Or, more specifically, getting out of the education fields.
“We were both elementary school teachers for twelve years,” says Lavoie, “and we got dissatisfied with the way curricular programming was going at our schools. We wanted a way to reach kids on a more personal level and not have such scripted in-class requirements — having to say certain things, do things a certain way. So given our own love of reading and the goal to still work with kids, we thought we’d make them a bookstore. Just for them.”
And so began Second Star to the Right. The name, of course, is a reference to Peter Pan. “We were trying to think of something magical, something childlike and whimsical,” Lavoie recalls. “I was sitting with my daughter one day, and the movie Hook came on, and it reminded me that the way to get to Neverland is to follow the second star to the right. I immediately thought, 'How perfect is that? Let’s take the kids to Neverland. Show them the magic that can be found there.'”
Lavoie and her husband initially established their store in the Tennyson corridor in 2014, next door to the restaurant Cozy Cottage. “It was just such a charming little house in such a charming area,” recalls Lavoie. However, the old-school bungalows along Tennyson were already being replaced by more expansive (and profitable) uses of space.
The Tennyson transition, and all that’s been lost in the process, didn't force the store's move to South Pearl in early 2019, but it was just one more reason. “We really moved initially in order to expand,” says Lavoie. “There wasn’t much we could do in terms of growth in the bungalow in which we began, as much as we loved it.”
But those expansion plans were foiled by circumstance, as well as an intense and exhausting permitting process, and the store moved a third time in 2022, just down the street to another bungalow, at 1455 South Pearl Street — one much like the Tennyson house in which it started. “It’s been really nice for us,” Lavoie says. “We have a backyard there where we can do events. It’s been great.”
The events Lavoie refers to are numerous, as a visit to the Second Star to the Right website will suggest. But one of the more remarkable aspects of the children’s bookstore is its strong focus on LGBTQ+ support. “It’s a community very dear to my heart,” Lavoie says, and smiles. “When we heard there was this thing called Drag Queen Storytime, I thought it was such a great idea. I already had some customers I knew would be excited about the idea, so we brought it to Denver. We were the first to do that, and we’re still doing it.”
Lavoie says her favorite Pride-friendly program at the store is something they call Gay It Forward. “It’s a program in which customers can either drop off or buy to donate books to kiddos who may not be out yet,” she says. “Or who are uncomfortable going into a store and asking for a queer book. They can come and pick up something, totally for free.”
Lavoie recalls getting a note left on the Gay It Forward box that read, "This saved my life." The message went on to explain that the writer hadn’t had access to books like that before, and that their parents were unaccepting of who they were. “To get a note like that,” Lavoie says, “it makes all of it worthwhile.”
The ally-ship of Second Star to the Right hardly ends there; it also supports the Not-So-Straight On Until Morning Book Club, designed to “provide queer people with a space in which they can safely be themselves and find books with connectable characters.” The store helped host South Pearl’s first Pride on Pearl celebration earlier this month, as well, and plans to continue with that — and Pride events in general — in the future.
Between serving its many connected communities, Second Star to the Right is a very busy place, hosting various author readings, participatory events and a storytime at 10 a.m. every weekday. “It’s been a journey,” Lavoie says. “And it’s still a whole lot of fun.”
Second Star to the Right, 1455 South Pearl Street, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. For more information on Second Star books, toys or programs, see its website.
