Leelanau Is for Book Lovers

Four bookstores, four women owners, and plenty of reading recommendations

By Karen Mulvahill | Feb. 28, 2026

Beaches and books—or blizzards and books—go together like coffee and croissants. Both pairings comprise a perfect start to a day in the paradise we know as the Leelanau Peninsula.

Here, we are fortunate to have way more indie bookstores per capita than average. According to the Census Bureau, the average population per bookstore in the U.S. is 54,999. In Leelanau County, it’s 5,650! We have four bookstores serving our population of 22,600.

(Just a few short weeks ago, we had five stores, including The Folded Leaf of Cedar. That quickly-growing shop has relocated to Traverse City—at least for the time being—with new digs in the Commongrounds building on Eighth Street.)

We often go on winery tours, restaurant tours, and color tours, but what about a bookshop tour? Let’s travel through the Leelanau Peninsula and stop in at our treasured bookstores. Like wine, each store has its own flavor and terroir. And each bears the stamp of a fascinating woman.

Bay Books, Suttons Bay

When you enter the county from Traverse City, traveling along M-22 North, the first bookstore you will encounter is Bay Books in Suttons Bay.

When Tina Greene-Bevington moved to the county in 2012, armed with a PhD in Organizational Analysis and a culinary arts degree, she embedded herself into the community through volunteer work with a number of different organizations. Interested in opening a business in the culinary arts, she ran various ideas past friends and colleagues and continued to get the response, “That sounds nice, but we need a bookstore.” (The last bookstore in town had shuttered in 2013.)

Greene-Bevington listened. “I wanted to do something the community wanted,” she says. And it didn’t hurt that she loves to read.

Greene-Bevington rose to the challenge and opened Bay Books in May of 2018. She and the bookstore quickly became an integral part of the community, contributing to local charitable efforts, hosting author events, and developing book clubs.

When it became known that she would have to move the store to a spot a few blocks away, the entire village came out to help. On July 4, 2020, Tina recalls, “People came down the street with wagons and pushcarts, handcarts, baby buggies, bicycles with baskets, some people with their trucks to get the bookshelves, and they moved everything. I was so humbled.”

To enter Bay Books is to feel as if you’re walking into someone’s home. Cozy nooks and shelves laden with a carefully curated selection of books invite browsing. Greene-Bevington reads tons of publications and books to decide what to include on the precious shelf space, always leaving room for local authors. Her most popular books of late have been Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.

If you ask her to recommend a book, Tina will ask you, “What was the last book you read that you liked?” and “What was the last book you read that you didn’t like?” She might also ask you about your hobbies.

Today it’s hard to imagine Suttons Bay without a bookstore—and not just any bookstore, but Bay Books.

Dog Ears Books, Northport

Continue north on M-22, enjoying beautiful views of the bay on your right, and stop when you reach Northport. That’s where you’ll find Dog Ears Books, where the light reflects off the terra cotta and gold walls, and the scent of paper and old leather fills the air.

Owner Pamela Grath’s love affair with books began as a child with two books by Christopher Morley, featuring a bookseller. “Everybody I know who sells used books has read those books,” she says with a laugh.

When they lived in Kalamazoo, Grath and her late husband, artist David Grath, used to fantasize about having a used bookstore in a small village. In 1993, having moved to Leland, they rented a little shed in Northport, built shelves, and filled it with books purged from their own collection.

Now in its third location in Northport, Dog Ears Books also offers a section of new books, prompted initially by all the people who came in wanting field guides. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, one of her bestselling books is The Trails of M-22 by Jim DuFresne.)

The collection is anything but haphazard. There are sections for Fiction, History, Art Poetry, Science, Cooking, and even a section of French language books that Pamela will be happy to talk to you about—in French. And she loves having other bookstores nearby.

“I feel like every indie bookstore is unique. Each one has a personality. In this county, we’re colleagues, we’re not competitors. And I love that.”

Grath posts in-depth, thoughtful pieces on her blog (Books in Northport) two or three times a week. You’d expect no less from a woman with a PhD in philosophy. In fact, one of her plans for 2026 is to have more books on classic philosophy. “Especially the Stoics, whose philosophy is ‘Live each day as if it were your last.’”

When asked what book she might recommend today, she replied, “A lot of people right now, they just want a break…there’s a wonderful novel set in Shropshire called Precious Bane by Mary Webb. Also, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. It’s very simple and yet she had this wonderful way of explaining people. You understand why they are the way they are.”

Leelanau Books

In a bit of a challenge for the directionally impaired, M-22 runs north up to Northport, then turns to the south heading toward Leland. There you will find Leelanau Books.

“There isn’t a whole lot that’s happier than cherries,” says Paula Alflen, manager of Leelanau Books, “but then I thought, oh, well, books. That’s very happy.” Which explains why, with an MS in Nutrition and a position as quality manager for Shoreline Fruit, she agreed to run a bookshop.

“Friends of ours bought Leelanau Books, then recruited me to manage it. My first response was, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ because I had never worked in retail, but then I found all these ideas flooding into my head.”

As a parent and leader of many kids’ clubs and programs, Alflen identified an opportunity to focus on children. “We had a great following of customers who were over 70 and loyal to the store, as they were friends of the original owner. But I saw the need to expand that base. So I suggested to Kasey and John Morris, the owners, the idea of focusing on kids, and I had their full support.”

After closing for remodeling, the store re-opened the weekend of Fourth of July in 2018. The area behind the store became a central gathering spot for story time, crafts, reading tents and puppet theatre. Paula herself is a “fingerprint artist” and has designed a line of kits for children to use to create their own art. “So many people walk in here and say, ‘My kids made us come here first because this is their favorite place.’”

The bookstore kitty, Whimsy, is another attraction. “One little girl came in, bought a stuffed cat, and named it Whimsy, and every year the parents bring her in to celebrate Whimsy’s birthday.”

But the store isn’t just for children, as the cozy shop boasts an incredible variety. “I generally have one copy of everything and every night I reorder what I sold that day,” Alflen explains. “People are attracted to independent bookshops for personal recommendations,” she adds.

When asked what book she would recommend to someone today, she picks “Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. It’s a beautiful work of art, full of kindness, and the end unpeels like an onion.”

As if on cue, a young woman walked in to pick up a copy of a book she had on hold: Theo of Golden.

The Cottage Book Shop, Glen Arbor

Continuing south along M-22, through Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, you’ll arrive at the village of Glen Arbor.

Tucked just around the corner from Art’s Tavern is a 100-year-old cabin that is a book browser’s paradise. Nooks and crannies are crammed with shelves and counters laden with books. On a table in the center of the store is a selection of recent releases, bestsellers, and staff favorites. Local art, puzzles, and games are also on offer.

For 30 years, owner Jenny Puvogel had been coming here on vacation. “My mom would bring us to the shop at the beginning of vacation, and we would all come in and everybody had to get a book,” she said. “There’s a lot of nostalgia in this building for a lot of people.”

When she wasn’t vacationing up north, Jenny taught elementary school in South Haven. “I had always said to Sue [Sue Boucher the previous owner], ‘You know, when I’m done teaching, this is what I want to do for my summer job.’”

In 2020, when Puvogel and her husband, Greg, moved up here permanently, she got her wish and worked part-time with Sue. Then, in 2024, she and Greg bought the business.

“I love reading. I love watching kids read,” says Puvogel. “I love when people find the right book. A lot of us are former teachers and that was always a thing that we did for our students; you want to keep them engaged.”

The Cottage Book Shop has been around since 1985 and is an integral part of the Glen Arbor community. Adjacent to the building is “The Pine Patch,” a park-like area where the bookshop hosts kids’ events, like story time, crafts and visits from children’s book authors. The shop also supports local writers and partners on events with the Glen Arbor Arts Center and the library.

One of the store’s most popular books last summer was Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. A consistently popular book, Puvogel says, is No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister. “That’s a book that we sell over and over again.” If you came in today, Jenny might recommend A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar. “I think that’s a book that has universal appeal.”

In a story that comes full circle, Puvogel is gratified by the number of families that, like hers, come in and say, “You’re the first stop on our vacation every year.”