The Seed

The seed was planted for me when I was at school. Our school library was no ordinary library. It looked like no other building I had ever seen. It was built in the shape of a dome. A 'Bini Dome' as it became known in the seventies. To me and many others it was awe inspiring and out of this world. When you entered its doors you were in another world.

My Teacher Librarian was inspiring and passionate about books and storytelling. We walked in and sat in the deep carpeted wells that were sunken into the floor and lost ourselves in the stories that she told. We begged her for more at the end of each lesson and couldn't wait to get back in there at lunchtime. I had a long wait until year six when I became a library monitor. I loved that job!

That Teacher Librarian turned out to be Barbara Fienberg, one of the authors of the popular 'Tashi' series. Barbara wrote the books with her daughter Anna. I use her teaching today as model for my own teaching and I hope that I can instill a love of books in the same way that she has for me and others.