A letter from Amy Rebecca Tan, author of A KIND OF PARADISE
A KIND OF PARADISE
By Amy Rebecca Tan
ON SHELVES NOW!
Dear Reader,
I was walking along the main street of my town one evening when I noticed lights shining from inside an empty storefront. I peered inside to find a room walled with new shelves and filled with cardboard boxes, piles of loosely stacked books, and a woman who looked my age. I backed up to read the sign taped to the window: my town was getting a bookstore! I was thrilled.
I already had a job in a public library and spent four days each week surrounded by books of all shapes and sizes, so why did a bookstore matter to me? Because books hold stories, and the world needs stories.
Before Jamie Bunn begins her community service in A Kind of Paradise, my debut middle grade novel, she thinks libraries are nothing but old buildings full of books. But she soon realizes that the stories aren’t just on the shelves. The stories are in the woman who borrows three movies every Monday and the man who comes in daily to charge his phone. The stories are in the child who checks out more books than she can carry and in the babysitter who shepherds her home. The stories are in the lady who naps in the same chair every day under the vent where the air conditioning is the strongest.
Stories are what makes us human, and sharing stories is what makes us the best possible humans we can be. It is because of the people Jamie meets at the library that she can forgive herself and find herself. It is through listening to their stories that she can make sense of her own.
I introduced myself to the bookstore owner that night and asked if she wanted help putting her children’s room together. She did, which is how I cam to find myself sitting on her newly carpeted floor alphabetizing picture books at 10 pm on a Wednesday. She offered me a part-time position and even though I was tempted, I declined – I already had a job. Long story short – it took less than three months for her to wear me down. I’ve been a bookseller at Inkwood Books for three years now. I love putting stories in people’s hands and in their hearts. I hope A Kind of Paradise finds its way into yours.
Gratefully,
Amy Rebecca Tan
About the Author
Amy Rebecca Tan works in a public library and an independent bookstore. She has a masters degree in special education and has taught in the NYC school system. Amy lives in New Jersey with her husband, two children, and dog.
About A KIND OF PARADISE
Jamie Bunn made a mistake at the end of the school year. A big one. And every kid in her middle school knows all about it. Now she has to spend her summer vacation volunteering at the local library—as punishment. It may be boring, but at least she’ll be able to hide from mean girl Trina, who’s always had it out for her, and beautiful Trey, the boy at the root of her big mistake.
Or so she thinks.
Not only does her job bring her face-to-face with both her mortal enemy and her ultimate crush, Jamie also encounters a territorial patron, an eldery movie fanatic, a super tall painter who loves to bake, and a homeless dog. Over the course of the summer, as Jamie gets to know the library and the people in it, she finds—and gives—help where she least expects it.
And she just might find herself along the way.