Susie Horn and Katie Turner knew they had something special. In 2020, they started Joyride, a mobile bookshop specializing in carefully curated children’s titles. They would travel around to different neighborhoods and venues, set up shop, and watch as kids and adults alike perused the foldout shelves. They soon began teaming up with local non-profits and museums, and even extended their business to a small storefront in Liberty Station a few years later.

Even with all their success, the duo says they were initially perplexed when, one day, they received an email from The New Children’s Museum (NCM) asking if they could come by the museum for a meeting.

“We were both like, ‘Why are we getting an email from the CEO,” Horn recalls, referring to a 2022 online exchange with NCM’s Elizabeth Yang-Hellewell. Both Horn and Turner admit to being a little intimated, but were eventually pleased to find out that Yang-Hellewell wanted them to take over a retail space inside the NCM.

“We’ve admitted that it was the pinnacle of everything we’d ever wanted as a bookstore,” Turner says. “We used to imagine if they’d let us park our truck outside for like an hour on a Sunday, that would be enough.”

Set to open to the public on May 10, the new Joyride Bookshop @ NCM will take over a 350-foot retail space inside the downtown museum, which specializes in kid-friendly exhibitions and educational programming. To hear Yang-Hellewell tell it, NCM had been discussing an overhaul of the retail elements of the museum since she was named Executive Director and CEO in late 2021.

“We’ve been watching Joyride develop, and as a parent of a two- and five-year old, we’ve visited them as well,” says Yang-Hellewell, adding that her own daughter loved the Joyride and even climbed into the truck “whether she was supposed to or not.”

Katie Turner and Susie Horn’s mobile book truck, Joyride Bookshop, now has a permanent home New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego.

(Courtesy of Joyride Bookshop)

She goes on to explain that the museum already had literacy programs in place, but that she and the NCM staff were always impressed with Joyride’s appearances at the museum. She feels their values are “programmatically aligned” with the overall mission of the museum. She says the museum will continue to include other items in the retail space such as locally sourced art and toys, but that Joyride will have “carte blanche” when it comes to curating the books.

“Joyride are masters of curation when it comes to children’s literature,” Yang-Hellewell says. “It’s truly a special collection of authors and books they’ve brought together.”

The origins of Joyride are humble enough. Horn and Turner met over a decade ago when their children were in preschool together. Between the two of them, they have years of experience in teaching, nonprofit work and, in the case of Horn, pediatric psychology. Still, years after meeting, they were both surprised that they shared a dream of opening up their own children’s bookstore. They developed a business plan, but three months later, the COVID-19 pandemic began and the two friends found themselves tweaking their initial idea.

“That obviously pushed us to pivot in terms of what our vision for the store would be,” says Horn, who adds she and Turner also wanted to be conscientious of other independent bookstores. “We found that mobile bookselling felt like a better fit for what we wanted to do anyway, which was to access all sorts of neighborhoods, lots of different communities and share lots of different stories.”

They found a truck (a 1996 Daihatsu Hijet Climber, to be exact) and, with help from family, friends and even consultation from their children, the duo tricked out the truck with foldout shelves, a turquoise paint job and even sunshades for comfortable browsing. Turner says that the mobility of a truck helped with the Joyride’s overall mission and what would become its tagline: “for all children, everywhere.” They started coordinating stops in various neighborhoods and institutions and immediately felt the power of what they were doing.

“You almost have to be in the presence of the truck to really get it,” says Horn. “The reaction of the kids we’ve met has been a joy.”

Over the pandemic years, the two built relationships with various literacy nonprofits, such as Words Alive and Reading Legacies, as well as with the New Children’s Museum, participating in the museum’s annual Mass Creativity Day and other events. Turner goes on to explain that they intentionally curate their selection of books with an emphasis on diversity and with a mindset of “windows and mirrors.” That is, books that offer a reflection, like a mirror, of a child’s own life or titles that offer a window looking onto someone else’s life or lifestyle.

On the surface, it seems unthinkable that anyone would have an issue with Joyride’s mission, but in a time of daily news stories about parents attempting to ban books they find disagreeable, both Horn and Turner say they have to be careful.

The entrance to Joyride Bookshop in Point Loma.

(Abby Hamblin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

“At the Liberty Station shop, we’ve had multiple instances where people have looked around at the books and become upset,” says Turner, adding that Joyride has teamed up with organizations such as Drag Queen Story Hour, as has the New Children’s Museum. “But when you’re trying to make sure that every child sees themselves, there are also people who don’t want you to be selling those books.”

Joyride plans to continue making stops in their truck and their Liberty Station storefront will stay open with hours on Thursdays and weekends. The “for all children, everywhere” mantra is something they have kept throughout the process of building the brand and it’s one that they plan to continue with the New Children’s Museum space. Horn and Turner both agree that they’re particularly excited to coordinate events with local authors and illustrators, as well as to work with the museum’s education department and exhibiting artists to further the educational missions of NCM.

These days, the emails that have been sent by Yang-Hellewell and between the three of them are decidedly less mysterious.

“Everything they’ve suggested I’ve said ‘yes,’” says Yang-Hellewell. “Every email or DM I’ve sent back to them has just been like, ’yes!’ Exclamation, exclamation!”

“There really isn’t a better match for us,” Turner says. “It’s almost like a lot of our mission has been guided by the work that the New Children’s Museum is doing and has always tried to do in the community. We couldn’t imagine a more perfect fit.”

Combs is a freelance writer.