"When you walk into an independent bookstore, it just feels different from any other store. There's the welcoming smile and the smell of fresh pages (and sometimes coffee, too). But even more than that is the feeling of community, knowing you're in a place where stories are valued, and where everyone's story matters. I'd love it if the whole world could be more like an indie bookstore."
--Kate Messner, whose novel The Trouble with Heroes (Bloomsbury Children's Books) is the #1 May/June Kids' Indie Next List pick, in a q&a with Bookselling This Week