{"id":417861,"date":"2026-07-30T10:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T10:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417861\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T10:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T10:52:12","slug":"this-adorable-san-francisco-library-is-filled-with-books-by-youth-authors-and-it-hides-a-secret-reading-room-that-looks-straight-out-of-alice-in-wonderland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417861\/","title":{"rendered":"This adorable San Francisco library is filled with books by youth authors \u2014 and it hides a secret reading room that looks straight out of \u2018Alice in Wonderland\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/INternational-Young-Author-Library-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"wp-block-post-featured-image\" alt=\"Stills from reel about International Library of Young Authors\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a data-force-follow=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/author\/jamie-ferrell\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785408732_245_6556f2b24022c7f3816afcfc93e09b02279d20544bb46c8f4844cbf3bb73632e.png\"  class=\"avatar avatar-40 photo\" height=\"40\" width=\"40\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\u00a0\u2013\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\t\t\tSenior Staff Writer\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\u00a0\u00b7\u00a0<br \/>\n\t\t\tJuly 29, 2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tucked along Valencia Street in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District, 826 Valencia is already one of the city\u2019s most imaginative literary spaces. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But hidden within its International Library of Youth Authors, a cozy <a href=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/san-francisco-with-kids\/\" rel=\"follow nofollow noopener\" target=\"_self\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/secretsanfrancisco.com\/san-francisco-with-kids\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_0\" data-category=\"click_internal\">children<\/a>\u2018s library filled with books by authors ages 6-18, is a secret reading room concealed behind a towering grandfather clock. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Grab onto a hand-shaped doorknob next to the clock to enter a charming space filled with vintage furniture and whimsical elements that look straight out of Alice in Wonderland.<\/p>\n<p>A nonprofit built around young storytellers<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded in 2002 by author Dave Eggers and educator N\u00ednive Calegari, 826 Valencia is a nonprofit writing center dedicated to helping students ages 6 to 18 develop their voices through creative and expository writing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The International Library of Young Authors serves as a creative extension of that mission. Its shelves are stocked with a whimsical range of books all written by students under 18 from around the world.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The library is still an experiment with plans to keep evolving and adding more books and retail options. For now, the books are not for sale and cannot be checked out, but you can browse the shelves and explore the space for a little inspiration and whimsy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\ud83d\udccd Location: 849 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110<br \/>\u23f0 Hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 12pm to 6pm<br \/>\ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f Admission: Free to browse, donations support student programs<br \/>\ud83c\udf10 Website:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theinternationallibraryofyoungauthors.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"shortcode-outbound-link\" data-has-ga=\"true\" data-ga-type=\"click\" data-label=\"https:\/\/www.theinternationallibraryofyoungauthors.org\/\" data-action=\"text_cta_1\" data-category=\"click_non_sales\"> TheInternationalLibraryOfYoungAuthors.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0\u2013\u00a0 Senior Staff Writer \u00a0\u00b7\u00a0 July 29, 2026 Tucked along Valencia Street in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District, 826&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-417861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}