The Madison area has its share of independent bookstores. But there\u2019s always room for more, according to Erin Daniels, co-owner of a new one in Sun Prairie.<\/p>\n
Daniels, along with her husband, James Daniels, an offensive guard for the NFL\u2019s Miami Dolphins, will open Prairie Pages Bookstore on Nov. 1. \u201cWhen one bookstore succeeds, everyone succeeds \u2014 because people are buying independent books,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a very supportive community.\u201d<\/p>\n
So supportive, in fact, that the Instagram account for Prairie Pages<\/a> has more than 900 followers before it\u2019s sold even a single book. James and Erin, both 28, met as students at the University of Iowa and were looking for a Midwest city to call home. He loved visiting Madison when his college team, the Hawkeyes, played the Badgers, and she has friends from the area. The couple moved to Windsor in 2022 and chose to open Prairie Pages in nearby Sun Prairie because of the community\u2019s diversity and its small-town vibe with larger-city amenities.<\/p>\n The 2,600-square-foot store at 113 W. Main St. is in the mixed-use Monarch on Main building, part of the Sun Prairie Stronger<\/a> redevelopment plan that emerged in the wake of a natural gas explosion<\/a> in July 2018 that killed Sun Prairie Fire Capt. Cory Barr and destroyed several buildings. The downtown\u2019s changing post-explosion landscape has been met with mixed emotions by some residents, but Erin hopes her store and other new businesses moving in will help the downtown continue to prosper.<\/p>\n At the time of the explosion, Erin was earning her doctorate in occupational therapy at Washington University in St. Louis, and James was a rookie with the Chicago Bears.<\/p>\n The Daniels want Prairie Pages to cater not just to readers but also to nonreaders, with a focus on helping break negative preconceptions around athletes and reading. It\u2019s something James has experienced firsthand.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOutside of my Gen Ed and some science classes, I never read in college. And when I had to read, I hated it. I always would try to see if there were SparkNotes for the book,\u201d James tells Isthmus in an email with a signature that includes a \u201cCurrent Read\u201d line (Crafting for Sinners<\/a>, a recently published horror novel by Jenny Kiefer, if you\u2019re curious). \u201cI really did not start reading until last year. I\u2019d [ask Erin] what was happening in her books. Then we would constantly talk about the plots. Soon after that, she started picking books out for me, and I started to read.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope to be more of a community space that happens to be a bookstore,\u201d Erin says, referencing her occupational therapy skill set. \u201cWe want to meet people wherever their abilities are, and we work with them to achieve their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s why Prairie Pages will stock titles that might be hard to find elsewhere \u2014 books that emphasize accessibility, inclusion and neurodivergent characters. Plans also call for hosting non-book events with guests like disability advocates and athletes.<\/p>\n