Your Local Bookstore: Where History Waits Between Pages and a Coffee Mug
Judith C. Mitchell
River Journal March 2, 2026
Excerpt below:
Picture Book
145 Palisade St., Suite 200
Dobbs Ferry
Sara Davidson, Owner: “My career before the bookshop was in the contemporary art world (art galleries, auction house, and a publishing company owned by Pace Gallery), leading me to focus on both beautiful art monographs and children’s books with compelling illustrations as the signature of my shop. Engage with American history with: ‘Amy Sherald: American Sublime,’ edited by Sarah Roberts – the exhibition catalogue for the famed American figurative painter of First Lady Michelle Obama’s official portrait. This beautiful book shows Sherald’s method of selecting individuals she meets on the street and using facial expression, body language, and clothing choices to create paintings that transcend portraiture and expand the canon of American art.”
“ ‘An Indigenous Present’ edited with an introduction by an artist of Cherokee descent, Jeffrey Gibson, gathers more than 60 Native North American contemporary artists, musicians, filmmakers, choreographers, architects, writers, photographers, designers and more around the issues of connection, influence, conversation and collaboration. ‘A History of Fashion for Kids’ by Celia Joicey and Dennis Nothdruft, illustrated by Rose Blake, is a fun way to engage with history (American and global) through the arts. Local author Bob McKinnon recently published two picture books: ‘America’s Dreaming’ and ‘America Gives Thanks’ featuring a child named America who navigates their first day at a new school and a field trip to Washington, D.C., with the help and inspiration of important historical American figures like Amelia Earhart, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King Jr., and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Local author Veera Hiranandani wrote the moving ‘Many Things at Once,’ a picture book that dives into the story of the author’s heritage from each of her parent’s sides of history, from Pakistan and Brooklyn to meeting in Poughkeepsie, forming her unique American story.” (Stop at the onsite Boxing Day Café for coffee or signature lattes.”
