Located in a corner space in Painted Tree Cinco Ranch, a vendor outlet, in Katy, The Little Bookstore offers bilingual books encouraging local families to explore the English and Spanish languages.

The setup

Within the store, patrons will find a number of bilingual books written by The Little Bookstore owner Gabriela Gotay and other authors. The books range in themes, styles, types of characters and targeted age range, Gotay said.

Designed as a space with children and families in mind, the bookstore is set up to allow bookshelves to be accessible to children with a carpeted area and reading armchair, Gotay said.

“I intentionally picked a corner space to allow visitors to walk around and feel as if they were inside a separate and intimate space, a reading corner,” she said. “My hope is for families to take their time, stay awhile, explore the books on our shelves, and find that next treasure they can take home and enjoy together.”


The background

Motivated by her own experience as a second language learner and educator, Gotay said she opened The Little Bookstore to empower families and children through language.

"Through bilingual books and the promotion of bilingual reading, I want to provide a jumping-off point to monolingual families who might feel self-conscious about incorporating a second language and encourage bilingual parents who might be struggling to persist with the challenge of raising bilingual children,” she said.

Gotay began writing children’s books nearly a decade ago and said she hopes to inspire children to engage with new languages. With her and her husband’s 2021 move to Katy from Puerto Rico, she said she opened the storefront as a way to connect and contribute to the area.


What else?

Last month the store offered its first storytime, which Gotay said she hopes to continue. Since the store is limited in space, she said they have taken storytime to a few other spaces in the community and is looking to work with other venues in the coming months for read-aloud times.