Katie Fitzgerald's Reviews > A Kind of Paradise

This 2019 middle grade novel is set in a small-town public library. Jamie Bunn, who is 13, made a poor decision at school and to make up for her mistake, she is doing community service hours as a library volunteer. As she observes the behavior of the mysterious Black Hat Guy, greets Wally who always borrows DVDs, and chats with Sonia at the circulation desk and Beverly in the director's office, Jamie develops a love for the library and slowly begins to turn the page on the embarrassing misstep that led to her being there in the first place.

The library in this book is very much like the one where I had my first library job. It may be a bit idealized, but it made me so nostalgic for the early days of my library career and for all my old patrons and coworkers. The story itself was also engaging, though I become less and less interested in tween dating drama the older my own girls get. I could also have done without the many instances of characters using God's name in vain. Still, I gave it 5 stars because it represents libraries as I believe they should be and without any sort of political or ideological agenda beyond a love of books, reading and community.