NEW YORK (AP) -- Staffers at three local book stores are among 600 booksellers receiving $500 holiday bonuses from bestselling novelist James Patterson, who has been awarding independent store employees since 2015.

"Booksellers save lives. Period," Patterson said in a statement released last Tuesday through his publisher, Little, Brown and Company. "I'm happy to be able to acknowledge them and all their hard work this holiday season."

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