About
A bookstore, a studio, and a place to hang out
A family-run bookstore and creative studio.
Tyrannosaurus Tot is a children’s bookstore and creative studio in Brookland Park, Richmond. We’re Black, woman-owned and proudly independent. We started in Bowling Green, Virginia in 2023 and moved home to Richmond in 2026.
Jalesa buys every book on the shelf herself, and she buys on purpose: indie illustrators, stories that show all kinds of families and cultures, and the books she’d read to her own three kids, because she does. There’s no algorithm and no warehouse out back. What you see is what’s here: picture books, board books, early readers and middle grade, for ages 0 to 12.
The other half of the studio is a table. We read a picture book out loud, then we make something from it. We call that Book Play, and it’s the whole idea.
our story
Bowling Green, 2023
Tyrannosaurus Tot opened in 2025 on Main Street in Bowling Green, Virginia, with a question: what to do with the book after it’s read? Kids need a space to process the story and express their ideas and creativity without judgment while developing a love for reading.
Brookland Park, 2026
In 2026 we moved to Brookland Park in Richmond. More shelves, a bigger table, the same idea. Bowling Green is where it started. Brookland Park is home.
Today the shop is run by Jalesa and a small crew of teaching artists who show up every week. Come say hi, Wednesday to Sunday.
Tyrannosaurus Tot is a third space.
Reading usually starts at bedtime, one family at a time. Our bookstore is where it becomes something you share. The front of our studio isn’t more shelving on purpose. It’s chairs, so families can sit down, talk, and get to know each other while the kids make something at the table.
the table
Reading is quiet and making is loud, and the table is where the two meet. Classes run Wednesday to Friday: Book Play for toddlers and preschoolers, Craft Club for kindergarten to fifth grade. Free storytime is every Saturday, and Sunday Storytime & Craft is at 1pm. Open Studio is Wednesday to Sunday afternoons; just drop in.
Birthday parties, moms' nights, author visits and the occasional fundraiser happen here too. Most are free, and the ones that aren’t say so. Your first class is free, always.
Founder, buyer, the one reading out loud
Homeschool mom of three. You could always find me with a book, and now you can find my kids with one too. People find it shocking, I call it an invitation. I’m not a librarian or a reading specialist. I pick the shelf the way I pick for my own kids: stories they grab on their own, illustrators who deserve a bigger room, and families and cultures of every kind. When I hand you one, that’s what’s behind it.
what it looks like in practice
A few glimpses of the space, from the people who make it what it is.
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Supplies out, ready for class. -
The shelf. Picked one story at a time. -
The OG littles.
contact
Wed–Sat 10am–6pm
Sun 12–4pm
Closed Mon & Tue