For the love of Poison

As part of spreading the word about the amazing novel

Poison by Bridget Zinn

here is a little story of a girl and her books.

Bridget Zinn was a librarian and while I never had a librarian who helped me, I did have a library and the books that made everything in my life suddenly vibrant and better than it had been.

I was a sad little girl, not the kind that bounces around and giggles and plays with dolls. I was the kind who asked hard questions and took a few hours out of my day to stare at flowers or ripples in water and read poems by Langston Hughes who I felt was the only person on the planet who understood me. Of course, he just happened to be dead but I didn’t mind, it wasn’t like that was his fault.

Some things had happened that kept me from being a care free child and as time went on it was like I was living two lives. One with half of my family that made life seem like some wonderful fairytale and another half that seemed like a series of unfortunate events, a never ending stream of things that continued to push me away from who I wanted to become but more than that, pushed me away from being someone who understood what it meant to be happy.

Then one day when I was sick (I am a life long asthmatic with a number of other health issues so tended to get sick or stuck in a hospital fairly often) my grandmother swooped in like the guardian angel she is and gave me a book that was different than the others  had read. A book filled with adventure and a courageous red head with violet eyes (In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce) and from there suddenly I had an interest and found my escape.

My local library came to know me by name but instead of going to the text book section to fill my head with facts, the adult fantasy section my father loved or the poetry section to try and find another kindred spirit I started visiting the young adult section. I devoured shelf after shelf so quickly I kept accidentally maxing out the amount of books I was able to have out at one time or within the span of one month.

Here is the thing about finding an escape, it gives you time and a chance to look at things differently long enough that you can find your way again in your own life. It took my a long time and by the time I found my way out of my own strange version of a series of unfortunate events I was no longer a teen but what got me through it all was books.

Books taught me to be happy.

They taught me that as long as you can endure you can find a way to get out of any bad situation if you are clever enough.

Books taught me to live again when I didn’t understand what that meant.

As I have grown and started writing my own novels, books have continued to teach me so much more but throughout my life they have always been a type of foundation for me. When I think of home I think of any library, bookstore or room filled with books, not a location.

Books can change everything.

and now, books can help Bridget Zinn live on and give that same inspiration to others who desperately need it.

I did not know Bridget but I would like to think that every time someone reads her novel it brings a part of her to life again.

Let’s bring a part of her back and go on our own adventure with her.

Grab your copy of Poison today: