On the train back from NYC late Sunday I read (among other things) Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli. Told in verse, this is a short, sweet story about an astronomy-loving girl who's feeling anything but starry-eyed about her family's decision to move to a new town, several hours away from her best friend.

This is the second book I've read this season that's dedicated to fellow booksellers at ABC member stores. Spinelli dedicated Where I Live to booksellers at three Pennsylvania independents: Hannah Schwartz of Children's Book World in Haverford, Ellen Mager of Booktenders' Secret Garden in Doylestown and "the folks at  Chester County Book Company" in West Chester. Rick Riordan dedicated Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 3: The Titan's Curse to Topher Bradfield of BookPeople in Austin, Texas, and his Camp Half-Blood compatriot Toni Davis.

I can think of no more meaningful way for an author to recognize a bookseller than to dedicate a book to them. And I can think of no more meaningful role a bookseller can play than to be the type of bookseller an author might dedicate a book to. (Unless it's to be the type of bookseller an author might write a book about!)