Giving up your coffee and turning to matcha? We have the perfect mix, whisked and crafted into delicious combinations.

The perfect hostess gift, we love these old fashioned games. Shut the box is a great dice game which also keeps the kids’ math skills honed. Fun and practical!

Next up: Cinnamon Rolls & Villainy July 26th at 12:30pm with special guests Emily and Jimmie hosting. A kind-hearted baker with a dark secret.

This summer, set a goal to read WITH your kids, AROUND your kids, and TO your kids.

Children who see their parents reading are shown to develop a habit of reading and an enjoyment of reading in the future, plus what better excuse to sit around reading a book — you’re a ROLE MODEL, have to do it! AND children whose parents read to them develop stronger language skills, emotional literacy, and academic skills!

SO we invite you to FAMILY Book Bingo! ANY family member can add their finished title to the bingo card and earn PRIZES when they come in to tell us about it. Bring a “completed” card (be able to put a title in each category) and pull from our prize jar. Prizes include free ice cream, book discounts, candy, gift cards and more!

If you’d like a printable form to bring: click here. Family Book Bingo prizes end September 1, 2025, so get reading!

July 19 at 2:30pm with Christine, come discuss this horror, sci-fi masterpiece. “A thought-provoking meditation on grief, acceptance, and the monstrous sides of love and loyalty, Gerardo Sámano Córdova blends bold imagination and evocative prose with deep emotional rigor. Told in four acts that span the globe from Brooklyn to Berlin, Monstrilio offers, with uncanny clarity, a cathartic and precise portrait of being human.”

July 26th at 2pm with Spenser. Non-fiction Bookclub “Culture Creep” Notes on the Pop Apocalypse. “From the critically acclaimed author of Dead Girls comes a sharp, engrossing collection of essays that explore the strange career of popular feminism and the steady creep of cults and cult-think into our daily lives.”

We LOVE these retro toys. It’ll take you back to the time wasting summers of your youth in an instant. Get the kids off their phones and into unplugged summer fun with bouncy balls and magic tricks and gag gifts.

Tons of cute camp gifts to send on our shelves (we know, no food!) - from stickers to pens to bouncing balls and games. Love these cute little stickers to place on an envelope as “sticker confetti.”

Find yourself some cute stationery and a great one and engage in an old fashioned letter writing campaign this summer. Grab these gorgeous wax stamps to finish it all off. Perfect for writing to kids at camp, an old friend, or maybe a long distance lover. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t love a beautiful surprise piece of mail.

Announcing the NEW Westchester Book Festival, November 8th, 2025, Katonah, NY. There will be author lectures at the Library throughout the day, drawing hundreds of newcomers to the area, as well as local authors at the Reading Room for book signings and meet & greets. We are inviting ALL Katonah businesses to join the FUN. We are hoping that this book festival will bring people in to town right before the holidays, highlighting Katonah as the place to BE, EAT, and SHOP, and of course to celebrate books. Get in the spirit — decorate your windows with book themes, sell a specialty book in your store, post on your social media. Fill out this form to participate in the Book Festival or get in touch with Gretchen at the Katonah Reading Room with any questions or ideas, g@katonahbooks.com.

Author reading & signing with Jeanmarie Sanford, Saturday, July 12th at 10am. All ages are welcome at this signing and interactive reading with Jeanmarie. Come hear this lovely story which is designed to inspire self-love, confidence, and a sense of belonging.

Join Penny July 22 at 1pm for our popular Foodie Book Club. “How to Share an Egg is a journey of deep flavors and surprising contrasts. By turns sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, this is one woman’s search to find her voice as a writer, chef, mother, and daughter. Do the tiny dramas of her own life matter in comparison to everything her father has seen and done? This moving exploration of heritage, inheritance, and self-discovery sets out to find the answer.”

Local author Brian DeCubellis has brought us “Dark Honor” comic books for our shelves (rated M for mature audiences) and recently released the second in the series. Brian will be joining us on July 13th at 2pm for a chat about the series. Be sure to RSVP below and come for the chat and signing!

Come grab our favorite paperbacks for your summer trips - OR sign in to Libro.fm and get the audiobooks for your drive. Libro.fm is the perfect way to listen to books as a family AND they support indie bookstores. Don’t want to help pay for a multimillion dollar wedding? Help keep US here in Katonah by using Libro.fm and supporting the Reading Room for your audiobooks instead.

Come grab your copy of the John Jay High School community read. Written by local author and journalist Dan Slepian, this amazing story covers a twenty year fight for justice for 6 men wrongly accused. Dan will also be at our author corner meet and greet during the first annual Westchester Book Festival in Katonah on November 8th! Excited to share this amazing story with the community of John Jay students and parents and anyone else who wants to engage.

“Loved this tale of teenagers - all with tough families and back stories - working together on a commitment to get their one friend “out” - out of poverty and violence and sadness. They come together to push his gift as an artist into the world, knowing that the beauty he creates will have a lasting impact on the world. The underlying theme of people being “one of us” - people who are good, who protect each other, who see beauty - is lovely and connection is the center of the story. A must read for summer.” - Gretchen

We love to unplug with a game, especially games that are easy to learn…or can be played as solitaire. As parents, we always had games around for the kids in the summer. Sitting out on a table, right where they would pick them up or play with a friend. We’ve had years of competition over marble solitaire or shut the box. Just simple games with so many hours of fun and laughter.

Get the kids outside for a little summer competition. Check out this fun new event, visit the website for details.

We LOVE these new cards from Charter Oak Creations. The cutest art - many painted with our favorite Beam paints - PLUS they each have seeds in the paper - so you can PLANT them afterward. A win win for the environment. Made locally, these are the perfect gift card.

This week (through Friday) post a pic of yourself doing something FOR YOU, and tag us with the #summersquander and get a FREE small iced tea.