How brave is the wren is a children’s book shop based at 4 York Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7RZ. We stock beautifully-crafted books created by authors and illustrators that appeal to the young and the young at heart. Our stock includes a wide range of books to suit newborns, pre-school, young and older children, or even grown ups who just like children’s books (like me) we have board books, picture books, chapter books and graphic novels.
Address / Opening Hours
4 York Road, Kings Heath, Birmingham. B14 7RZ
10am – 5pm / Wed – Sat
10am – 3pm Sun
Story Times – Thursdays 11am / Fridays 10.15am
Join us for our free story times, they run every Thursday & Friday during term time* It’s free, you don’t need to book so if everyones had their porridge and got their socks on (or not) in time then drop in, if not we’ll see you next time! We read 3 books each session and families are welcome to stay as long as they like afterwards. We’re surrounded by lovely cafes so there’s no shortage of places to pick up a beverage on your way in.
*times differ during the school holidays so please check our instagram to keep up dated
Events
We love to run events of all shapes and sizes including Word Play our annual children’s festival, we’ve hosted visits from a host of fabulous authors and illustrators, a regular Art Club 1st Sunday of every month 2-3pm, and you can sign kids up for longer courses such as our comic book workshop with Beano artist Laura Howell and our “create your own story book” workshop with Sarah Hamilton Baker. Events run at various times in the year so keep an eye on our instagram check the shop window for posters or sign up to our mailing list to be kept in the loop.
All current events are listed HERE
School Visits
If you’re a school in Birmingham and would like to host an author visit please contact us hello(at)howbraveisthewren.com. We regularly organise visiting authors and illustrators, working with lots of amazing publishers and publicists, in the past we’ve brought the following authors to schools: Frank Cottrell Boyce, P.G.Bell, Alice M.Ross, Piers Torday, Simon James Green, Hiba Noor Khan, Kathleen Glasgow, Sharna Jackson.
Our Schools service:
– Author / illustrator visit
– Book sales for author visits
– Book buying and advice for library or class stock
– Independent book fair
For further information about any bookings please get in touch by email: hello@howbraveisthewren.com.
why the wren?
The name comes from a record found in a charity shop by my husband Ben Javens. The sleeve art has a lovely illustration of a wren and the record was created as a school project in the 1970’s- it’s an operetta written and performed by children from Grendon Primary School in Kings Heath Birmingham. I had the record for a long time and when i decided to start a shop it seemed like the perfect option. After I launched the business my lovely friend Cathy did an interview with me about the shop on her blog for Anorak Magazine shortly after she published it a lady got in touch to say that she was one of the children that had sung on the record, she was 10 years old when they made it, she told me that the “fantastic teachers and the operetta project made going to school a joy” every child deserves to feel like that about school!! in a lovely twist the email arrived in my inbox on my birthday!
About me
My name is Jenny Moore. A love of art, illustration and design have always played a huge part in my life. An education in photography matched with a passion for music led me to co-found Capsule and Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, where I was Co-Director for 13 years. The birth of two daughters, Mabel in 2010 and Molly in 2013, led to thoughts of a new career and an ever-growing collection of children’s books. And so How brave is the wren was born.