SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

Sometimes it is good to sit back and just listen to what my students have to say. Markissha was one of my sixth graders this year, but she and I go back a long way, to when she was a little kindergartner. She is often quiet, but when she speaks she has a lot to say.

It is Markissha who designed the Accelerated Reader t-shirt last year, the one with the caption “Big Footsie says, ‘AR is Purrr-fect!’” And it was Markissha who reminded us all many times this year, when we had one of the new library cats here, “But, remember, we can’t ever replace Big Footsie.”

It is Markissha who is providing our Cats in the Stacks today. Her class created a Middle School Newspaper, and this was her article. (more…)

SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

Not long before school was out we received our long-awaited yearbooks.

Every year our library cat is pictured in the Faculty section, having sat for a school picture just like all the students and staff. Footsie became a pro at it, with school pictures that ranged from serious to one looking like a mug shot!

I love to look back at previous yearbooks and read notes written to him. In his last yearbook Makayla told him, “I love you so much, big guy. You make my heart feel happy.” (more…)

SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

It is time for one of our year-end traditions, Accelerated Reader reading posters — which have turned the library into a photography studio!

Every year Big Footsie picked books in the AR program to become “Footsie’s Favorites.” For each of these that a student reads and passes the quiz on, their name goes on a paper cat that goes on the wall and they get a prize from Footsie. By this time of year the wall is pretty impressive, with colored cats stretching all the way back into the stacks. Footsie always liked to get up on the shelf and check them out.

We talked a little this year about whether, without Footsie, we should continue to call the books Footsie’s Favorites, and we decided that we would keep the name. (more…)