Tucked away in a cozy corner of The Twig Book Shop at the Pearl, Anastasia McKenna waved her arms like an inflatable tube figure as a dozen cross-legged preschoolers giggled during a Friday story hour morning with picture books dedicated to caterpillars.
Better known to her fans as Miss Anastasia, McKenna has been a Twig staple since 2000, when the independent bookstore operated in a bright blue storefront with an Alamo facade on Broadway in Alamo Heights. And while the boutique itself has undergone butterfly-like makeovers, the twig’s story remains the same, she says.
“A sense of community and family,” said McKenna, the Twig’s children’s events coordinator and longtime consultant. “You can’t get this at a big box store. They may be selling the book for less, but there’s no relationship there. I think it’s essential.
Anastasia McKenna reads to a group of children at The Twig Book Shop during weekly story time. McKenna has been reading to children for 22 years.
Jessica Phelps / Staff PhotographerThis ongoing story is entering a golden chapter. Twig Bookstore celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with various events throughout April.
Since the 1970s, the Twig has hosted countless local and national authors, including David Sedaris, Sandra Cisneros, Greg Iles and Kinky Friedman. It has also survived booksellers large and small, from national chains such as Borders, B. Dalton and Waldenbooks to Alamo City independents such as Higgins Bookstore, Rosengren’s and Viva! Library.
So what’s keeping the Twig in print after all these years, even after e-readers and Amazon? Like McKenna, Twig manager Claudia Maceo attributes the store’s longevity to offering a personal, in-person love of the written word that book lovers simply don’t get from online algorithms or touchscreens. .
“Or, as I like to say, some stories are bound together in books, and some stories unite us when we share them,” Maceo said.
A parade passes the Twig Book Shop in Alamo Heights circa 1989. The independent San Antonio bookstore moved to the Pearl in 2009 and is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Courtesy of Twig BookstoreThese stories are set in a small bookstore that covers a wide range of topics. Beneath a chandelier from the 1970s Twig’s first location, the store’s winding shelves cover just about every subject, from classics and contemporary bestsellers to local and regional reads.
“I think the collection itself is really well curated,” customer Melody Aaron said after purchasing a copy of the critically acclaimed novel “Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line” and a book of fairy tales and folklore. Celtic. “It’s a small place, but they manage to cover a range of subjects: fiction, non-fiction, children, adults. And local Texas and San Antonio books and stuff that would appeal to everyone.
Many San Antonians remember the Twig best for its former home at 5005 Broadway, where it operated for 20 years before moving to the Pearl in late 2009. But the Twig’s roots go back even further down the road and more far in time.
The Twig Book Shop today in Pearl. The independent bookstore that opened on Broadway is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Rene Guzman / StaffThe history of The Twig began in 1972 with Harris Smithson, owner of a university bookstore who wanted to distance himself from textbooks and Scantron sheets. He opened the first Twig at Quadrangle Mall, a former Broadway mall just north of the 410 loop.
The name of the store comes from a line by the 18th century British poet Alexander Pope: “This education forms the common mind; just as the twig is bent, a tree is bent.
Susanna Nawrocki first heard of the Twig in 1974 when she moved to San Antonio. She started working at Quadrangle’s original location in 1976 and has been with the Twig ever since.
In this 1991 photo, author Sandra Cisneros signs a copy of her book, “Woman Hollering Creek,” at the Twig Book Shop. The independent bookstore opened in 1972 and is now celebrating its 50th anniversary.
Jim Blaylock / File Photo“A lot of things” have kept the bookstore running, said Nawrocki, who managed the Twig for 30 years and is now a semi-retired book buyer for the store. “People who really like the idea of an independent local bookstore serving the community. Good customer service for sure. And also a stable group of employees who really enjoy working in the book business.
The Twig expanded to three locations in the 1980s, one of them in the former Higgins Bookstore space at the Arcadia Grove Center on Broadway. Smithson eventually closed two of the locations and moved the Arcadia store to a space across from Cappy’s, where an Alamo facade was built just for the store.
Nawrocki laughed as he recalled some of Twig’s more eccentric memories from his various Broadway incarnations. Sharing the Quadrilateral with an ice rink. Suffering from the smell of bleach from a nearby dry cleaner in Arcadia. And surviving rainy days just blocks away, whether covering shelves in plastic from a leaky roof or standing in ankle-deep water in the 1998 flood. .
Sabrina Castanon points out a book for her younger brother Orion at the Twig Bookstore.
Jessica Phelps / Staff PhotographerIn 1999, Smithson sold the Twig to businessman John Douglas, owner of Viva Bookstore. Douglas died in 2014, leaving the Twig to his wife, Frannie.
“One of the things John Douglas told me was the legacy of the Twig,” Maceo said. “What was most important to him was connecting people and stories.”
This goes for readers of all ages and backgrounds.
Former San Antonio mayors Henry Cisneros and Lila Cockrell at Cisneros’ “Independent For Life” book signing at the Twig Book Shop in 2012.
Archive photo from the Express-NewsDuring Miss Anastasia’s story hour, Lyndsey Watson enjoyed spirited readings of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and other children’s books with her two tykes, Sydney, 6, and Brooks, who will be 2 years old later this month.
Watson said Sydney made several friends during those story hours in bookstores, a timeless experience that transcends the digital.
“And then maybe there’s the nostalgia factor,” Watson said. “And also, I know for me, as a parent, I appreciate when someone brings a new book to my attention.”
McKenna said some of the “Twiglets” who attend her storytimes as children grow up to be Twig shoppers. And as long as there’s continued love for books beyond the online checkout, the Twig should still hold firm.
“It just connects you,” she said. “And you have a shared experience and you have memories together. You just can’t beat it.
rguzman@express-news.net | Twitter: @reneguz
