Michael Popke
A woman wearing a t-shirt and jeans stands in front of empty bookshelves as she unpacks a box of books from Penguin Random House.
Erin Daniels, co-owner of Prairie Pages, unpacks books in advance of the store's Nov. 1 opening.
The Madison area has its share of independent bookstores. But there’s always room for more, according to Erin Daniels, co-owner of a new one in Sun Prairie.
Daniels, along with her husband, James Daniels, an offensive guard for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, will open Prairie Pages Bookstore on Nov. 1. “When one bookstore succeeds, everyone succeeds — because people are buying independent books,” she says. “It’s a very supportive community.”
So supportive, in fact, that the Instagram account for Prairie Pages has more than 900 followers before it’s 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’s diversity and its small-town vibe with larger-city amenities.
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 redevelopment plan that emerged in the wake of a natural gas explosion in July 2018 that killed Sun Prairie Fire Capt. Cory Barr and destroyed several buildings. The downtown’s 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.
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.
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’s something James has experienced firsthand.
“Outside 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,” James tells Isthmus in an email with a signature that includes a “Current Read” line (Crafting for Sinners, a recently published horror novel by Jenny Kiefer, if you’re curious). “I really did not start reading until last year. I’d [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.”
“We hope to be more of a community space that happens to be a bookstore,” Erin says, referencing her occupational therapy skill set. “We want to meet people wherever their abilities are, and we work with them to achieve their goals.”
That’s why Prairie Pages will stock titles that might be hard to find elsewhere — books that emphasize accessibility, inclusion and neurodivergent characters. Plans also call for hosting non-book events with guests like disability advocates and athletes.
A good chunk of the vibrant and colorful store — complete with a fish tank, local artwork, and a stunning connections-themed, wall-length mural by Madison artist Stefan Matioc — who illustrated the October 2025 issue of Isthmus — will be dedicated to children’s, juvenile and young adult books. Local and self-published authors will be celebrated, too, with special sections and events planned to draw attention to their work. Prairie Pages also will stock bestsellers and other titles you’d expect to find in any bookstore.
Both James and Erin plan to have a “Picks” section near the front of the store, displaying titles they recommend. James also is polling some of his current and former teammates about books that inspired them, which also might end up as featured titles.
James particularly enjoys mysteries and thrillers, even though he says reading fiction is “frowned upon” in the locker rooms he’s been in. He wants to encourage more reading among men and likes using a Game of Thrones analogy: “Instead of watching it on a TV screen, imagine reading about it happening. You’re able to intake the same content but…in a different way.”
James — who’s assisting Erin with inventory data entry from Miami — already has a customized bookseller’s apron on his Christmas list and looks forward to spending the NFL’s offseason at Prairie Pages.
“We take the idea of the store as a reflection of ourselves very seriously,” says Erin. “I hope that when people come into the store, they really feel welcomed. The space is for everybody.”
Grand opening hours on Nov. 1 are 10 a.m.-4 p.m., and James is expected to be there — thanks to a bye week for the Dolphins.
