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Q&A Where do you get the most bang for your buck in the city?

Regan Pro,

Director of Education & Public Engagement at Seattle Art Museum If you ask our two boys (2½ and 5½), they would 100% say their favorite store is the Dearborn Goodwill. If they donate two toys, they can pick out one to take home, and we’ve spent many rainy weekend mornings in those aisles. For all things art and creativity, my favorite place is the SAM Shop — I buy all of my kids’ gifts there.

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Lively + locally made

Poppin’ color

Stay-at-home-momturned-entrepreneur Adrianne Gold opened her own balloon shop after years of being that Pinterest mom at parties for her kids. Color Pop Design opened in March, and even did a party for Mariners great Edgar Martinez. Fully customized balloons start at $100. Delivery available throughout the Seattle area. 3 shopcolorpop.com

Family game play resulted in the bestselling Taco vs Burrito. Cutline here cutline here cutline here cutline here.

Food fight game night

Ballard kid inventor of Taco vs Burrito is winning over players with his game of strategy

by JIAYING GRYGIEL / photo by JOSHUA HUSTON

Alex Butler is 9 years old, and he’s cracked the Top Ten for best-selling

games on all of Amazon for a game he created when he was 7.

Yes, you read that right.

“Adults always think he’s making it up, the first time they hear about it,” says his mom, Leslie Pierson.

But it’s true. They’d always been a family of game players, ever since Alex was little. On trips, they would play a new card game every day, and evaluate which ones they liked best. Alex loved strategy; he’d study up on a new game, so he could win right away.

Then one day when Alex was 7, he announced he wanted to make his own game, and it was going to be called Taco vs Burrito.

“I didn’t think he was going to make a game, I thought he was just joking around,” his mom says. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE >

Bento bibs

Seattle artist Linda Hoshide learned to sew from her mom, and she’s been sewing her whole life. Her bibs and tees feature a bowl of rice, because Asians eat a lot of rice, says Hoshide, who is a third-generation Japanese-American. Bibs ($12) and tees ($15, 6 months-4T), come packaged in a bento box. 3 KiMonoMono.etsy.com

GIVE THE GIFT THAT BLOWS ALL OTHERS AWAY! ’TIS THE SEASON TO BE FLYING!

iFLY Seattle 349 Tukwila Pkwy Tukwila, WA 98188 206-244-4359

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CONTINUED

But Alex stuck with it. He came up with the concept, made cards and tested them.

Every weekend, he and his mom would walk their dog, Humphrey, to Café Bambino so she could get a coffee and they would play his game. On the twoblock walk home, he’d come up with ways to improve it. The first versions were terrible, but over the next 6 months, Alex fine-tuned the cards.

Alex launched his Kickstarter last year on March 1. By 1 pm, he’d already hit his goal of $1,000. His mom picked him up from school and they headed to Comic-Con, where he demonstrated his game to adults at the annual convention while dressed in a taco costume. At the end of his Kickstarter, he’d raised $24,312, $15 at a time.

“It was insane,” Pierson says. “I couldn’t believe it was going so well. It just grew and grew and grew. People were really supportive. The good thing about Kickstarter is people are a lot more open to start something. And the ‘kid inventor’ played into it.”

The premise of Taco vs Burrito is simple: players draw from a deck of wacky cards trying to assemble the biggest meal to win the game. You might get moldy bread, hot yogurt or chocolate-covered shrimp (remember, a kid designed this game). But watch out for the health inspector, who will make you dump all your food out. The game is highly strategic, easy to learn and really fun for kids and adults.

Alex picked his manufacturer based on the funny name of the company (Bang Wee Games). They shipped out Taco vs Burrito over Labor Day weekend, and sent the extras to Amazon. It was an instant hit. That month, he made more than $20,000 and the game sold out. Sales climb even higher with each month.

Taco vs Burrito has ranked as high as ninth of all the games on Amazon. In the past 30 days alone, Alex has sold more

than 2,000 games. Since launching last November, Taco vs Burrito has sold more than 10,000 units.

The money from sales stays in the business. “If we had $30,000 of Pokémon cards in the house, that would be a waste,” says his mom. Alex gets to take out 1 percent of his earnings, which then gets split into savings and donations. Not that he’s a big spender or anything. Alex has been pet-sitting since he was 3, and his rate hasn’t changed: $1 a day. (Pro advice from Alex: “If you only charge a little bit of money, they tip really big.”)

Despite creating a blockbuster game, Alex turned down speaking engagements and an opportunity to be on CNBC. “He’s not a little Bill Gates or anything. He is totally a regular fourth grader,” Pierson says.

What’s next for the kid game inventor? Alex and his mom are working on a remake of Old Maid, called Bold Made. Instead of avoiding getting “stuck with the old maid,” Bold Made features inspiring women.

Alex’s advice for other kids: “If you want to make a game, you should go for it! Just make sure to do a ton of work and play-testing to make it great!” q tacovsburrito.com

Things we love Easy movement

Seattle mother Julie Keegan’s fresh, striped organic cotton leotards are perfect for gymnasts, dancers or any other little world-movers, and her business practices include 100% domestic materials, 100% recycled packaging, and hyperlocal manufacturing (made in Seattle!) Keegan isn’t just making leotards; she’s making a Beautiful Uproar. 3 beautifuluproar.com — Katie Anthony

» TheBook Corner

A young reader’s review of Guts

by JULIE HANSON

Raina Telgemeier’s highly anticipated new young-adult graphic novel Guts did not disappoint, topping the Publishers Weekly sales charts for books of any genre (beating out even Margaret Atwood and Stephen King!) the final week of September. It has earned wide praise for its frank portrayal of a young girl’s anxiety, tummy trou- bles, friend issues, and more.

Here’s 11-year-old Elizabeth Hanson’s review, in Q&A form:

What a funny name for a book! What is Guts about?

Guts is a story about Raina, based on a true story from her childhood. She gets a stomach bug and is not the same after that. Guts to me is an amazing story, that I can slightly relate to because I’m scared of throwing up, just not to her level.

What other challenges does Raina face?

Of course, her main challenge was her fear of throwing up, but there are other concerns with mean girls, a friend moving away — you know, little things.

How did the protagonist and her family deal with the challenges she faced?

They took Raina to therapy, as most people would, until she felt a little more comfortable.

How does the graphic-novel format contribute to the telling of the story?

I always personally thought that pic- tures always made things a lot better. Unfortunately, sometimes, the pages were a little bit confusing, and I’m 11.

Do you recommend this book?

I say “yes” to most all people ages 7+, but if they are much younger, they might have a hard time understanding parts. I’m not saying they shouldn’t read it, I’m saying you might have to explain a few things. I think everyone can enjoy this book, but especially girls ages 8-12, just because this is Raina Tel- gemeier, and I started liking her books around 8, and still love them a lot. Some teens might think it’s too “kiddish” and that they are “too cool.” I personally disagree, and think it’s fine for all ages (I know if she writes another one in five years, when I’m 16, I’ll read it.)