Hidden right in plain sight, along one of Ballard's busier streets, sits Secret Garden Books. The cozy little shop is perfect for anyone who misses the magic and adventure of childhood or who found their love of reading in the illustrated pages of classic picture books. While it's filled with beautiful children's literature, it has equally engaging "grown-up" books, basically, a little bit of everything.

Suzanne Perry has been working at Secret Garden for a little over 14 years, and she says she has watched the store literally "grow up" before her eyes. "We've really been trying to grow our shop up, ever since I got here," Perry said. "I think we do still have a reputation as a kids' bookshop, but we're a neighborhood that's great for grown-ups!... You'll see when you look at the front of the shop, it's grown-up books at the front. [That's] more than half our business."

For example, hot summer reads like On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and Red, White, and Royal Blue are flying off the shelves. Perry also runs a book club for adults, which helps expose her to more mature reads that are sure to become instant classics. "I can't recommend Shuggie Bain enough!" Perry gushed, sharing details about the newest adult read she has been obsessed with.

Along with becoming a more "grown-up" store over the last decade and a half, Secret Garden has also begun to mainstream the previous LGBTQ books section. Now, they can be found in any part of the store, even the children's and young readers' section. Andrew King, curator of the young adult section, gave me a tour, pointing out some of the hottest Queer YA titles on the shelves this summer.

"Sapphic novels have been really good lately," King said, pulling out tomes like Written in the Stars, and One Last Stop, and gushing about the pure joy that can be found in such Hallmark-esque rom-com reads.

Secret Garden is also making sure to include LGBTQ titles in its sections for younger readers, with titles like Six of Crows, Late to the Party, and When We Were Magic featured in the front of the YA section.

When it comes to choosing what books to include, the store isn't hiding Queer stories. "Key staff are Gay, so that has an impact for sure," Perry shared when explaining why the store chooses to display so many LGBTQ titles.

Secret Garden has been in Seattle for decades and seen many major changes since its grand opening in the 1970s. Despite being one of the longest-running bookstores in Seattle, it has always held the door open for progress, advocating for feminism and helping to increase awareness of the importance of independent bookstores. "The shop has been around since 1977, all owned by women. We're on our third woman owner now," Perry explained.

Hosting authors and illustrators
Hosting visiting-writer events and promoting local authors and illustrators is one way Secret Garden is giving back to its Ballard community. Before the pandemic, it brought in local authors, like Jewell Parker Rhodes, for book launches and community reading events. Now that the COVID threat seems to be winding down, the staff are looking forward to getting authors back into the store.

While Secret Garden is still trying to grow into a more "adult" look, it has not severed ties with its childhood charm yet. "We're a nationally recognized children's book shop," Perry said. "So when any of the huge children's book superstars come to town, it's us who tours them around to schools and public events... and we'll do an evening book event with them here."

Perry's face lit up as she reminisced about past visitors to the store and discussed plans for upcoming events. "Launch parties for local authors and illustrators are something we do all the time. We have a lot of pretty famous children's authors and illustrators right here in Seattle: Suzzanne Coffman is an illustrator who had huge success with Big Feelings and All Are Welcome, Jessica Bagley works in Seattle, and Ben Clanton does just hundreds of Narwhal and Jelly books."

"We're doing our first in-person event on August 22," Perry continued. "They are an author and an illustrator of children's books. Their first children's book was released in March of 2020 [but was] completely forgotten. The author is Amanda Abler, and the illustrator is Levi Hastings, an LGBTQ illustrator from here in Seattle."

For decades, Secret Garden Books has provided children with an oasis of reading, and brought visiting literary superstars into the Ballard community, inspiring a love of reading in kids and grown-ups alike. Today adults can find plenty of books that will interest them, and the young — and young at heart — will still find delightful stories, including some incredible LGBTQ titles in the YA section. There's a little something for everyone!

Secret Garden Books will host its first visiting-author event, with Amanda Abler and Levi Hastings, on Sunday, August 22, at 2 p.m. It can be found at 2214 NW Market St. or online at www.secretgardenbooks.com.