Gifts to Librarians

The Houston Chronicle recently ran an article (not talking about my school!) about how some parents are getting carried away with gifts to the teachers at this time of year. Yawn. Some are even setting up a gift registry. Double Yawn. I got a beautiful tie and a big jug of Christmas cookies. I wear the tie proudly and am almost through with the cookies.

I got other gifts this year far more important than anything a parent could afford. I get hand-drawn Christmas cards from kids who cannot spell Christmas or librarian, sometimes with leftover Halloween candy taped (not glued) to the paper. I get flying gang tackles (hugs) from 6 year-olds as I attempt to walk the hallways, all the time.

My best gift this year was a thank you note, written in Spanish, in various colors, and translated by a teacher. In the note the student, a recent arrival to our shores, thanks her invisible mentor for the money that allowed her to join her classmates at the book fair. In it she also says it is nice that someone cares about her. If you are not tearing up right now, put in Charlie Brown's Christmas instead of Nightmare before Christmas.

We librarians have an opportunity not given to most teachers. We can touch all the students, for good or for bad. Let's hope when we look back on it all, we can say we made the library a haven, rather than hell.

Last year we built a railroad over non-fiction. It was a lot of work for this sometime hobbyist. Many a weekend was spent cutting lumber for bridge supports. We now have a train (are you familiar with garden railroads, LGB, #1 guage?) that runs on an oval of track 14 feet by 7 feet and crosses four different types of bridges. OK, a Bridge to Exemplary was our school theme last year (fine by me, I like bridges), but it still stands, and it is still fun. The kids earn time at the controls through reading success. Sometimes, especially while shelving the 400 b00ks a day, I run the train just because I can.

If you want to put a value on the train, picture this: Two second-grade girls, taking a break from being library helpers, sitting on top of a non-fiction counter (please, no mail, I don't usually let them sit there) with the remote control in their hands, with grins bigger than the Union Pacific! OK, so we have now had a conversation about not throwing the train into reverse while it has a full head of steam up, but you know, there are no cynics at the helm of a powerful locomotive, and sometimes just having fun in the library is OK.

So, now, back I go into the Internet to learn about things I never knew existed, but am told I cannot live without. Who knows?