James Patterson and joyful librarian Mychal Threets talk new librarians and book bans

Most of us have a story about a library or bookstore that made us feel welcome or opened our world to something bigger.

“The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians," (Little Brown and Co., 352 pp., out now) by bestselling author James Patterson with Matt Eversmann, celebrates these people and places and, in many ways, feels like a love letter.

In a day when books are being banned in schools and some libraries, access is even more important.

Dana Taylor, host of USA TODAY's podcast "The Excerpt," talked with Patterson, who has written more than 200 novels, and Mychal Threets, a librarian known on Instagram for his smile, big hair and fun shirts. Threets says his mission is to spread library joy and his motto is borrowed from the cartoon aardvark "Arthur“ who says "Having fun isn’t hard when you have a library card.” And he has a tattoo of Arthur’s library card on his arm.

Patterson showed his love for bookstores at the end of last year when giving $500 to employees at 600 independent booksellers as a holiday bonus. He began giving employee bonuses in 2015.

Check out: USA TODAY's weekly Best-selling Booklist

"I’ve said this before, but I can’t say it enough – booksellers save lives," Patterson wrote on X, formerly Twitter, in 2023. "What they do is crucial, especially right now. I’m happy to be able to acknowledge them and their hard work this holiday season."

In celebration of books and reading, we're sharing part of their conversation. We’ve edited this conversation for length and clarity.

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Mychal Threets: I grew up as a homeschooled kid in my local library, the library where I spent so many years of my life working. My mom was my teacher for me and my siblings. Going to summer reading shows, doing the Pizza Hut challenge, reading books to get a free personal pan pizza. It's always where I felt safe when I didn't feel like I could be myself.

Dana Taylor: And Mychal, your videos on social media, they've been viewed millions of times. Why do you think people are attracted to your message? 

Threets: I don't believe it's me and my message that they're attracted to, but I think what they're attracted to is library joy. Which as much as I'm obsessed with library joy, library joy is not mine, it's every library assistant, library shelver, librarian, library lover, school librarian. It's all their joy.

James Patterson: It is a joyful place, but unfortunately there's a lot of stuff going on right now which isn't so joyful in terms of what librarians and booksellers have to put up with. I think what's important for people to understand and what the book tries to do is to reinforce the idea that these are really, really good people who want to help other people.

My mother was a teacher and a librarian on the weekends, so my three sisters and I, the weekends we would be in the library.

James Patterson's favorite thingsHe shares his writing must-haves

Taylor: Book bans have been on the rise in the states across the country in recent years. What do you see as the risk here for young readers?

Patterson: Oh, it's huge. The percentage of kids reading at grade level in this country is 43%, which is terrible. So it's just hugely, hugely important. And libraries play a big part in that, as do bookstores in terms of getting kids reading. Kids are reading less, which is really unfortunate.

Threets: Banned books is such a huge problem. That's why we're trying to refocus things on the joy of reading, the happiness of reading, the rekindling of that interest and energy for books and for literature. That's why I'm so obsessed with not only library joy but with book joy because it really is a problem with literacy. It should be a choice. We can't forbid these books just because one person is afraid of them. 

Patterson: My books have been banned several times here in Florida and Texas.

I don't want strangers telling the people in my family what they should and shouldn't read. You take care of your house, I'll take care of my house. And that's a good way to do it. Don't tell us what we should read. You take care of your own.

And that's good that parents would pay attention to what their kids are reading. So if your 8-year-old brings home "The Hunger Games," you can say, "Gee, I don't know if you're ready for that at 8." And that's OK, that's a good discussion to have with your child, but have it at home. Don't have it here. 

More:Why you should read these 51 banned books now

Threets: We need this access to books. There needs to be representation in books for us to get to these places so that the kids will let their high energy, their love for literature shine through. And that's what you're talking about, the access for books and the schools needing to play their role. We all are doing this together. Authors, illustrators, librarians, school librarians, teachers.

Patterson: I started with comic books as a little kid. That's what got me into it. And then once again, you have good experiences and then you try other things. If you have a bad experience initially, and unfortunately in a lot of schools, kids have bad experiences. They give them things that they shouldn't read right away. Don't give them things that turn them off. That just means good stories for the most part, or good poems, and having fun in the classroom with the books.

Taylor: Where did the idea for the book first germinate? 

Patterson: I have a series (that) started with "Walk in My Combat Boots." A friend of mine, Matt Eversmann, who was the actual sergeant who was portrayed in that movie "Black Hawk Down," our mission was, if you had been in combat, you would say, "Eversmann and Patterson got it right. This is accurate, this is true, this is honest."

One of the booksellers said they think they're going to come in here and just read all day. Well, it isn't quite that simple. What's really going to happen is they're going to go home and read and decide what books to recommend because in the store there's lot of stuff to do. Those shelves need to be stacked. That's the reality. It's work, it's life. It's the good and the bad. 

Threets: I think that's the coolest part of being a bookseller, being a librarian, and just being able to be privy to all these stories on a daily basis. That's such trust in a person to say, "I like what you like to read. Please tell me what I'm going to read next." There's so many books out there for people to devour. 

Patterson: Judy Blume is a (bookseller) now, and she just decided at a certain point that's what she wanted to do. And she said that it was a point in her life when she didn't want to write so much. But the joy she gets up every morning, she says she gets up every morning and loves going into the bookstore and recommending books to people and loves it. 

Taylor: I see libraries and bookstores as being part of our connective tissue. I was always excited as a kid when I would check out a book and then pull up the card in the back and see all of those names. And, I had something in common with these people, even though I never knew who they were. What did those spaces, libraries, bookstores, what do they represent to you? 

Threets: I wish that those cards were still on the back of library books. That's one thing that I would love to bring back to the library. I think those spaces, those connections, they symbolize what the library is, that we're all different people, we're all part of this one neighborhood coming together in one sacred place.