“Youth services librarian, storyteller and singer of silly songs.”
This is how Marcia Hansen, an employee of Cottonwood Public Library for the last year, describes herself. She has ample right to the title, having worked with children in education and library systems for four decades. Prior to coming to Cottonwood, she worked at Flagstaff Public Library.
Hansen has an ?inquisitive, earthy approach to communicating with children —? one that encourages her young charges to take stock of the things their parents and older siblings might take for granted: “Hug a tree,” she might suggest. “Pick up a ball of mud.”?
“Have you ever gotten in trouble with a parent for telling a child to pick up mud?” Larson Newspapers inquired.
“No, because I have a wonderful mud song,” Hansen answered, fighting and failing to contain her smile. “And people don’t give kids enough credit. It’s really cool when they open up and ask questions. I always try to make them go further with an answer.”
Hansen used the example of the word nudge — the kind of word a 4-year-old is unlikely to know. Reading a book with that word might elicit a question, ?first time round. The second time, the child might ask for clarification. Now and then, there are no questions: On his or her own, the child suddenly understands by context.
“When things just click, it’s absolutely incredible,” Hansen said.
For two days each week, Hansen has the opportunity to continue a lifelong goal of incorporating reading into learning. She said that she loves teaching children of all ages, but that the “little ones” likely provide her the greatest joy.
“My mom was a preschool teacher, so I’m following in her footsteps.”
