Monrovia High School purchases 520 copies of Michael Koryta's "Those Who Wish Me Dead" from Morgenstern's

Monrovia is a town in Morgan County, IN, about 30 miles north of Bloomington, with a population of just over a thousand. So we were surprised — but delighted — when Julie Dimmack reached out to us to order 520 copies of a book by Bloomington-based author Michael Koryta. Which were personally delivered by  founder Rick Morgenstern. Mitch Teplitsky spoke with Julie to learn how this came about:

​What's your position at the school?
I am an English teacher and the department chair of Monrovia High School. This is my 20th year. 

Tell me about buying 520 copies of a single book! 
We are launching our annual community book club, One Town, One Book. We received grant money through The Community Foundation of Morgan County's new Thrive Grant. They matched the money we received from the Morgan County Coalition for Literacy, Morgan County Public Library, Monrovia HS and Tri Kappa of Morgan County. Every household linked to our school receives a copy: students, teachers, aids, administrators, bus drivers, cafeteria ladies, custodians, security officers. 

How did you choose Michael Koryta's book?
Two important parts of our grant are choosing a high interest novel by an Indiana author and purchasing through a local independent bookseller. We thought that the boy in Those Who Wish Me Dead and his survival skills would be interesting to our students and community. 

How did you connect with Morgenstern's?
There are not too many independent booksellers in the area. When we knew Koryta was our author, we chose the bookseller in his town. We knew about you because most of our teacher/librarian crew have spent time in Bloomington.

What was your experience working with us? (you can be honest:)
We had a great experience with efficient service and thorough communication with you guys.