that look like theirs,” said Wright.
The store also sells kids’ art supplies and regularly has book related craft experiences.
Wright noted that a big way the bookstore has changed since its opening is the offering of events to families. She explained that it “sort of extends what we do in the bookstore into really sweet family literature events that we often pair with food or music, visiting authors, and it’s been really fun to bring High Five Books into the community, rather than just having families visit us in our store.”
Wright said there are always tables open for families to craft, make art and puzzles, along with role playing games offered several times a week and book clubs.
“It’s really an open-ended creativity space in the back of our bookstore, and that’s where we have a lot of story times too,” she shared.
On average, Wright said there are about 800 transactions each week, which includes in-person and online purchases.
Books can be purchased online at highfivebooks.org. Wright said they ship across the country — primarily books that are signed and personalized by the many local authors and illustrators who live in the area.
She noted that about a little more than half of their foot traffic are repeat customers — “families that we know and we love” — and have watched their readers grow since the bookstore opened.
She added that they are “so lucky” to be visited regularly by authors and kid lit enthusiasts as well.
High Five Books works closely with all the local public schools — particularly in the Northampton, Easthampton, hilltown areas — along with Smith College, a lot of the area’s private schools, and more.
“We take it very seriously that teachers need assistance with collection development, especially in this incredibly divisive moment,” Wright shared.
In a world so steeped in electronic media, Wright said, “I think that it is an incredibly invaluable experience to have kids see themselves in a physical book, especially when they are young. I think that young people will always gravitate toward the lap of an adult in a physical book. Even though our digital devices are all around us, there is something so sensory about having a physical book exchange with another human.”
She continued, “A physical book can cause a break from the world … I think the experience of falling into a story is a timeless gift that we can give young people, and it further propels them into their ability to both share stories and really understand the world a little bit better.”
Which sort of leads to the creation of the High Five Books’ name.
“Sometime after we teach babies to wave — their first real interaction with other humans — we show them how to high five. It’s a simple, powerful moment of connection: ‘Ah, you exist, too! Both of us, right here!’” said Wright. “Books are like that. You can know absolutely nothing about another person, but when you read the same book, you already have a profound shared experience. And that’s the real goal of our shop: connecting young readers with one another and the fullest expression of themselves.”
With two full-time employees, two part-time and a small handful of junior booksellers, Wright said her small team plays a big role in assisting with the “beautiful collection of book nerds that love being in this space.”
HIGH FIVE BOOKS IS LOCATED AT 141 N. MAIN ST. IN FLORENCE. HOURS ARE MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY, 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M. AND CLOSED SUNDAYS.
TO LEARN MORE, VISIT HIGHFIVEBOOKS.ORG OR FOLLOW THE BOOKSTORE ON FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM.
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