Our Team
Amy Hall
Amy is the founder and proprietor of Hudson Valley Books for Humanity and was inspired to start the store when she needed to find a new home for her own books. Her vision of saving books from landfills grew to include the idea of a bookstore that would promote diverse authors, social justice issues and planet-friendly living, as well as featuring local artisans and events for the community. Her vision became a reality in November 2021, and Amy now oversees everything from event planning to artisan curation to all-around supervision of the store, as well as continuing her decades-long work in sustainability at Eileen Fisher. Bonus: Amy is now a 2023 graduate of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar.
Photo credit: InOssining.com
Favorite Book: IQ84 by Haruki Murakami
Rob Lowenthal
Rob is the co-founder of Hudson Valley Books for Humanity with his wife Amy. He manages a wide variety of tasks at the store - from general operations to audio and video installations to "talent scouting" for Ossining's First Fridays and other bookstore events. Rob is also a real estate agent with Corcoran Legends, the building manager for the Olive Opera House where the store is located, and a board member and volunteer for many community nonprofits.
Favorite Books: Devil in the White City by Erik Larson and The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn
Janet Kraybill
Janet is a bookseller and book buyer and oversees the inventory of new, used, and rare & collectible books in the store. She has worked in the book business for many years, including at Penguin Books and Barnes & Noble, and is a 2023 graduate of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. She loves the mission and creative collaboration at Hudson Valley Books for Humanity, as well as being part of the store's ongoing contribution to the community.
Favorite Recent Books: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, The Best Minds by Jonathan Rosen, and Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver.
Betsy Kates
Betsy is a bookseller and is also in charge of Saturday morning events for children, as well as other store events for everyone. She is an avid reader and has been reading to and sharing a love of books with children for a very long time. As a teacher in Lakeland, she hosted many book clubs for parents and kids, as well as school-wide community reading events. Now she’s retired, in three book clubs, and still loves reading aloud with kids best of all.
Favorite Recent Books: Deacon King Kong by James McBride and The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Sonia Mukherjee
Sonia does a variety of tasks around the store including sorting, pricing and shelving books, and is particularly interested in Young Adult and Children’s literature. Dedicated to sustainability and passionate about social justice, she is happy to work for a bookstore supporting those principles. She is a student and loves the outdoors (running, biking and hiking).
Favorite Book: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
Zoey Jowers
Zoey does many things around the store, such as creating book displays, sorting books, and running lessons with kids. She has always loved reading, and is overjoyed to work in a space that loves it as well. She is a student and some of her favorite activities are writing and playing basketball.
Favorite book: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz.