From: Christine Hill <chill>
Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 19:22:09 -0400

I've never perceived Paterson to be a popular author in this library (in a middle class, predominantly African American suburb). Every once in a while someone would report on Bridge to Terabithia or The Great Gilly Hopkins for Summer Reading Club. I have also booktalked Park's Quest and Jip to what I felt was an interested response. In response to Megan's query, I checked our circulation records. To my surprise, her most popular book here is Lyddie, perhaps because historical novels are growing in popularity or because the paperback has a very arresting cover. Her Japanese and Chinese historicals have never circulated at all. The young person whose response to Paterson has had the greatest impact on me is my own daughter. She went through some turbulent years in junior high and the book that gave her solace was Jacob Have I Loved. She read it over and over, more than twenty times and still re-reads it every year.
(She is now 18 and leaving for college in two weeks.) She refuses to read anything else by Paterson. I have asked her to tell me what she likes about it and she cannot or will not say. I do believe that she feels a rivalry with her younger sister which I, as her mother, am mystified by. At last year's ALA, I got her well-worn hardback copy of Jacob signed for her by Katherine Paterson. It was a great thrill for both of us. Christine M. Hill Willingboro Public Library One Salem Road Willingboro, NJ 08046 chill at willingboro.org

Megan Schliesman wrote:
Received on Tue 17 Aug 1999 06:22:09 PM CDT