Library Power

By Jennifer M. 

Growing up in a small town in La. in the late’60’s-early ’70’s, I spent a lot of time in our local library. It was air-conditioned in that brutal heat, and I could stay as long as I wanted, reading. The librarian, Mrs. Reynolds, was awesome! She would let me “help” her shelve books and straighten magazines, or clean shelves. She would hold the newest Nancy Drew or Donna Parker books for me. When I grew out of those, she guided me to more mature reading like Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart. Her recommendations were always right on the mark!

When other kids played school, I played library. The neighborhood kids would all gather around and I would read something out loud and then we would discuss. All through school, and even into young marriage and family, I was always reading something. When my own children were little, we read every night as part of their bedtime routine, mostly Little Golden Books because it was all I could afford. When they started reading on their own, we spent many days at the public library, and today all of them are still readers and passing it on to their own children.

It was only natural that I became a school librarian. I love my job and feel so lucky to be able to get paid for something that is so enjoyable to me. Libraries have changed so much since I first started, but I love the challenge of keeping up and still trying to get kids interested in good books. It absolutely thrills me when a student says that a book I recommended is the first book he/she has ever read all the way through; and then asks me for another one! I believe in libraries and their power to change and effect lives, and I will always be their biggest supporter.

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