Lindsay Lovise’s Letter to Librarians

In GINGERBREAD BONES, Lindsay Lovise writes a pulse-pounding YA paranormal thriller romance that is FIVE SURVIVE meets Yellowjackets. In her letter to librarians, she shares how libraries have impacted her life, from childhood to now, and especially as she wrote her own story. GINGERBREAD BONES is on shelves now!

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Dear Librarians,

My first library card was a rectangle of bright orange plastic that turned out to be a portal that led to some of my favorite characters (and warrior mice) in the world. I’d spin the racks in the basement children’s section of my small-town Maine library looking for gems. The library is where I met the Bailey School Kids, Matthias the monk-turned-warrior mouse from the Redwall series, and the Animorphs—am I dating myself yet? The book limit was FIFTY, and every time I went, I’d stock up on as many as I could carry.

Libraries didn’t just fuel my imagination as a child—they saved me from utter boredom as an adult. For several years, I commuted over an hour to the Bronx, where I was a teacher. There was no Bluetooth in my old vehicle, just a CD player. During that time, I think I borrowed every single audiobook the library had.

Now I have children, and I bring them to the library for storytime and art, for yo-yo club and to pick out books on Legos. Without fail, the library continues to be a place of possibilities.

I can confidently say I never would have written GINGERBREAD BONES without libraries, because I wouldn’t have met the teenage characters who shaped how I see the world. While I drew inspiration from many places and experiences when creating this ragtag group of “bad kids” sent into the Maine woods, I think the hope I gave the teenagers in GINGERBREAD BONES came from the countless stories of resilience that I had access to in libraries.

I’ve been asked a number of times what inspired me to write this book, and for me and for this book in particular, it was always about the characters. I wanted to take a group of teenagers who weren’t “perfect” and who the rest of the world had written off, and peel back their layers to show their true cores. I wanted to show the resilience, the guilt, the desire for better, and the hope. I can’t help but think that’s exactly what libraries do for kids, too. They look past their circumstances, their income, their place in the world, and they provide a safe space where they can set aside their armor and let their inner selves peek out.

Thank you for being part of a system that’s so committed to providing access, safety, enrichment, and magic for people of all ages. I am hugely grateful for all that you have done and continue to do for me and others!

Warmly,

Lindsay Lovise
Author of GINGERBREAD BONES