One of the great things about raising your kid(s) in Manhattan is that you have access to a broad range of kids activities. Kids activities are lame and stupid for adults, but if you aren’t going to the same Gymboree class every time the variety makes things much more digestible. Also, some of the settings for the kids activities are not as “parent-unfriendly” as a typical Gymboree is (now there’s something to think about).

Zubin’s regular Sunday afternoon activity is reading time and Books of Wonder. Now all the chain bookstores and libraries have reading times which are great for the kids, but this particular one makes it interesting for adults. B o W is a stand alone store (originally independent, now owned by HarperCollins) which only sells children’s books from birth to adolescence. It’s decorated with cool artwork by local artists based on fairy tales and fantasy books. It also carries costly, original editions of classics “teen reading” like Hardy Boys (clearly not for the MySpace gen). It’s a great space that takes this stuff seriously — $45 pop-up books for “kids of all ages”.

The “reader” Elena Bloom is an astonishingly patient talent who turns what a librarian could execute satisfactorily into one-man re-enactments. She also does a great “Old MacDonald” to loosen up the crowd, gamely fielding the esoteric requests imitations of walruses and unicorns (!).

The parents can chill out and network with other relatively hip breeders (although the crowds growing these days). There’s one of those cupcake specialty cafes in the store, although seems like some of the parents are renting it out for birthday parties.

12.00pm on Sundays. Books of Wonder, 16 West 18th Street.