Local librarian talks books, children and retirement

Growing up in sparsely populated Denton, books were young ShirLee Perrodin's only window to the rest of the world.

"I lived out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a wheat field, and our public library had interesting books about interesting people who lived in other places - they had the world right there," Mrs. Perrodin said.

With the playground radiating the soft laughter and play sounds of kindergartners and first graders on the other side of the Highland Park Early Primary School library wall, Mrs. Perrodin took time between classes to discuss her many years as a librarian and her upcoming retirement.

Mrs. Perrodin has been a librarian since 1979, but this is her final year. She is retiring so she and her husband can pay more attention to their elderly parents and spend more time with their children.

Mrs. Perrodin has a master's degree in library science. When she came to Havre, she didn't want to take the librarian job. She was told to think about it. She thought about it, said yes, and 22 years later she has dubbed the decision a great one.

Mrs. Perrodin pointed out that her job goes beyond finding books.

"At this age level, K through first, kids are somewhat new to formal education, but they have a lot of knowledge that they hopefully bring with them to school. So, if we can build on that, that's great," she said. "In this library, we do a lot of observation. I have my science table and I'm always dragging in stuff that we look at. This morning we were looking at sea shells and talking about sea shells. I started giving away my sea shell collection to some of the kids."

Mrs. Perrodin said some children are only exposed to literature in school, so what they do in class is very important.

Unsurprisingly, Mrs. Perrodin thinks it's never too early to expose children to books and reading.

"I started reading to my kids the moment I brought them home from the hospital. Some people read to their kids before they're ever born. Our local library has a books and babies program, and I would encourage anybody who has kids to start reading to them the minute that they are into the world," she said.

Mrs. Perrodin believes children's stories shape young minds by introducing them to deep and emotional themes in ways they can understand them. She cited a well-known intellectual to support her point.

"Albert Einstein said this - this is true - he said: 'If you want your children to be intelligent, have them read fairy tales. But if you want your children to be even more intelligent, have them read more fairy tales.' Because, really," she said, "the themes of life are in fairy tales."

Other times, books help children cope with the struggles of life. She said the library gets requests for books that reflect various home environments.

"We have books about parents who are in prison, we have books about lots of single-home families, we have books about parents of the same gender," she said, before adding, "it's important that you have books that reflect your population, so we don't touch on all of those here in Havre because not all of those things impact those kids, yet."

When asked what her favorite books were, Mrs. Perrodin refused to answer. She didn't want to risk hurting any child in the school. She said the library held 8,700 books and if she singled out any as her favorites, someone's feelings would be hurt.

But she was willing to say what some of the more popular children's books are.

"One that's currently popular is 'The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore," Mrs. Perrodin said. "He keeps a journal and he writes his own book, and at the end of the story his book leaves the library - he's a shriveled old man - and he goes and someone new comes to take his place, and write her own story. So, it's really about the story of your life and where the journey will take you. It's a wonderful, wonderful story."

Other student favorites include "The Incredible Book Eating Boy" by Oliver Jeffers. She said there are some new Todd Parr books, about emotions and feelings, "and the kids really love those." She said the kids also love Mo Willems books.

"He writes about Piggy and Elephant and they're just hilarious, funny stories," she said.

Mrs. Perrodin's departure from the library is not without its emotional drawbacks.

"I'm really going to miss the books. I love these books and it's terrific to be here. I'll miss the interactions with the kids. I love" - she stretched this word out - "their questions. I absolutely love every day. They ask you something and you think, 'What made you think of that?'"

For Mrs. Perrodin, when another door to a child's mind opens, the only thing better is witnessing it.

"When kids learn to read and that light bulb goes off, we get to see those things," she said, pausing slightly, ruminating on the concept as if it's a miracle. "And that is a real emotional thing. And you see it on their face - that's priceless. How often do you get to see someone's life paradigm shift right in front of you? It's an epiphany right on their face. That's actually the best part of being in this building, to see those monumental moments. They're life-changing. And we get to see it all the time. There's one everyday."

The steady commotion of laughing kids outside was replaced by the talking and pitter patter of steps of children filing in for Mrs. Perrodin's 1:40 afternoon class.