Meet Lynn Burgess from the Eleanor London Library!

Blog alert: Expect to meet a couple of interesting new book people in my next two blog entries. Here comes the first!

Last night, at the launch of The Heart Specialist, a novel by Montreal author Claire Holden Rothman, I was standing in line behind a woman with whom I ended up chatting. The woman turned out to be Lynn Burgess -- who has spent more than a decade working in children's libraries here in Montreal. 

Our conversation began when Lynn heard someone call me Monique -- and then she asked whether I was the Monique who'd written What World Is Left. Lynn currently works at the Eleanor London Cote St. Luc Public Library and she made my day by telling me there's a waiting list of people who want to read my book!! She says that although the library has several copies, they've just ordered more!! She also told me that more than half of the people who have been reading my book are adults. Interesting, no?

Because I know that children's librarians have the pulse of what is going on in the kid-lit world, I asked Lynn to tell me a little about her work and her observations. Here's some of what she told me:  "I'm lucky to have my job because I'm surrounded by books." She also said she likes historical fiction such as What World Is Left because "it's a wonderful way to learn about history." 

Though lots of people these days are complaining about kids not reading enough, Lynn says that is not her experience: "I see many kids reading. That makes me feel very hopeful."

Well, thanks Lynn for reminding us that good things are happening with kids and books. Speaking of books, it's time to get back to my revision!