NYT Bestselling Author Ruta Sepetys Comes to Upperman Middle School

A day of books, questions, and big dreams for 390 Putnam County students

There are some days when you are reminded exactly why books matter.

Last month, 390 fifth- and sixth-grade students at Upperman Middle School had the opportunity to spend the day with New York Times bestselling author Ruta Sepetys, author of Between Shades of Gray, I Must Betray You, Salt to the Sea, and her middle grade novel, The Bletchley Riddle, co-authored with Steve Sheinkin.

And if you had been in that room, you would have understood immediately: Putnam County has some rising superstars in its midst.The students were kind, attentive, curious, and completely captivated. When it came time for questions, hands seemed to shoot into the air all at once. One hundred students were eager to ask Ruta something, and their questions revealed the kind of curiosity that makes teachers, authors, booksellers, and parents hopeful for the future.

Ruta spoke with students about her work as a writer and researcher, but she also encouraged them to become investigators, storytellers, and writers themselves. She reminded them that their questions matter, that history is filled with stories waiting to be uncovered, and that each of them has a voice worth developing.

And then came an especially meaningful part of the day:

Thanks to the support of Plenty's customers and community, every one of the 390 students received a copy of The Bletchley Riddle. Ruta personalized and signed every single book.

Every. Single. One.

It was a remarkable gift, not simply because each student got to take home a book, but because each student got to take home a book with their own name written in it by the person who wrote it. That is one of the beautiful things books can do. They can make a child feel seen. They can open a door to a new idea or a different place and time. They can set a curious mind spinning. And sometimes, they can make a young person believe, even for a moment, that perhaps they, too, might have a story worth telling.

We are deeply grateful to the administrative team at Upperman Middle School for their enthusiasm, partnership, and care in making this visit possible. We are grateful to our friend Ruta for the tremendous thought and love she poured into her time with the students- and to her co-author, Steve Sheinkin, who could not be with us in person but was certainly there in spirit through their wonderful collaboration.

And we are so grateful to the Plenty community.

Plenty Downtown Bookshop is a nonprofit independent bookshop, and our work extends far beyond the walls of our shop in downtown Cookeville. We believe books can help us become more thoughtful, connected, and flourishing neighbors, and that means finding ways to put good books into the hands of people throughout the Upper Cumberland. This school visit is one small example of what that can look like.

Over the past year, Plenty has continued to expand its work through partnerships with schools and libraries, author events, support for writers, book clubs, community-wide reading programs, civic education, and partnerships with more than 20 local nonprofit organizations. We have had the privilege of helping students meet nationally recognized authors, creating opportunities for families and neighbors to gather around books, and finding new ways to bring reading and meaningful conversation into the life of our community.

We are dreaming bigger and going farther because we believe the good things that happen around books should be shared as widely as possible. The day at Upperman Middle School was a beautiful reminder of that. Three hundred ninety students. Three hundred ninety books. Hundreds of questions. And, we hope, a whole lot of new readers, writers, and curious minds.

Let’s have more days like this one.