Here at Clark, we used to have the sweetest, kindest librarian, and her name was Mrs. Piane. I would always look forward to going to the library just to see her and talk to her, and she would always help me pick out a book. If I wanted a book about unicorns, fairies, you name it, she would help me. She was from Greece so we would learn about Greek gods and how powerful they were. This was so long ago, and the only thing I really remember from it is that when cereal was invented, it was named after a Greek goddess.

Mrs. Piane just had this energy -- a sweet, welcoming, warm energy. She would read to us and I absolutely loved it. She would pick out the best books and every time there was a holiday, there was a section she would set up that had books dedicated to the subject in the back of the library. The books could be themed around Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or even Halloween. There were these little paper bookmarks you could take if you checked out a book and she always had the coolest ones. For Valentine’s Day, she had these scratch and sniff ones that smelled sweet, just like candy. (I still have one to this day, but it’s lost its scent, of course.) In the back of the library, there was this board that every month or so she would change to meet the season. It had different decorations, different facts, and every time it changed we would gather around to see it. At Halloween, she and the other librarian made a haunted house, with different spooky decorations. The lights would be off and they would dress up like a mummy, witch, or anything spooky. Pumpkins were carved and lit and it was the highlight of my year.

When I was in third grade, she retired. She talked about how she was going back to Greece to be with her family. Of course, we were all sad; she was such a nice librarian. Unfortunately, only a couple of months later, she was riding her bike and passed away. My mom was a volunteer librarian and would help manage books. We were both devastated. All of us were. We went to her funeral and of course, I was sad, but I still felt warm and happy just thinking about how she made me feel when she would read to us at school. It felt like she was saying her final goodbye to all of us.

This experience from Clark affected me; it gave me the encouragement to read and explore different genres. It taught me about learning to bond with a teacher and to talk to them. It taught me about loss and how to cope as well. I’m very grateful to be a part of this school and will never forget the experiences I've had here.