Kick off fall with a ‘Boo-zy Book Crawl’ featuring local bookstores

Tickets are on sale starting Aug. 25 at 7 a.m., and the “Boo-zy Book Crawl” will take place in October.

PHOENIX — What’s better than reading poolside?

Reading with autumn leaves and a pumpkin spice latte in hand, of course.

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While Arizonans still have a ways to go before sweater weather, one Valley group is getting readers ready for fall by hosting a “Boo-zy Book Crawl.”

Girlhood Co. is run by Crystalblue Janiga and Brittany Rodriguez, two Valley women who wanted to create a space for women to celebrate one another.

“We wanted to push back against the trend of being not like other girls, and where women were being made to feel ashamed or uncomfortable because they liked things that were considered basic or cringey,” Janiga said. “We wanted to create a space for women that were girls’ girls, that wanted to find joy and pride in being just like other girls.”

In January, the pair hosted their first Girlhood Co. event, “In Bloom,” which gave women an opportunity to have their photo taken with floral arrangements and even snag new headshots.

“We realized that a lot of women only celebrate milestones based on their relationship to other people, like having babies, maternity, wedding photos, family photos, and they don’t take pictures for themselves,” Janiga said. 

Rodriguez is a photographer, and said she wanted the event to be a space not only where women could have photos taken of themselves, but also be able to make friends and lift one another up.

“I’ve always wanted to find a way to give back with my photography, whether that’s creating these sorts of events where I can take photos of multiple women or bringing photographers all together,” Rodriguez said. “Just seeing that kind of reception and seeing the excitement that we’re getting now afterward, even if it’s several months after, it’s just been amazing.”

Now Girlhood Co. is bringing its love of reading to its next event, the “Boo-zy Book Crawl.” Featuring four local bookstores, the book crawl will be held on Oct. 25 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will include a ride in a party bus, food and drinks, a swag bag filled with bookish goodies, and the opportunity to make new book friends in real life.

“A lot of us that are on, you know, Bookstagram or BookTok, most of our bookish friends are online friends, and so with things like this, it gives us a chance to meet other people here in the Valley,” Janiga said. “If a book club or two get started from this, I think that would be really fun.”

The book crawl will start with stops to two local book trucks owned by women of color right here in the Valley, The Lit Twis’t and The Book Haul, and visits from authors who will be selling and signing their books. After the first stop, the bus will head to two more women-owned bookstores in the Valley: The Bookish Shop in Gilbert and Changing Hands in Tempe.

“It’ll just be a night for book lovers to come, make new friends, find connections, and like exchange recs, shop together and probably double their TBRs,” Janiga said.

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And if you’re on the fence, Janiga and Rodriguez say don’t wait too long to purchase your ticket—they expect the event to sell out quickly. 

“With this event, we wanted to really give back to the community, right? There’s so many women who love bookish events, but I feel like not all of them focus on the bookstores we already have here, the authors we already have here, with that intimate experience,” Janiga said. “…We’re trying to create positive spaces that uplift other people .” 

Tickets are $89 and can be purchased online here. There are only 30 spots available. If you are a vendor interested in taking part, you can also sign up to sell goods at the mini market, which is the first stop on the book crawl.

For readers who aren’t able to take part in the book crawl, Girlhood Co. said this won’t be their last bookish event. 

“We’re just so energized by the community’s response to this first book crawl, so we’re definitely planning on having more book crawls themed for the future, as well as book events,” Janiga said. “Anybody who can’t join us should follow along for the future ones.”

Stay up-to-date on all of their upcoming events by following Girlhood Co. on social media.

For more book and literacy stories, check out “Reading Arizona” on YouTube and 12News.com. If you have a story pitch for Reading Arizona, email koconnor@12news.com or reach out via Instagram, @thatjournalistwhoreads.