From the moment I started at Stanley Clark in preschool up until second grade, Mrs. Piane was there. She was our school librarian, and she was amazing. She brought life to the library. I did not like reading, but she made it fun. Every day, when I went to school, I would wait for the moment when we could go to the library. When we entered the library, I would run to Mrs. Piane and give her a hug. I did this from preschool all the way until she retired. When she left, I was seven and devastated she was leaving. I learned to love reading because she introduced me to a whole different perspective of it. I keep the memories I made with her close to my heart.

One of those memories is from when I was in preschool. I remember going into the library and sitting on the rectangular carpet. Mrs. Piane would sit on a wooden step stool and read to us. One book she read to us was The One and Only Ivan. That was the first time I had ever read that book, but it was certainly not the last. It is now my favorite book and I have read it many times since then. We would sit in front of her while she would read. When she read, it felt like you were living in the moment of the book. The way she read made every page more interesting than the last. She helped me to discover a love for reading.

A second thing I remember about her was the way she celebrated Halloween. She would make the library into a haunted house. It wasn’t scary, but for four-year-olds, it doesn’t take much to scare them. It was exciting and every year it was different. Every year was more fun than the last. It was one thing we would look forward to all year. Mrs. Piane would walk us through the different sections of the haunted house. She would put candy in every section for us to take. We would wait for the next surprise and the next bowl of candy. Every bowl had different candy, ranging from soft candies to hard candies. We loved it. Now I realize that what I loved wasn’t the candy or the haunted house itself, but the work Mrs. Piane would put into it and the way she would take time so we could have fun. I love the memories I made with her and keep them close every day. I know now, it is the people, not the thing, the effort, not the outcome, that makes one memory so special.