PAYTON MILLER

Payton Miller is a 15-year-old student at Dr. E. P. Scarlett High School. When not listening to music or hanging out with friends, the avid Blue Jays fan spends most of her time reading.

Last February she began volunteering at the public library, with an eye to burnishing her university applications—she hopes to be a professor of English literature— and was “pleasantly surprised” to find she loved it. Now she’s part of the Teen Advisory Group, which provides feedback on library programs. Miller estimates that she reads a book a week—more in summer—primarily YA fiction and graphic novels. “I tend to give everything a chance when it comes to books, but I have never really gotten into mystery or romance novels.”

AMONG HER FAVOURITE BOOKS: Thirteen Reasons Why, Into the Wild Nerd Yonder, and Fangirl.

NOT SO WILD ABOUT HARRY: “I never got into Harry Potter. My Harry Potter was the A Series of Unfortunate

Events books, by Lemony Snicket. Reading those taught me so much, like how life isn’t always good and how in even the toughest situations you always have your family. (It) shaped me as a person and also started my love of reading. If I hadn’t read those books I would be a completely different person.”

HER HAPPY PLACE: “The public library is a magical place. I use the library often to get books and to discover new books and authors, but I still buy way too many books—it’s a slight problem. I want the readers of Swerve to use the public library to their advantage and to save their money!”