I walked toward Trey because I finally knew how to deal.
I walked toward Trey because it was time to play the cards I had, and the cards I had all said the same thing: Know yourself. Be yourself.
And I was ready to do that.
I stepped closer and held the T-shirt out in front of me like both an invitation and a thank-you.
“Trey,” I called, my voice crisp and sure.
He turned toward me, his hand raised to his forehead, squinting against the sun. Then the corners of his mouth moved, lifted up into a smile, and the beauty mark by his left eye gleamed in the strong shine of light. He let his pencil drop to his lap.
“Jamie,” he said. “Hi.”
Principal Shupe
Foxfield Middle School
September 5
What I Learned from My Community Service Assignment
Libraries are more than just books.
You can know the players and know yourself and still make a mistake.
Freshly brewed coffee smells amazing.
What looks like a bird’s nest is not always a bird’s nest.
Sometimes a mistake is the best thing that can happen to you.
Never judge a muffin by its ingredients.
Everyone has a story.
It’s important to know when to turn the page.
Community service doesn’t feel like a punishment when you work with incredible people.
The quote hidden on the back of Rusty Shine’s chair reads: I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library. I learned that I completely agree.
Sincerely,
Jamie Bunn
Quotes from Black Hat Guy’s Chair
To be or not to be.
—William Shakespeare
Call me Ishmael.
—Herman Melville
Quoth the raven “Nevermore.”
—Edgar Allan Poe
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
—W. B. Yeats
What is essential is invisible to the eye.
—Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Time changes everything except something within us which is always surprised by change.
—Thomas Hardy
Not all those who wander are lost.
—J. R. R. Tolkien
I have been bent and broken, but—I hope—into a better shape.
—Charles Dickens
If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.
—Leo Tolstoy
To err is human, to forgive, divine.
—Alexander Pope
Wait for the common sense of the morning.
—H. G. Wells
It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.
—Lewis Carroll
I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library.
—Jorge Luis Borges
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to so many people for bringing this book to life.
I cannot thank my agent, Joan Rosen, enough for all the good squidgy she has brought me. Thank you for the constant support, the marathon phone calls, the shopping tips, the publishing industry tutorials, and the surprise care packages of dark chocolate. You have been my greatest advocate and I’m so happy we found each other.
Thank you to my wonderful and talented team at HarperCollins for taking such good care of me and my work: Bethany Reis, Liz Byer, Shona McCarthy, Valerie Shea, Rosanne Lauer, Katie Fitch, Catherine San Juan, Erin Wallace, Vaishali Nayak, and Jacquelynn Burke. I am truly honored to work with editors Rosemary Brosnan, Karen Chaplin, and Jessica MacLeish. Jess, working with you on this book has been a gift. Thank you for your patience, insight, professionalism, and sensitivity. You shaped this book into a much better version of itself and taught me so much along the way.
Thank you to Chloe Bristol for her beautiful cover art. I still love looking at it.
I come from a family of readers and take comfort in knowing my parents and sisters and I will always share this common thread.
Thank you, Mom, for introducing me to the library as a little girl, for signing me up for the summer reading programs, and for driving me back to the library each time I finished a book so I could put another sticker on my chart.
Thank you, Dad, for always keeping a tally and proudly reporting how many books you read during your summer stays in New Hampshire.
Thank you to my sisters for embracing my book-nerdiness and gracefully allowing me to spew about books and authors even when you maybe didn’t really want to listen.
My deepest and most heartfelt thanks go to Mike, Nina, and Jeffrey, who jumped on this rollercoaster with me and hung on tight. I could not have done this without you. Your generosity, compassion, and love inspired me and pulled me through. I love you more than anything.
And, of course, thank you to all the librarians and library lovers out there. This book is my celebration of you.
About the Author
Photo by Colette Oswald
AMY REBECCA TAN has worked as a babysitter, a waitress, a camp counselor, a tea seller, a muffin delivery person, a barista, and a bookbinder. She currently works in a public library and an independent bookstore. She has a master’s degree in special education and has taught in the New York City school system. Amy lives in New Jersey with her husband, two children, and dog.
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Copyright
A KIND OF PARADISE. Copyright © 2019 by Amy Rebecca Tan. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2019 by Chloe Bristol
Cover design by Katie Fitch and Catherine San Juan
* * *
Names: Tan, Amy Rebecca, author.
Title: A kind of paradise / Amy Rebecca Tan.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, [2019] | Summary: Thirteen-year-old Jamie must spend her summer volunteering at Foxfield Public Library, but quickly grows to love the people there and enthusiastically joins the fight to save the library.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018034253 | ISBN 9780062795410 (hardback)
Subjects: | CYAC: Libraries—Fiction. | Interpersonal relations—Fiction. | Community service (Punishment)—Fiction. | Single-parent families—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Family / Alternative Family. | JUVENILE FICTION / Books & Libraries. | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Friendship.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.T367 Kin 2019 | DDC [Fic]—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034253
* * *
Digital Edition APRIL 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-279544-1
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-279541-0
1920212223CG/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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