Storytime with Ruchi Shah
Sunday, January 11 at 10:30am

Join us for a special storytime as author Ruchi Shah shares her new picture book, Carbon’s Magic Is Everywhere.

Something magical is hiding in trees, oceans—even inside YOU. But it’s invisible…

Carbon’s Magic Is Everywhere is a joyful, rhyming STEM picture book that invites young children to discover one of nature’s most misunderstood elements—Carbon!

With playful illustrations and a fun seek-and-find twist, kids learn how Carbon connects everything from trees and oceans to our food and bodies. Perfect for curious minds, this story sparks wonder, early climate awareness, and a love for the natural world.

Story Writing Workshops for Kids & Teens
Sunday, January 11 at 2:30pm (ages 7-11)
Sunday, January 11 at 3:30pm (ages 12+)

Story writing workshops are back! We’ll provide a story game to jump start our imaginations, tips for creating unique characters and plot twists, two writingcoaches for brainstorming and feedback, and a welcoming, creative space.

These free meetups are led by Shu-Hsien Ho and Royd Hatta of Beyond the Box Learning (both are former Linden Tree booksellers!). We’ll meet in the back of the store where there will be comfortable seating and tables. Please bring your imagination, enthusiasm, notebook, pencils/pens, erasers, and a water bottle.

Space is limited! To RSVP, please email [email protected].

Upcoming story writing workshops: 

• Sunday, February 8
• Sunday, March 15
• Sunday, April 19

Storytime with Julie Johnston
Sunday, January 18 at 10:30am

Join us for a special storytime as author Julie Johnston shares her new picture book, If You Lived in the Sea, Who Would You Be?

If you lived in the sea, would you dive to the depths of cold, murky water or fly high above warm coastal waves? With animals grouped according to opposite traits and shared characteristics, this rhyming adventure inspires readers to imagine what it would be like to live in the sea. From a grazing dugong rooting about to an elephant seal with an inflatable snout, children will learn about a wide variety of beloved and obscure sea creatures that live in our world's oceans and seas. Curious minds can delve deeper into the extensive back matter.

The Who Would You Be? series invites readers to embark on rhyming adventures throughout different habitats around the world, while imagining what it might be like to live in those places as different types of creatures. Sparking joy and curiosity for ecosystems and the species who inhabit them, readers will discover that all creatures play important roles in their ecosystems, regardless of their size, shape, appearance, or lifestyle.

Book Launch with Chanel Miller
at Christ Episcopal Church in Los Altos
Wednesday, January 21 at 6:30pm
Buy tickets now »

Linden Tree Books is excited to welcome back New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Honor winner Chanel Miller to celebrate the release of her wonderful new middle-grade novel, The Moon Without Stars.

This event will be held at Christ Episcopal Church at 1040 Border Road in Los Altos, CA. It will include a presentation, audience Q&A, and book signing.

This is a ticketed event. Each ticket includes admission for up to two people and one hardcover copy of The Moon Without Stars. Additional copies of The Moon Without Stars and Chanel’s other books will be available for purchase at the event.

Buy tickets now »

What's the deal with middle school, anyway? In The Moon Without Stars, Newbery Honor-winning author and artist Chanel Miller explores the glorious mess that is middle school—and the way growing up, finding friends, and discovering who you are can be both awkward and empowering.

At the beginning of seventh grade, Luna knows who she is: an observant, quiet girl who loves writing and making zines with her best friend, Scott. But when one of their zines takes off, somehow Luna is swept up into the popular group and learns just how much of herself she's going to have to compromise to stay there. Will she give up her writing? Her best friend? What about her own beliefs about who she is and what she stands for?

In a contemporary novel that feels like today’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Newbery Honor winner and bestselling author Chanel Miller explores what it means to lose and then find yourself again in the middle of middle school.

Storytime with Oliver Chin
Sunday, January 25 at 10:30am

Join us for a special Lunar New Year storytime as author Oliver Chin shares his picture book, The Year of the Horse: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac.

2026 is The Year of the Horse! Hannah is a foal who has a talented family and yearns to have special skills too. She befriends the boy Tom. Together can they bring his art teacher's important painting to the capital faraway? Hannah jumps at the chance to show that a little horse can have a lot of courage.

When others think she’s too young, can Hannah prove her unbridled spirit can blaze its own trail? Illustrating expressive characters and vibrant action, artist Jennifer Wood creates an inviting new world for readers to explore. Tales from the Chinese Zodiac is a popular annual children’s book series showcasing the twelve charming animals that embody the Chinese New Year.

Hannah is a spirited horse who has a lot riding on her! This feisty filly’s amazing journey celebrates the new year and kids’ can-do attitudes.

Middle Grade Book Club: The Vale
Sunday, January 25 at 4pm

It’s the next meeting of our middle grade book club for ages 9+! Led by bookseller extraordinaire Lorilee, we hope to introduce interested readers to amazing new books and the opportunity to talk about them in a fun, relaxed group setting.

This month’s book is The Vale, an adventure about a world that grows by the power of imagination. Please email [email protected] to RSVP.

Thirteen-year-old Bran Joseph Lee has spent half his life building the Vale, an immersive, AI-generated, virtual-reality environment using technology created by his inventor parents. It's a lush fantasy world complete with a Blue Forest, a Castle, and adventures with his mushroom-obsessed Elf named Gnomly—a much better place to spend his days compared to his real life, where his parents have suffered through the failed launches of one invention after another.

Bran wants nothing more than to see his Elves come fully to life, a hope that seems on the brink of reality when he enters the Vale in a multi-million-dollar competition to fund its further development. But instead, things in the Vale begin to go wrong: The sunlight is fading. A beautiful girl appears from nowhere. A wizard is stealing from the Vale’s inhabitants. And the strangest part of all is that none of this is the young inventor’s doing.

Can Bran and Gnomly uncover the truth of what is happening before both their worlds are destroyed?

Upcoming book club meetings: 

• Sunday, February 22
• Sunday, March 22
• Sunday, April 26

Book Launch with Petra Lord
In conversation with Maggie Tokuda-Hall
Thursday, February 5 at 6pm

Linden Tree Books is excited to welcome author Petra Lord for the launch of her debut novel, Queen of Faces, a dark academia fantasy that follows a desperate girl at a cutthroat magical academy who faces a choice between life and death: become an assassin for the enchanted elite or watch her decaying body draw its last breath. Petra will be in conversation with one of our favorite local authors, Maggie Tokuda-Hall.

Anabelle Gage is trapped in a male body, and it’s rotting from the inside out. In Caimor, where the magical elite buy and swap designer bodies like clothes, Ana can’t afford to escape her tattered form. When she fails the entrance exam to the prestigious Paragon Academy, her last hope of earning a new body implodes. As the clock ticks down to her last breath, she’s forced to use her illusion magic to steal a healthy chassis—before her own kills her.

But Ana is caught by none other than the headmaster of Paragon Academy, who poses a brutal ultimatum: face execution for her crime or become a mercenary at his command. Revolt brews in Caimor's smog-choked underworld, and the wealthy and powerful will stop at nothing to take down the rebels and the infamous dark witch at their helm, the Black Wraith.

With no choice but to accept, Ana will steal, fight, and kill her way to salvation. But her survival depends on a dangerous band of renegades: an impulsive assassin, a brooding bombmaker, and an alluring exile who might just spell her ruin. As Ana is drawn into a tangled web of secrets, the line between villain and hero shatters—and Ana must decide which side is worth dying for.

Stories, Songs, and Silliness with Miss Leslie
Thursdays at 10:30am
Starting January 8

Join us every Thursday morning at 10:30am for stories, songs, and silliness featuring our own Miss Leslie! We’ll sing, dance, read stories, and have a blast on the patio in front of our store. All ages are welcome. Thursday storytimes are on a holiday break, but will be back starting January 8!

Baby Storytime with Miss Leslie
Thursdays at 11:15am
Starting January 8

Outdoor Storytimes
Sundays at 10:30am

Join us every Sunday morning at 10:30am in front of the store as one of our booksellers (or perhaps a local author) shares some of their favorite read-alouds. (Grab a tasty treat from our neighbors at Manresa Bread while your kids enjoy the stories!) All storytimes feature picture books and are appropriate for all ages.