SUSAN LOESCH
“C’mon, guys, let’s go,” I called out. “Barney, Shadow, Hexie, Tank, it’s time for a field trip!”
Silence. Guess they thought if I couldn’t find them they wouldn’t have to go. “OK, guys, the adventurer of the week will be … all four of you.”
Still no takers. Eventually, though, everyone but Shadow was wearing a bandana and waiting fairly patiently in a carrier. (more…)
SUSAN LOESCH
Thursday was Tank’s last work day for the year and my 6th graders’ last day in elementary. What a day!
The day before, Shadow and I had gone to their classroom for a graduation picture. Many of these kids were Big Footsie’s and mine from the time they were kindergarteners.
They are all so excited and look so grown up; I smile at memories of them in their early years at the School for the Blind and it looks very natural to see a black cat in Makayla’s arms. (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…)
Susan Loesch has been the librarian at the Arkansas School for the Blind for 35 years and is on the board of Feline Rescue and Rehome. She started the library cat program about 10 years ago after much animal therapy research.
