KBJ, owner

KBJ’s love of reading was instilled by her grandmother Rose. A brilliant woman and mother who devoted her life to literacy. Every night Kristen would climb on her grandma’s lap before bed and listen to the art of her seamlessly voicing life into the lion, the mermaid, the handsome prince, all without an inkling that she knew how it ended. During the summers Rose would tutor neighborhood kids in reading and writing. Kristen would sit knees to chest on the bottom stairs during the ‘read aloud’ times eager for the net chapter. Their frequent visits to the public library only fueled this fiction love, a seemingly never-ending supply of stories to hear.

Kristen’s teenage years were packed with the classics, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of her forever recommendations and she developed an ever-lasting love for Shakespeare. (sparknotes is not a sign of weakness!)

As she began traveling more as an adult, she’d ensure to pay a visit to the local bookstore. Enveloping herself in the bookseller’s stories and usual unmistakable geographical impact on their community. You will see pieces of those places in the mobile bookstore.

New England Booksellers is a bespoke mobile bookstore Kristen has designed to the last detail with her guest in mind. Over 27 years working in small and large businesses, owning a small business, her deep literary knowledge, and love of community has become her foundation for this indie bookstore. She is so excited to see you on the road.

Jen, co-owner

Jen was known to sleep with books under her pillow every night as a little girl. Her mom, an investment banker on Wall St. in the 80’s, would read to her and her sister every night, and usually fell asleep in one of their beds. She’s always been a fan of a great story and a sucker for an underdog or an unreliable narrator who doesn’t see their skewed world view. She loves to learn about the experiences of others and especially humorous personal narratives in nonfiction. 

In college, Jen worked for the office of disability as her school, as a special education student and one of her roles was to record audiobooks for disabled or blind students. She ended up getting her degrees in Special Education and Music Therapy and has done some voiceover work. 

As a mom, Jen has read books every night to her son since he was a baby until now that he’s 14 years old. She jokes that she’s a better narrator than most audiobooks and enjoys “doing all the voices”. Her “hack” is that the main character of any book always has her normal voice, and then she only has to modify her voice for the other characters. She often reading a Young Adult book with her son each night, while reading or listening to her own book in her free time. You’ll see lots of her recommendations in the YA and children’s sections. 

When Jen saw KBJ’s dating profile, she was holding a David Sedaris book and that was a deciding factor is wanting to meet her. Jen figured that Kristen was at least literate and probably had a good sense of humor. And boy was she right! Their first conversations were talking about books and sharing favorite books with each other, including a second date to a bookstore. What a full circle moment to be able open this mobile bookstore together and share our love of books with others.