Here's the personal stuff...

Apple Valley Books is a family-owned business--here's the family!

Hello! I’m Rita, bookseller, librarian, teacher, musician, home brewer, poet, and whatever else I decide to become.

I have loved books for as long as I can remember, carrying armloads of books home from the library every Saturday, and have been in the book business since 1994. My particular reading interests are mysteries and thrillers, fantasy, pre-history and archeology, and mythology and folklore.

My other interests include singing; doing community service; and exploring nature-based religion. I'm also very active in the Democratic party.

As a political activist, first amendment rights--and particularly religious freedom issues--are a real concern to me. A great link for this is the
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.

Hello, I'm Eric. For over twenty years I have been a bookseller, first at Mostly Books in Monticello, New York, then back here in Kennebec County where I grew up. I love books, and I love having a bookstore. My many other interests include motorcycling (I ride a BMW R850R these days), hiking, and music (I primarily play acoustic guitar and celtic harp). Some of my favorite authors are Colin Cotteril, Andrea Camilleri, Christopher Moore, and Charles De Lint. I served for several years as chairman of the Winthrop Planning Board, but let that go when I moved into the house I built in Sidney.

Our long-time customers remember Branwen as a 4-year-old holding court in the children's room at the back of the store. She is all grown up now, and not hanging around in the kids' room the way she used to!

All content and images © 2007 Eric Robbins