Post from temporary librarian at Immaculate Conception School in Old Monroe shows how children’s literature can be a uniting force
X, formerly known as Twitter, can be a complicated place.
That’s why Grace Malinee was baffled by the reaction to a recent post she wrote about an experience she had as a part-time temporary librarian at Immaculate Conception School in Old Monroe.
The 28-year-old shared with her followers an interaction she had in September with a student who was looking for new book recommendations:
Today at my library job:
*5th grade girl*: “I just finished reading Little Women and I loved it! Do you have any other books like it?!?”
*Me*: “have you read *Anne of Green Gables*?”
*Her*: “no”
*Me*: “girl, I am about to change your life”
Within several days, her post received more than 700,000 views, 36,000 likes, almost 2,000 reposts and garnered more than 600 replies. Malinee also gained about 450 new followers.
The numbers don’t seem to matter to her all that much. She believes the post may have been boosted by a couple of users who have large followings in Catholic and book spheres. What it showed her, though, was that children’s literature — especially good writing by classic and contemporary authors — can be a uniting force among people from a variety of backgrounds.
“I think people want to support children’s literacy, and I think people who are readers have nostalgic memories from when they first fell in love with books and want to give other kids the same experience,” Malinee said. “It united us in that common experience, like people sharing memories of librarians who changed their lives.”
Some of the comments came from people who said “Anne of Green Gables,” a 1908 novel written by Lucy Maud Montgomery about an orphan girl mistakenly sent to live with two siblings who intended to adopt a boy, was their all-time favorite read.
Others offered other book suggestions and asked whether the library had some of the subsequent books in the “Little Women” series. When Malinee mentioned that she worked for a small rural school, several asked how they could donate books.
That night, Malinee rushed to put together an Amazon wish list, including boxed sets of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” series and “The Mysterious Benedict Society” by Trenton Lee Stewart. She also included some titles from contemporary authors, including “What Happens Next,” a middle-grade novel from Claire Swinarski, a former FOCUS missionary at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
“All of her main characters so far have been from Catholic families, which is fun, but the subject matter isn’t religious,” Malinee said. “This one’s about a girl who really loves STEM … and so she’s learning about astronomy as a way to cope with the fact that her sister is in treatment for an eating disorder. (Swinarski) writes about real-life issues, but has these Catholic main characters — and she got published by HarperCollins, which is huge.”
Almost all of the books from the wish list — 39 to be exact — were purchased and shipped directly to Immaculate Conception School.
Good fiction has the ability to permanently alter your brain chemistry, especially among young readers, Malinee said. “The books you read during that time frame become so deeply important to you,” she said. “A lot of people were tapping into that feeling. Like I read ‘Harry Potter’ and it was my whole personality for three years. Or I remember reading ‘Little Women’ with grandma and that was a bonding moment.”
Chrisy Reeves, who has been helping co-teach a class for the past several months and will return to her regular duties as Immaculate Conception’s librarian at the end of October, said that the library is an important part of the students’ education. Families and parishioners have an opportunity to support the library through book fairs, and students get to include their input on what books they’d like to see.
“We’re blessed with this library, and for the kids, it’s so fun,” she said. “They really are into the books, and we want them to be a part of the books that we choose.”
