Youth Services Assistant Becky L. is featured in this month’s Meet the Staff. Becky joined the OFPL in late July, and her enthusiasm for kids and her love of books is very contagious. We are grateful to have such a positive and caring Hufflepuff as a member of our library family.
“For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.”
― Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Hi. I’m Becky. I’m a wife to a pastor, a mother of two almost grown boys (and I’m OK with it … really … I am … *sniff*), and guardian for two furry lap monsters, er, I mean cats.
I am a “both/and” not an “either/or.” I am a 9 (Enneagram), an INFJ (Myers-Briggs), Hufflepuff (Harry Potter House) and a Winnie the Pooh (Zoo Picture Book Character Quiz).
I have worked as a checker at Walmart (Please be kind, they are doing the best they can). I delivered pizza (OK … only one night, then I quit, but it still counts). I was a SAHP for a season (Stay-at-home-parent – loved that season – *sniff*). I have taught children from preschool-3rd grade in public and private schools (Kindergarten was my FAVORITE!). I am a children’s musician and storyteller and I have sung and acted out stories all over the state. And now … I am a Youth Assistant at the library. I think I mentioned in the interview that this is my dream job about 10 times.
How did I land here? I. Love. Books.
I love books that take me to another time and show me fictional slices of history through the eyes of the characters like Mary Ann Shafter’s The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, and just recently I discovered The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.
Also, I love books that take me to dystopian worlds that remind me that real life could look a whole lot worse such as in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, which I read waaaay before it became a popular Hulu series, and the Hunger Games and Divergent series.
I love books that challenge my belief systems and my views on the world like Rachel Held Evans Searching for Sunday, Austin Channing Brown’s I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness and Nadia Bolz-Weber’s Accidental Saints: Finding God in all the Wrong People.
I love books that I consider to be brain candy like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series starting with One for the Money and anything by Stephen King. The Stand is my all time favorite. And I LOVE children’s books. I had a whole collection before I even had kids. I grew up on Hand, Hand, Fingers,Thumb, The Monster at the End of This Book, A Wrinkle in Time and everything by Judy Blume. Some of my new favorites include Pete the Cat, anything illustrated by David Catrow, the Percy Jackson series and The Book with No Pictures. I don’t care what age you are, you have to check out this book.
Um … if you couldn’t tell … I love books.
But since I started working here I have learned that the library is sooooooo much more than books. There are movies and music and video games and magazines and audio books and educational games and teacher resources and toys and FISHING POLES and TELESCOPES! The library is a community center where kids go to play, parents go to learn, teens hang out, and everyone is welcome. There are so many services available to the public I would need to write a whole other blog just to include them all, or you can surf around the website to learn more.
The one question I always get from people when I tell them where I work is, “Is everyone there as nice as they seem?” and after being here for a few months I can answer with no reservations, “Yes. Yes they are.”
Come on in and see for yourself. Stop by and say “Hi.” You’ll find me putting books away or working at the Youth Services Desk or acting up in the Soda Pop Book Club or leading one of our after school STEAM programs.
You’ll find me livin’ the dream.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Reading People : How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything by Anne Bogel – For readers who long to dig deeper into what makes them uniquely them (and why that matters), popular blogger Anne Bogel has done the hard part–collecting, exploring, and explaining the most popular personality frameworks, such as Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, and others. She explains to readers the life-changing insights that can be gained from each and shares specific, practical real-life applications across all facets of life.
Another Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone – In this beautifully illustrated sequel to the much-loved classic The Monster at the End of This Book, Grover, now with pal Elmo by his side, has heard that there’s something lurking on the last page of the book. Grover tries his best in all sorts of hilarious ways to stop the reader from turning the pages. But, Elmo, curious as always, slips by every wacky barrier. Toddlers will find it hard to resist turning the pages too.
The O'Fallon Public Library News 