Page 70 - Westchester Magazine - January 2011

KIDS
MAKING THE COUNTY A GREAT PLACE IN WHICH TO GROW UP
The Voracious Reader
Larchmont (914) 630-4581; thevoraciousreader.com
Blogs and Seventeen have their place, but the best way to make sure those are not the only reading materials
your kids will get their hands on is to take them to The Voracious Reader. Since 2007, parents have flocked to this indie shop to find books for their kids, from babies through teenagers—and yes, sometimes for themselves, too. (Who among us hasn’t dipped into Harry Potter?) But the books aren’t the only attraction here. The staff understands
what gets young readers excited, knows the hot books (Mockingjay, anyone?), and throws parties, brings in authors to read, and hosts book clubs to make reading a fun, social thing to do. Blogs seem boring in comparison.
chickens and ducks, prairie dogs, and even birds of prey. Inside, there’s even more—check out the live animal museum. And, in the summer, take them to the green- house to walk among butterflies— something that’s eternally sold out at the American Museum of Natural History.
STEINER’S LAST LICKS
Armonk (914) 273-3551 Rye (914) 315-6688 Scarsdale (914) 725-5932 lastlicksicecream.com
Nothing is better than grab- bing a beer and watching the game—unless you’re under 21. Steiner’s Last Licks gives young sports fans a place to gather, bond, and talk about sports, with ice cream and candy taking the place of beer and wings. That would be great enough, but Last Licks also gives kids a chance
to meet their sports heroes
with frequent in-store signings and other events. (Tiki Barber, Mike Richter, and Walt Frazier recently stopped by for Steiner events.) If there’s no star athlete in town, there’s still plenty of memorabilia for sports fans to pore over.
LESTER’S
Rye
(914) 908-5688 lestersnyc.com
Young fashionistas—and their parents—breathed a hearty sigh of relief that their favorite cloth- ing store was no longer relegated to New York City and Long Island when, in 2008, Lester’s opened its first Westchester location. With 10,000 square feet stocked with 3,000 brands, it’s easy to replen- ish a child or teen’s wardrobe in one stop. And, with up-to-the- moment fashions and red-hot designers (think Ed Hardy, Juicy Couture, Free People, J Brand, and Ben Sherman), you can do so without witnessing too much eye- rolling, too.
MUSCOOT FARM (1) Somers
(914) 864-7282 muscootfarm.org
Baby animals. Our lips crack smiles; our hearts melt just thinking about them. There’s nothing more adorable than seeing little lambs chasing af-
ter calves, goats, and sheep. Of course, there are adult animals, too—cows, horses, pigs, turkeys, and donkeys—plus gardens and
a farm museum to get us back to our agrarian roots, and all free- of-charge. Informative, yes—but not nearly so adorable. We’ll come back again and again just to see the little babies.
ALL DRESSED UP
Rye Brook (914) 690-1593
Shopping with kids, teens, and tweens can be, like, so not cool—but not at All Dressed Up. Why? Young fashion plates posi- tively love the racks of dresses. And who wouldn’t, with designs from BCBG, ABS, and Betsey Johnson? If there’s any com- plaint, it’s not that your girls won’t be able to find something to wear—it’s that they’ll find too much.
GREENBURGH
NATURE CENTER Scarsdale
(914) 723-3470 greenburghnaturecenter.org
No, petting your Labrador doesn’t count as communing with nature. Give your kids a real taste of the natural world by bringing them to the Greenburgh Nature Center. The manageable, 33-acre property has an easy, third-of- a-mile trail that loops around a pond, giving them a chance to spot frogs and insects, rabbits,
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VORACIOUS READER PHOTO BY CATHY PINSKY; LAMBS PHOTO COURTESY OF MUSCOOT FARM