By Mary McNamara
FROM: Los Angeles Times

Once upon a time, in the hills above Los Angeles, where owls hoot, bear cubs frolic and deer trip daintily down the street, there lived a family with two little girls, named Jessica and Amelia, who loved to read.

Almost every week, their mother would take them to a little bookstore on the main street of their town. It was called Once Upon a Time and it had lots of toys and puppets they could play with and, most important, shelves and shelves of every kind of book for children. The girls loved the little bookstore, which changed with the season and the holidays but was always busy and filled with all sorts of people.

Then one day in 2003, something terrible happened. The owner of Once Upon a Time, who had opened the store in 1966, said she was going to retire. She wanted to sell the little bookstore but couldn’t find anyone to buy it, so she was afraid it would have to close.

The two little girls were very sad. Jessica was so sad that she wrote a letter to the Los Angeles Times, begging someone to buy the store. When her mother, Maureen, read the letter, she talked with her husband — and together they decided they would save the little bookstore that their daughters and so many other children loved. Read Rest of Article Here