Field of Dreamy-ness

Rachel Kanter, Ed.M.’12, didn’t just stumble upon her passion for books; she was immersed in it. Growing up in Keene, New Hampshire, without cable TV, books were her constant companions. She spent hours reading in her room or raiding the shelves of the local bookstore. Years later, as a high school English teacher and graduate of the Ed School’s Teacher Education Program, Kanter knew this wasn’t the case for everyone.

“For so many of my students, reading was a painful, unfulfilling task,” she says. She noticed a vast difference in their comprehension level of the books assigned to them, compared to the ones they picked out for themselves.

She recalls teaching The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz to her ninth-graders, and the impact a well-chosen book can have on a student’s relationship with reading. “It’s massive. It has tons of footnotes. But it’s about this nerdy Latino kid who’s really into gaming,” she says. “The story was so funny and interesting for them that it helped overcome anxiety about tackling a book like that.”

For Kanter, sharing the joy of reading and ensuring kids have access to books that are relevant to them has been her life’s work. Following a few years teaching, she worked for a nonprofit in Washington, D.C. that provides free and discounted books to educators in low-income areas.

Today she’s still surrounded by books, though this time she’s the one packing the shelves at her own romance bookstore, Lovestruck Books, which opened in Harvard Square this year. A longtime romance reader, Kanter was one of many who found renewed comfort in the genre during the pandemic. “People were looking for something fun and hopeful and predictable, which is kind of a hallmark of romance,” she says.

After returning to Cambridge with her family, she saw an opportunity to turn her passion for reading and romance into a space for the community to connect with books and each other in her old neighborhood. Decked out with vibrant pink shelves and a whimsical floral entryway, Lovestruck invites everyone from stressed-out Harvard students to curious passersby to revel in escapism of a happily ever after.

It’s not just the predictability that keeps people turning the pages of romance novels. Kanter often uses the concept of “windows and mirrors,” where books serve as both a window into new perspectives, as well as a mirror reflecting back one’s own story.

Romance is no exception. For LGBTQ+ readers, people with disabilities, and others who don’t often see their love stories reflected in the mainstream, today’s romance bookshelves offer everything from regency romances to westerns where their narratives also take center stage. “Romance isn’t meant to be taken too seriously,” Kanter notes. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have the ability to transport and heal.”

Just steps from HGSE and the apartment on Brattle Street where she lived as a graduate student, Kanter says she feels more rooted in the community than ever before. With a full calendar of author talks and book clubs in the works, the bookstore is already a valuable resource championing self-published and local authors and diverse voices.

For Kanter, being a bookseller isn’t all that different from her days in the classroom when she paired students with books she knew they would love. Then, as now, the greatest joy comes in introducing someone to a book that was meant for them, even if they wouldn’t necessarily have gravitated towards it.

As a mother of three, she encourages parents to do the same for their kids: “Take them to the library. Take them to the bookstore. Let them browse,” she says. “It should be entirely about them finding something engaging.” And it might just be the beginning of their own great love affair with books.

Megan Maffucci is an associate director in the Development Office.