READING, WRITING, AARGH!

Dave Eggers rose quickly to literary stardom with his 2001 national best-seller, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. He parlayed that success the following year into a tutoring workshop for students, supported by a volunteer staff of more than 1,500 teachers, writers, editors, and parents, at a building known as 826 Valencia (both the workshop's name and the street address) in San Francisco's Mission District. Because, all cliche aside, Eggers truly aims to make learning fun, the space is fronted by a pirate shop that sells everything from planks by the foot and lard by the pound to parrots and peg legs. Already a wild success in the neighborhood, 826 has now spread across the country. To date, there are branches in six cities, with a seventh slated to open in Boston this month. In keeping with the tradition of quirky storefronts (superhero supplies in Brooklyn, space-travel essentials in Seattle), 826 Boston will sell crypto-zoology essentials.L.K