
This article was written by Siren Deluxe, mother and Manager of Libraries and Cultural Services at Kāpiti District Council, in praise of her children’s school librarian.
At the end of the school year, primary school teachers are inundated by home-baking and coffee mugs with attempted humour on them. The bond formed between student and teacher throughout the year is a formative part of children’s lives. But my kids come home from school invigorated not by anecdotes of what happened in the classroom but by book reviews shared with them by their school librarian during their much anticipated, once-a-week class visit to the school library.
I’m hard pushed to recall the names of my kid’s teachers, but I know Sarah is the librarian.
Sarah has mesmerised my daughter by the retelling of artist Frida Kahlo’s trials and tribulations. I heard all about the ‘really super expensive’ dance book Sarah had on order because they didn’t have many books on that subject in the collection. When Sarah issued a challenge to all students to write a recommendation for a book to purchase for the library, (with the tantalising promise of a book voucher prize for the winner), my daughter took the task seriously, selected thoughtfully, and got an art book that made fun of nudes into the school library!
Sarah is cool.
My daughter volunteered as student librarian last year and was treated to pizza in the library at the end of the year with all the other student volunteers. She is not the sort of child who can remember to brush her hair, but apparently, she can remember to turn up regularly at the library to issue books to fellow students.
This year it was the experience of the school library – spending time there during lunch time, volunteering, doing the competition, and being invited to go on a field trip to meet real live authors in Wellington that made the biggest impact on her education and self-esteem this year.

Thanks to Sarah Semple, School Librarian at Plimmerton School, for her excellent work and the value she adds to children’s lives. Thank you to all school librarians involved in this mahi. I know you don’t get many novelty mugs at the end of the school year, but the impact of your work and the relationships you build with the children are significant and uplifting.
