Mother surprises son with Barnes & Noble shopping spree on his birthday

‘His happy face makes my heart full,’ viewer writes as boy, 12, gets two minutes to raid the bookstore’s shelves

A mother has found herself celebrated on social media after surprising her son with a two-minute shopping spree at Barnes and Noble for his birthday.

In a viral TikTok video, Jaci Moore took her son, Bentley, to one of the bookstore chain’s locations in Illinois on his 12th birthday. She set a timer and gave him one bag from the store to fill up with as many books as he could carry.

“Be nice to the books,” she cautioned him in the video, to which he replied with a smile: “This is your idea.”

She laughed, “Yeah, and apparently I made a poor choice.”

She watched as her son sprinted around the store, quickly peeling books off the shelves, and ended up acquiring a haul of around 47 books. To her surprise, the total amounted to $270. She joked about it in the caption, writing: “I tried to surprise him for his 12th birthday and it immediately backfired. I underestimated him.”

The sweet surprise has attracted over 2.9 million views on TikTok, with many viewers gushing about how heartwarming it was that she made Bentley’s little bookworm dreams come true.

“The fact that he is so excited about the books, at his age, is such a good thing!!” one user wrote. “Totally worth the tiny fortune.”

“His happy face makes my heart full,” one viewer added, while another noted, “If my kid loves books this much, the money spent is worth it.”

“As a teacher, this makes me smile,” someone else commented. “I wish more parents encouraged their children to read.”

A bookstore assistant took note of Bentley’s haul, including books from the Who HQ or Who What Where series, which chronicle important historical events and figures as well as modern-day public figures like Alex Trebek and Zendaya. They wrote, “As a Barnes and Noble employee, this warms my heart that he grabbed all the Who What Where books.”

Moore explained to Business Insider that Bentley already had 81 of the Who What Where series, and thanks to his birthday haul, he now has over 128 of the books in his collection. The youngster told the outlet that he selected those books because he’s fascinated by “history, facts, geography, people, and they’re really fun and interesting to read.”

When asked about the positive feedback flooding her comment section, Moore said that she was glad to brighten someone’s day. “The idea of other people getting to smile because of him is a great feeling,” she said. “He is thrilled that people love it too.”

She noted that if it wasn’t for Bentley’s younger sister feeling sick that day, they would have gone to the aquarium for his birthday and never have done an impromptu book haul. She came up with the idea after having watched a few videos of adult couples doing the same thing.