Boulevard Bites

by Sheila D'Amico and Toni Locke

### Our children are back in school, their gateway to community life. The map on page [x] shows the locations of schools in the Metro area. These public institutions are vital to the democratic system. Failure in federal support, state neglect, and petty local political feuds resulted in the current state takeover that crushes local leadership. The children need all the help they can get. Find ways to support your local school. To become a reading tutor, call Heroes at 879-2098. ### What, in addition to the MacArthur Metro of course, are neighbors reading this summer? Laurel Book Store's Luan Stauss reports her recent bestsellers in fiction are The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd, Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, and The Namesake, by Jhumpa Lahiri. Not surprisingly, the 9/11 Commission Report and former President Clinton's My Life top Luan's nonfiction list. Meanwhile, at Paradise Books in the Dimond, K.T. Graham says her used books tend to attract browsers rather than readers looking for a specific title. She reports mysteries as her best selling genre, along with general fiction. ### A stop at Tammy's Bible Bookstore led to the discovery that Virginia Chestnut, known by some as "Tammy," retired this August after 28 years in the business. Virginia started on Market as a distributor of the African American Heritage Bible. In the 1990s she moved what was now a book store to the Laurel. Her children, Lena Wilson, Regina Reynolds, Sandra Stephenson, and Gary Reynolds, have purchased the business from her. They want to continue what Sandra says her mother considered her ministry as well as a business. Sandra reports best-selling books as Rediscovering the Kingdom, by Myles Munroe, He-Motions: Even Strong Men Struggle, by T.D. Jakes, and Matters of the Heart, by Juanita Bynum.