For Librarians Everywhere

 
Napoleon Public Library
310 W. Clinton St.
Napoleon, OH 43545

 
Dear Librarian:

 
Please accept this autographed copy of The Mourning Hours along with my thanks. I spent the first nine years of my life in Napoleon, Ohio and many happy hours in the Napoleon Public Library. In 1983, I was even a top reader in the Summer Reading Program, and I cherished the copy of Charlotte’s Web that I received as a prize that summer. It holds a place of honor on my bookshelf even today. Would I have become a writer if not for the people who introduced me to the right books at the just the right time?

 
In 1985, my family moved to California, but in my mind, I have returned over and over to town of my birth. The Mourning Hours is set in a similar small town in Wisconsin, where I have deep family ties, but much of the narrator’s childhood experiences are echoes of my own childhood in Napoleon.

 
As part of the acknowledgements for this book, I thank the librarians in Henry County, Ohio, and librarians everywhere. I mean this sincerely. Thank you for the work you do. It is unfortunate that the funding for something so essential to the life of every American is often controlled by a simple vote on a ballot – “yes” or “no.” You will forever have my “yes.”

 
With gratitude,
Paula Treick DeBoard